Playing Tip of the Month

School music educators who submit their Playing Tips to School Band and Orchestra online will be eligible to win an embroidered SBO polo shirt. To enter, music educators can register their playing tips on the SBO Web site. One playing tip will be selected as the winner each month and, in addition to being awarded the prize, the winner’s performance tip will be published in a subsequent issue of School Band and Orchestra magazine. Register your playing tip today!

Here’s the tip from this month’s winner, David Hale, Centennial High School, Franklin, Tenn.:

“Approach long tones with a specific goal in dynamic phrasing. Most long tones should actively keep the phrase alive by getting louder or softer. For younger students, this attention to phrase endings improves breath support. This type of dynamic shading may be dramatic, or may be so subtle as to be almost imperceptible. The result of this performance technique is a phrase that comes alive and leads into subsequent phrases.”

The editorial staff at School Band and Orchestra would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the directors who submitted their playing tips throughout December and January. Please continue to visit our Web site for important information for school band and orchestra directors.