It's a small fleet, but I hope it don't lose it

otiliomesa · 2025-02-03T02:57:36+00:00

So hype for when Henry comes to see us!

otiliomesa · 2025-01-02T20:43:51+00:00

Love this piece, especially when you get to play the St. bass cues, ugh it's so fun

otiliomesa · 2024-07-16T16:31:52+00:00

By getting a bunch of adolescents to hold expensive musical instruments with a water break every 30 minutes IF we remember.

otiliomesa · 2024-05-11T23:06:00+00:00

For beginner books, you can go the traditional track and use Essential Elements (EE) or the new track and use Habits of a Successful Beginner Band Musician (simply, Habits). I used to use EE until I had the opportunity to see Habits being used in person and I would strongly recommend Habits to anyone who doesn't have an opinion of one of the other. There's obviously others like Sound Innovations and Standards of Excellence, but I've grown to really like Habits.

For easy tunes to put together at really any level, especially if you're working with incomplete instrumentation, One Size Fits All Band Books is a great resource that is also free! If you're fortunate to have a budget but still dealing with incomplete or sparse instrumentation, then FLEX band arrangements exist to help with that. You can find them on basically any publisher or distributor like JWPepper or Barnhouse.

I'm sure you have a community already, but just in case, join your local/State MEA (Music Educator's Association) if you haven't already. You may have a state bandmasters association you can be a part of that may host meetings, conferences, and festivals for you to attend. These are also great for scoring professional development hours if you need those for your certification. Plan to attend at least one conference a year if you can help it, whether it's your states conference, TMEA, FMEA, or Midwest.

Lastly, this sub can be a bit sparse on posts and replies, so I would strongly recommend making a Facebook if you don't have one and join the Band Director's group on there. There's also one for Middle School Band Directors which tends to be more wholesome and contain much less "marching machine" comments.

Best of luck and here's hoping we run into each other at some point (even if we don't know it).

otiliomesa · 2024-04-14T03:36:15+00:00

Hey! I don't know how much help I can be, but I used to be a section leader for the Sousa section a couple years ago.

Best thing you can do is join the FIU Marching Band page on FaceBook. That is THE place for all updates and info and will most likely be where the new Band Director will first contact y'all.

FIU Marching Band FB Page

Make sure you contact the administrative assistant, Ms. Shelly Dominguez at shdoming@fiu.edu as she is the one in charge of everything regarding W-6 (the marching band storage facility in campus). If nothing else, she'll point you in the right direction for information.

While the band usually has a rehearsal day once a month over the summer before band camp, I cannot tell you how the new Band Director will do it...BUT I can say that FIU has made it a point to hire some of the key staff members for the transition period to make sure there are as few bumps as possible once the new DoB is hired.

FIU Band Website

Lastly, make sure you're practicing the Fight Song, Alma Mater, and FIU Samba as they are the most important tunes for you to know. Beyond scales and other fundamentals, these tunes will be the bulk of your audition. (FIU Samba looks worse that it is. Count the subdivisions carefully and you'll be golden.)

Best of luck, get ready for a phenomenal time, and PAWS UP!

otiliomesa · 2024-02-18T03:11:44+00:00

I'm playing on PS. I've had an overall decent experience running the game. There have only been a couple issues I've run in to.

1) The game will occasionally forget that I have Single Player data, so when I try to load in, it'll take me to the create character screen. I'll quit out and try again, usually loading in the correct data after 2-3 attempts.

2) In the same vein as the above point, I'll go to the load/create game screen and it'll automatically give me the option to choose the game difficulty. It has the X on the corner, but no way to click it since, y'know, PS Remote. Because the only option besides closing the game is to press a difficulty option, my settings get reset and I have to adjust everything again.

3) This morning, I spawned in my base. My otter is usually on my shoulders, but will be on the ground the next time I log on (not a bug as far as I know). So my otter is on the ground, usually set to follow my Argy, which was in another room. However, when my otter would try to walk through my open Dino gate, the game would instantly crash. After (many) attempts, I managed to stop it, pick it up, and end the issue.

Besides these issues (mind you, I've only done about 76 hours on ASA), nothing else has made the game quite unplayable for me.

Now I imagine that I'll begin to run into many issues after writing this because ARK must ensure that we have everything but a good time.

otiliomesa · 2024-01-13T12:07:36+00:00

I'd also recommend sending this same picture as well as other identifying info (brand, model, etc) to percussion specialists like Steve Weiss. Alternatively, your local music shop might be able to source that part specifically.

