Wayne’s Word

Which comes first – the music or theme/concept? Either approach works as long as the result is a show with great music. Choose music that has quality and will be enjoyable to perform by the students, to rehearse by the staff, and to listen to by the audience. Great music [...]

Step One in good marching band Show Planning is to do a thorough and HONEST review of the past season. Ask yourself (and your key staff members) the following questions: What were the strengths of the band? What were the weaknesses of the band? Did the show work from a general [...]

Jazz Vision SeriesA Progressive Series of Jazz Tunes for Young Jazz Ensembles & Combos using a Visual ~ Audio approach by Wayne Markworth & Bill Burns Jazz Vision Series is a collection of medium-easy, progressive, educational charts for the young jazz musician. It is based on research on Multiple Learning Styles realizing that the majority of learners [...]

Get your band program playing & moving again, virtually and/or in person! Music & Motion is a brand new curriculum created to give your teachers and students a fun, direct and simple way to teach all the basic technique necessary to be successful! Created by long time friends, Andrew Ebert and Andrew Markworth, this [...]

We are living in very unique times and as I write this on June 1, so much is still up in the air as far as the fall school and marching band situations. The uncertainty of how to plan for the season has been the most difficult aspect for directors, designers and staff. The [...]

Learning Drill Tip Directors need to study the Spiral Learning Theory to understand HOW kids learn. Start with the basic movement & nothing more. Don’t go too slow. Don’t go too fast. Check out more ideas and sample questions to ask in Chapter 12: Band Camp in The Dynamic Marching [...]

Organization is the Key to Success Band Camp is the most important week of the marching band season. It not only “sets the tone” for the marching season, but for the entire school year of band activities. Goals Set specific goals for the week or two of Band Camp. Possible goals: Fundamentals of music [...]

Focus on ONE thing at a time - Music OR Visual The huge number of details & skills for any one segment can be overwhelming to the younger members of the marching band. When rehearsing on the field, there are so many things to worry about, confusion can often take over. It is almost impossible [...]

We Came to Play! Band is exciting, especially at the beginning of a new school year. Make it so!Get them playing something exciting as soon as possible. Laying a foundation of good fundamentals is very important, but don't over do how much time you spend on them! If you understand the principles of Spiral Learning and [...]

Talk Less - Play More! We all have been in rehearsals or classes where the instructor talks too much, repeats himself over and over again, then says the same thing, then repeats herself, then... (oops! - I did it.)We all tend to talk too much because there is so much to do and fix. But...the [...]

What is normally referred to as the warm-up is really two parts - Warm-up and Development of individual and ensemble skills. My previous Blog dealt with the Warm-up portion and here we will address skill development as part of a daily routine. Most of this material is equally appropriate for concert and jazz band rehearsals. Most high school band [...]

It is very important to give students the opportunity to evaluate and give input for each class you teach at the end of each semester/term. There are two important reasons for this: To give each student a sense of ownership. This will improve attitude, hard work, and overall performance if [...]

From Great Music to a Great Show Once some great songs have been selected, the staff needs to mold them into a cohesive and entertaining show. Use a “Show Planning Guide” to list several options for each part of the show – opener, second song, etc. Then mix and match and listen to possible combinations. [...]