Over the last year, Brian Balmages and Fred Flowerday’s “Foundations Series” has transformed the way students approach technique and how eagerly they engage in practicing. Discover more about this ever-evolving, powerful tool that combines a wealth of warm-ups, fundamentals, and technique exercises with incredible movie soundtracks, a powerful combination that is now proven to get students practicing twice as much as their peers! Your students won’t even realize they are practicing and improving daily!

Teaching musicians to become independent musicians is vital to individual students and the ensemble’s success. In this session, I will share strategies and scaffolding techniques that develop musicians’ abilities through skill isolation and multi-tasking by implementing rote exercises, printed materials, and technology naturally into rehearsals.

Creating a classroom where students are empowered is vital to high-level performances. In this session, attendees will learn how to create and implement behavior, engagement, and leadership expectations into rehearsals for both principal players and section musicians. I will also share various rehearsal strategies that reduce the teacher’s role during daily rehearsals and allow students to take over more of the rehearsal process. Shared strategies will show students how to identify and solve common performance issues in small groups, sectionals, and as a large ensemble. As a result, students at all ability levels will gain more independence and confidence through this process and learn to become their own teachers.