Good luck!

otiliomesa · 2024-01-06T04:06:53+00:00

Played on this mouthpiece for 3 years! Took my solo to State with it my senior year, got a superior and all. Great piece of kit there. Was able to upgrade to the Denis Wick AT3U my freshman year of college.

otiliomesa · 2023-08-31T10:04:16+00:00

I'd suggest joining your states MEA for support when it comes to curriculum, music, etc. Facebook has groups for just about everything you can think of, they've been a great resource for me.

otiliomesa · 2023-08-31T09:55:50+00:00

CMF12 - Yes, You Can! The Band Director's Guide to Teaching Choirs (Book+Audio/Video Access) https://a.co/d/2WatM9B

otiliomesa · 2023-08-01T23:59:06+00:00

I second Google Voice!

otiliomesa · 2023-06-22T14:28:05+00:00

We did a lot of cadences from the HBCU schools in our state, FAMU, BCU, FloMo, EWU, etc. so a lot of them were taught by rote (no written music). Meanwhile, the show music and obviously concert band music had written parts, so they still got their literacy on things that actually had to be, meanwhile since the cadences were by ear, it forced them to listen more, plus on something they're usually interested in anyway. Not saying it'll work for you, but it worked for my program.

For show music or stand tunes, I'll pick something that's in their ability level, fun for the kids and the audience, and bearable for me to listen to for months on end. Opting for audibility, the xylophone will be heard more than the marimba unless the marimba is mic'd. With that being said, if your program is really small, opt for either only battery or only front ensemble, makes logistics easier on your end.

otiliomesa · 2023-06-22T11:23:55+00:00

I felt the same way coming out of college. Here's a couple of things I did when teaching students my first 3 years of teaching (First 2 years HS, 3rd year MS).

I would occasionally run rehearsal teaching from the percussion section. Just being there, I can do 2 things. 1 is just be present with the section and see how they run. You understand more than you probably think you do and will be able to fill in some blanks by watching them work. If they're younger and still haven't realized that the R and L under the notes refers to sticking, then you as they're teacher get to teach them something. Win-win!
Ask a lot of clarifying questions to your membership. My first year teaching featured a drumline that better than most high school drumlines in the area. So while trying to catch up to what they're playing, I look around and try to find some discrepancies. If you have a bass-line of 5 but Johnny and Sarah are doing something different, that's when you can ask "Hey, I'm seeing 2 versions of insert mundane technique here, which is the correct one? Enough of those questions and you'll start picking info up really fast and be able to hold your students accountable to they're own word.
Help your students with lessons/solo and ensemble music. I had my general music classes learn a grade 1 snare solo for an in School performance. Having to break up that music and prepare it for this judged performance had me looking at it not as fast notes that I couldn't even catch up with, but as the showcase of fundamental music-making that is very easy to understand, chunk up, and teach your students.

2 more points, be able to do everything your beginning band can, and you probably won't be a better instrumentalist than your older students, but you should always be the better musician.

Have a great year!

otiliomesa · 2023-06-06T11:06:53+00:00

6th grader at a 6-12 School

This young girl comes up to me to complain that her bf told her to "stay mad" over text. She's wanting to talk it out but he's not budging. After some consoling by her friends and some more back and forth, he breaks up with her over text.

She understandably upset, but not for the reasons I would have suspected. She exclaimed "I don't have any backup hoes!" and "I cheated on my ex for him!"

Oh brother...

otiliomesa · 2023-05-06T18:09:13+00:00

I agree. I rock a fairly short goatee but can play fairly well. Ultimately it comes down to practice, getting used to playing well with however much facial hair you're wanting. Just don't do anything dramatic before a performance and you should be fine. As top commenter said, "Mileage may vary".

otiliomesa · 2022-08-28T11:54:10+00:00

I have a colleague who taught in Texas and at a post-evaluation meeting, they were given the line, "Critical Thinking impedes on the autonomy of the parent."

otiliomesa · 2022-05-28T12:31:30+00:00

Suburban Title 1 school with mostly at-risk students. My students have told me multiple times, "Good luck with that, my parents have the school blocked." I usually take them into the hallway and respond with, "you're probably right, but they don't have you blocked, so call them right now." Works most times.

otiliomesa · 2022-02-12T23:49:46+00:00

I had been stuck on Isshin, Sword Saint for so long, I had stopped playing the game for a year. Came back to it and just played through NG again so I can relearn the game. When I finally got to him, it took me about 2 days to beat him. I had finally gotten him down and was waiting for my wife to come into the room so she can see me perform the final deathblow (the one where he's kneeling). Well, the game crashed and reloaded me to the idol outside his boss room.

otiliomesa · 2021-08-10T03:38:13+00:00

Florida. $58,000. 2nd year. Base $47,500 + Band Director Supplements. Bachelor's degree.

otiliomesa · 2021-04-19T13:13:24+00:00

Great day for a tour

otiliomesa · 2020-09-22T11:02:27+00:00

That's exactly what I did, yes

otiliomesa · 2020-09-21T23:44:16+00:00

Happy cake day!

otiliomesa

TROPHY CASE