Articles Posted on The
Yellow Board Website
Trust - The Most Vital Component in Leadership
by: Guy Harris
"Trust is the emotional glue that binds followers and leaders together."
- Warren Bennis and Bert Nanus
"If you don’t believe in the messenger, you won’t believe the message."
-James Kouzes and Barry Posner
Understanding New Teachers Performing The Task Of Assistant Band
Director Enables A Positive Mentoring Experience
Steve Hankins
There are a lot of differences between new (novice) teachers and experienced (expert)
teachers. We should know about those differences, and should consider them with both
a supervisory and a mentoring perspective when we have young teachers as assistants.
5 Steps to Stress-Guard Your Family
Dr. Tony Flore
Joe and Emily live in Southern California with their three young children. Both work and
must commute 2 hours daily on busy freeways, often not getting home until 7:30 PM,
exhausted and depleted.
Guitarists...Are You a Victim and a Loser?
by: Craig Bassett
I was thinking today about THE most dangerous enemy of musical progress…the victim
mentality.
Yellow Board Post of the Month: Retiring to Mexico
Leroy Osmon
Editor’s note: Caution,  grammar and spell-checkers! This article by Leroy Osmon
has been selected as the Yellow Board “Post of the Month.” Actually, it is a
summary of thoughts that Leroy has presented several times on this subject.
Because it is a “message board post” and not a formal article, no attempt has been
made to edit the content. It is written in the informal language and style that all of us
would much rather use and enjoy on the Yellow Board.
July 2005 (Colorguard Month)
“What Do I Do With My Color Guard?” How To Make Your
Color Guard Work For You (Part I) Recruiting
By Jason Myers
We have all attended our various music schools around the country. We have tried to stay
awake in theory class early in the morning and endured the pains of learning the piano.
We all had to perform in various ensembles and attend instrumental classes to learn every
instrument in the band. We sat through woodwind, brass, percussion, string, and voice
classes. When I was attending these courses, I was quick to observe one section of the
band was being left out of the school’s curriculum. That section was the color guard.
How To Make Your Color Guard Work For You
(Part II) Purchasing The Right Equipment
This is something you and your guard director must sit down and discuss. Many guard
directors have different opinions on guard equipment. However, if you do not know
anything about the equipment and you want to know more, or if you do not have an
instructor and you don’t know what to purchase, then maybe the following information can
help you. There are many companies that will sell you these products. My suggestion is to
save all of your catalogues and pick the company that will offer you the cheapest price.
How To Make Your Color Guard Work For You (Part III) Effectively Using
Your Guard
Now it is time to learn the show. However before you learn the show, and even before you
purchase the equipment, you must think about how will you use the guard on the field.
Things to remember are, how many guard students will you march? What types of
equipment will you use? What will be the colors of the uniform and flag? What, when,
and where do you want certain elements in the show?
How To Make Your Color Guard Work For You (Part IV) Investing In a Winter
Guard Program
The best color guards on the marching field have winter guard programs. The reason is
because winter guard provides additional training throughout the entire year. Without a
winter guard, your color guard students will not touch a flag until August. I don’t care how
good you are, it takes time to get back into shape and to re-train your muscles on how to
handle the equipment.
 
Establishing Effective Relationships With Music Stores
James Marioneaux

Steve Hankins, the Yellow Board moderator, former assistant director, and
longtime friend asked me to write this article to help younger directors.  One
important task that any new director at a school needs to handle is deciding
which music store to use as your school service store. A positive
relationship with a music store can be a big help to a director and an asset
to any band program.
[more]
Higher Intelligence Through Music
Steve Gillman

Can music really help you think better? Yes, according to the research that
has been done so far.
[more]
Article Sponsored by Kalarecoffee.com
Coffee …Most Popular Beverage Of All Time
Mary Chambers

Long ago it is said that a lone shepherd and his flock came across a
strange and mysterious plant growing upon a secluded and forgotten
hillside. Before he could stop them some of his herd had began to gnaw
away at this unusual berry.
[more]
Teaching Overseas in International Schools
Tod A. Lawlis

In the 1998-99 school year I was teaching in the Klein school district in the
north Houston suburbs.  In the early fall of that year, our music supervisor
sent out a memo about the American International School of Lagos,
Nigeria, and that Klein ISD was in a partnership with AISL.
[more]
Music Downloading and MP3 Players
Jeff Anderson

