Someone recently asked me if they heard correctly that I've been giving away free percussion ensemble pieces last season. And if I was going crazy?
Indeed, I have given away a few pieces, and I actually plan to continue this after the summer. However, next season, I'll only be giving away 10 pieces.
In the first half of the school year (August - Christmas), I'll be giving away 5 pieces, and in the second half of the school year (Jan - summer), I'll also be giving away another 5 pieces.
If you're interested in participating in this project, please read the following guidelines. If you meet the most requirements, I'd love to hear from you to go through this trial process together.
I'm looking for (solo) band directors who, despite limited time, still want to invest in the future of their percussionists and test the valuable additional features I’m providing with my percussion ensemble pieces.
Besides a professional bound and printed score, I’m providing the following standard features.
- Individual parts (PDF) to start rehearsing immediately and archive easily
- Full recording (MP3) to get a complete picture and learn music faster
- Practice software (All OS) to slowdown tracks and study music efficiently
- Temporary score(PDF) to bridge the time until your printed score arrives
Recently I’ve been working hard to add the following optional features to our percussion ensemble pieces as well. These are all developed to your convenience to save you time and simplify your process. You are getting audio practice tracks, with click, of all individual parts. Including:
- Solo tracks (MP3) so that students know exactly how their part is structured
- Karaoke tracks (MP3) to let them completely understand their role in the ensemble
To test these features and find out if these are working in your situation as well, I’m looking for band directors who:
- Are teaching at a middle school or junior high school
- Rehearse with their percussion ensemble at least once a week
- Are having about 6-15 percussionists in band or a percussion class
- Typically, don’t have much time for their percussionist
- Could use some extra assistance in the percussion domain
- Are willing to invest time in exchange for free music and coaching
- Are able to keep tracks of their experiences during the project
- Are willing to write an honest review at the end of the project
- Are able to record a video of the final result of the percussion piece
- Promote the way I’m working with your fellow music educators
If you can answer 8 out of 10 questions with yes and you enjoy trying something new with new percussion ensemble sheet music combined with cool new digital tools, I’d love to hear from you.
It's important to know that I only accept one band director per state for this unique program. The only thing I ask of you is to purchase an original score of the piece ($17). These costs are covering the printing and shipping of the printed score. Other than that, there are no costs associated with this project.
I know this works with my students here in Europe. I am organizing this project because I would also like to introduce my foreign colleagues to this way of working, which can be very efficient and time-saving. Most educators are very busy and often barely have time for anything extra for their percussionists. If I can make this happen in this way, my mission is accomplished. And let's be honest, 17 dollars for a new piece and 5 months of coaching is a no-brainer, right?
One of these pieces that I gave away last year has received the following review. You hear a part of a webinar where Shawn Sandersfeld (band director from Iowa) was a guest.
About Dirkjan van Groningen: Professional percussionist, teacher, composer, and musical entrepreneur. Helps percussionists to function more effectively in bands and ensembles by providing valuable additional resources with his method books and ensemble sheet music!
