A Visual Learning Plan for Percussionists

For many decades, music education associations (MEAs) across the United States have hosted All-State auditions at the Regional, Area and State levels, culminating in the formation of elite ensembles of varying structures and instrumentations at respective statewide music education conventions.

Common examples of featured ensembles at these conventions include symphonic and concert bands, sinfonietta and symphony orchestras, choirs of varying sizes and voices, jazz bands and percussion ensembles. In preparation for a majority of these auditions nationwide, high school student musicians prepare three to four etudes on their primary instrument throughout the fall semester.

Auditions are typically held first at the Regional level (geographically adjacent school systems) with a specific number of students advancing to the Area level (encompassing larger geographic regions) and finally the All-State level, which is usually for purposes of chair placement and ensemble selection. Advancement from each level is determined by a panel of qualified judges in a blind audition setting.

All-State Preparations

According to the Texas Music Educators Association, over 70,000 students audition annually, with approximately 2% earning final placement in an ensemble. Although the ultimate goal of this process is to earn a spot in one of these prestigious groups, as a music educator I focus on the intangible benefits experienced by all students who put forth their best effort into learning the All-State etudes each year. By investing their time and energy in this way, young performers not only benefit by sharpening their musical and technical prowess, but they also learn the important, and often overlooked, skillsets of time-management, practice efficiency and goal setting.

It goes without saying that preparation for All-State auditions is challenging and rigorous. In fact, for many music programs, participation is not required, or alternatively, is only required for students striving for placement in their school’s varsity musical ensemble. In many situations, students are not provided with outside assistance in learning or perfecting the assigned etudes unless they are enrolled in private lesson instruction. For band students, All-State audition preparation coincides with an already busy time of year, with students preparing and performing their marching band shows at football games and marching competitions throughout the fall semester. Because of these difficult circumstances, many students hesitate to take on the additional challenge and often opt out of learning the All-State etudes altogether.

How can we implement systems in our programs which allow more students to access the benefits of preparing for the yearly All-State etudes?

The Pass-Off Sheet

When I was hired as Percussion Director at Forney High School (located about 20 miles east of Dallas) in 2017, I noticed the apathy most students felt toward the All-State preparation process. Upon my arrival, I learned that only a handful of percussion students consistently put forth the effort each year to learn the etudes, and even fewer had advanced to the Region, Area or State levels. Knowing the many benefits associated with learning the All-State etudes, I took on the challenge of sparking my students’ excitement and interest in this daunting process.

Working in collaboration with my colleague Shannon Jacobs, the longtime Percussion Specialist and private lesson instructor at Forney, we created a “weekly pass-off sheet” for our students. This document outlines weekly goals for students preparing each All-State etude, which for percussionists consists of a snare drum etude, a 2-mallet etude, a 4-mallet etude and a timpani etude.

The first page of the document (above) outlines the weekly goals associated with each etude, containing specific measure numbers to learn at a specific tempo. The second page of the document (below) provides a blank signature box to be signed by instructors, indicating student achievement.

To give our students multiple avenues to secure a completed pass-off each week, I provided weekly opportunities for them to perform for me in person, in their private lessons or by submitting a video online.

Results

By providing a visual learning plan to our students, I hoped to alleviate a portion of the stress associated with taking on the All-State etudes. Within weeks of introducing the first pass-off sheet in the fall of 2017, we noticed an astonishing increase in participation from our students and a handful of them were competing against each other to see who could finish the pass-off sheet first!

Of course, many students chose to simply follow the pass-off schedule as advised. There were also students who fell behind at some point in the semester, as well as students who, despite this resource, continued to opt-out of participating.

As an additional motivator for students who had fallen behind to continue to work toward completing the pass-off sheet, I offered partial credit for late pass-offs — all the way until the audition itself, regardless of the severity of lateness. This added safety net allowed struggling students the opportunity to catch up throughout the semester, providing them with a much-needed sense of relief and accomplishment. My ultimate goal was to encourage as many students to learn each etude at a sufficient level, regardless of their placement at the audition itself.

And that’s exactly what happened! Wanting to track the results of our system early on, I made sure to keep detailed records of student achievement over the years. With complete transparency, I have included those statistics from the past eight school years below. The table below shows the following:

• • the number of percussion students at Forney High School who participated in the All-State process,
  • the total number of students in my percussion program each year,
  • the ACR (Average Completion Rate, which averages all weekly pass-off grades of participating students over the 12-week period),
  • the number of students who earned placement in an All-Region Band,
  • the number of students who advanced to the Area level,
  • and the number of students who earned a spot in a Texas All-State Ensemble

*In 2020, auditions were recorded virtually and there were no Area or All-State level advancements statewide.

Without diving too deeply into the details, the data shows the year-to-year increase in the total number of students participating in the All-State process, as well as the overall increase of students earning placement in the local All-Region band (a truly invaluable experience that deserves further exploration in an article of its own!) and two in a Texas All-State Ensemble.

All-Around Improvement

As I moved forward with this process, I referred to this quote — “Great music ensembles are made up of great individual musicians” — to guide me in implementing the All-State pass-off system and holding students accountable to stick with it! Although completion of the pass-off sheet proved to be difficult, stressful and sometimes unattainable for some students (especially freshmen), the results were undeniable.

Even in the first year of implementation, I noticed a significant improvement in my student’s proficiency across the four main areas of percussion playing tested in the pass-off system (snare drum, 2-mallet keyboard, 4-mallet keyboard, and timpani). Not only did I observe a higher level of proficiency in these areas program-wide, my students’ ability to learn music independently improved as well. More and more students were arriving to our first percussion ensemble, indoor drumline and concert band rehearsals with a majority of notes and rhythms already learned, providing ensembles the opportunity to hone in on more advanced skills during our rehearsal time.

While this article focused specifically on the All-State process, pass-off systems can be beneficial in a variety of music learning environments, such as marching band productions, concerts, solos or chamber ensembles. I strongly encourage music educators nationwide to experiment with a pass-off system for their students this year. Before you know it, the results will speak for themselves!

Photos by Daniel Wilson