Classes I Teach

Arranging: Up Close and Personal

Want to get started in arranging but don’t know where to begin? This class is for you. The class covers the one skill you need before you start arranging (Hint: It’s not music theory!), free online resources for improving your musical skills, and an overview of the barbershop style, including the 11 barbershop chords. Finally, I’ll demonstrate the actual process of arranging a short passage. You’ll come out of the class with practical tools to get you started.

Beginning Finale

This class is an introduction to MakeMusic’s powerful music notation program. You’ll get an overview of Finale’s tools and menus, learn an easy and efficient way to enter notes that doesn’t require a MIDI keyboard, and learn how to enter lyrics and free text. The class handout covers both the Windows and Mac platforms.

Intermediate Finale

Go further with Finale by learning how to use the Staff Tool, Measure Tool, and Page Layout Tool to make your finished manuscript look its best. Class handout covers both the Windows and Mac platforms.

Copyright Basics

A basic knowledge of copyright is a must for quartets, directors, and music teams. This class will introduce basic copyright concepts as they apply to creating and distributing arrangements, and managing a music library for your chorus or quartet.

All of these classes can be taught over Zoom. Contact me for availability and pricing.

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Song Research

American History and Popular Song

If you’re doing research for the Sweet Adelines Song Assessment Tool, these will help.

• How the term “Dixie” came to define the South – Story from CNN, June 27, 2020
• Joe Bebco, “Reconsidering Dixieland Jazz” – Syncopated Times, July 2021
• Ben Zimmer, “What Dixie Really Means“. Atlantic, June 2020
• Cafe Songbook – Songs, songwriters, and performers of the Great American Songbook. Not comprehensive, but a good source for the songs it covers. Includes information on composers and lyricists, origins of songs (i.e. written for a particular show, etc), song background, and links to performances.
• Brief history of Tin Pan Alley – From acousticmusic.org
• Brief history of Vaudeville – From acousticmusic.org
• Internet Broadway Database – Excellent resource for Broadway shows and people connected with them, including songwriters.
• Alyssa Taubin, The American Musical in Black and White: How Race Relations in the United States Directory Affected the Development of Musical Theater – from Howlround Theatre Commons
• History of Blackface – Covers the history of Blackface and racist Black stereotypes in minstrel shows, Vaudeville, Broadway, radio, film, and television.
• African American roots of barbershop – From the Barbershop Harmony Society
• Musicals 101.com – “Cyber-Encyclopedia of Musical Theater, Film, and Television”
• Mason and Dixon Draw a Line – From the History Channel. So many songs about the South mention the Mason-Dixon Line. But where was it and who were Mason and Dixon? This is a good, short summary of the history behind the Mason-Dixon Line.
• “Three Documentaries You Should Watch About the Tulsa Race Massacre” – Story from National Public Radio, May 30, 2021
• Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia – Ferris State University
• American Civil War Museum
• Rebecca Hersher, “Why You Probably Shouldn’t Say ‘Eskimo'” – from National Public Radio, April 24, 2016
• Carla M. Ponti, The Musical Representation of Asian Characters in the Musicals of Richard Rodgers. Ph.D. dissertation in Music from UC San Diego. From ProQuest, published as open access.
• Sabina Thalheim, A Hundred Million Messages: Reflections on Representation in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song. M.A. thesis, Ohio State University, 2013

Songwriters

• Irving Berlin – official site
• George and Ira Gershwin – Official site
• Cole Wide Web – Cole Porter official site
• Songwriters Hall of Fame – Short biographies of many well-known songwriters

Selected Sheet Music Collections

• Sheet Music Consortium – Hosted by the UCLA Library; provides access to sheet music collections at more than 30 libraries all over the world
• Library of Congress online sheet music collections
  • Early American Sheet Music
  • Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1820 to 1860
  • Civil War Sheet Music
  • Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1870 to 1885
  • World War I Sheet Music
  • Library of Congress Celebrates the Songs of America
• Historic American Sheet Music – Duke University, Rubenstein Rare Book and Manuscript Library
• IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana – Created by Indiana University; includes collections from Indiana University Lilly Library, Indiana State Library, Indiana State Museum, and Indiana Historical Society
• Lester Levy Sheet Music Collection – Johns Hopkins University Library
• Archive of Popular American Music – UCLA Library
• Vocal Sheet Music Collection – Digital Commons, University of Maine
• Sheet Music Singer – Piano/vocal performances of vintage sheet music.

Historic Recordings

• African American Band Music and Recordings, 1883-1923 – Library of Congress
• Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project – UC Santa Barbara, Davidson Library. Historic recordings from the era of Edison wax cylinders. Many pre-1938 barbershop quartets are in this collection, digitized and freely available.
• The Great 78 Project – Community project for the preservation, research, and discovery of 78rpm records. Part of the Internet Archive
• The Shellac Stack – A great podcast, hosted by Bryan Wright, that plays 78rpm records from the first half of the 20th century.

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