What are they and how do they work? Here are a few thoughts on the
subject of Mp3 players.
MP3 is a compressed music file. It is an encoded wave file and has almost
the same sound quality as an audio CD. The size of the file is much
smaller allowing more room for music.
[more]
August 2005
3 Quick & Easy Steps To Playing Music by Ear
by: Duane Shinn
Playing by ear is the ability to play a piece of music (or, eventually, learn an
instrument) by simply listening to it repeatedly. The majority of self-taught
musicians began their education this way; they picked up their instrument
and began playing an easy melody from a well-known song, slowly picking
out the notes as they went along.
[more]
The Wit and Wisdom of William D. Revelli
“Revelli-isms” Compiled by Travis Almany
Dr. William D. Revelli was one of the “godfathers” of the band movement in
the United States. His name resides alongside those such as A. A.
Harding, Frederick Fennell, and H. A. Vandercook for his far reaching
impact on music education and bands in this country. It is almost
inconceivable to imagine the bandworld today without Dr. Revelli's
influence. Leaders in the band world over the past forty years as well as
countless wind players in the nation’s top professional bands and
orchestras were either students of Dr. Revelli or indirectly impacted by his
teaching and life
.[more]
Sleep and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
by: Wendy Owen
Could improving your sleep lessen the symptoms of Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome (CFS)? Our aim here is to understand the connection between
the two as it may be possible to confuse the symptoms of CFS and sleep
deprivation. There are however definite differences.
[more]
Make Music with your Computer: An Introduction
by: Calab Coleman
Well guys, I’ve decided to write a short article on how to make music with
your computer. When I started out, I couldn’t find anything to help me. I
didn't know what to buy, or where to start. Hopefully this short article will
help you in your quest to making music a fun and productive hobby or future
profession.
[more]
Studying Your Study Environment
by: Roger Seip
How familiar is this scene, “Sweetie, have you done your homework?
Yeeeees Mom, I am finishing it right now!” You peek around the corner only
to find the TV on, dim lighting,, and your student plopped on the couch, eyes
glazed over, half asleep, but sincerely holding on to that vocabulary list or
calculator, as if trying to channel the information into their mind.
[more]
Teaching Band in a Small Texas Town
Teresa Archambo

My experience with a A-sized school has been really positive.  I have been an assistant
director in larger 4-A schools for 12 years until 05-06.  This first year as a head director.  
I commuted 25 miles each morning to a spread-out community, where there is only 3
Quick stop stores, one with gasoline.
[more]
Famous People Who Were in Band
Holly Gonzales

Alanis Morrisette (singer)
Halle Berry (actress)
Celine Dion (singer)
Calista Flockhart ("Ally McBeal")
[more]




April 2005

Maybe This Will Make Sightreading
"More Fair!"
Commentary by the Boardhost
Every year around this time I face a dilemma: exactly how much and what kind of information should I
allow about the Texas UIL Sightreading music on the Yellow Board Message Board.  Some argue that I
shouldn’t allow any information because it is unethical for band directors to know about the music in
advance of reading it with their band.
[more]
Some Thoughts on Horn Playing for
Band Directors
Richard G. Smith
“We only have one thing to sell on the horn. That is the unique and beautiful sound which is particularly
the horn. Anything else we try to do, there are countless other instruments that can do it more easily
and more securely without the difficulties of the horn.”
[more]
Six Steps to Grill the Perfect Steak
There's nothing better than a nicely grilled juicy steak.
But how come I can't duplicate that restaurant, expensive, juicy, melt-in-your mouth, perfectly grilled
steak... [
more]
Family Spring Outing: Wild Flowers in Texas
Looking for a great weekend outing for the family?  Come see the wildflowers in Texas in the spring.  
The highway medians and hillsides are full of color – bright red, yellow and blue, pink and cream – but
you better look out because cars are always pulling off the side of the highway to ogle and take
photographs...
[more]
If You Want Other People to Like You, Like Yourself First!
Many of us mistakenly believe that it’s wrong or conceited, to think we have any good qualities.  We may
spend a lot of time berating ourselves for our negative qualities, thinking that self criticism is the key to
improving our performance.  However, a constant focus on our supposed shortcomings can hinder our
efforts to make friends with other people..
.[more]
How to Create an Alumni Website
by Chris Pulley
Have you ever visited websites like classmates.com in search of people from your high school
graduating class only to find that it costs too much money?  I know I did so I decided to do something
about it!  It’s not as hard as it sounds.  Many websites like geocities.com have web design tools to help
you create a decent webpage where you can post reunion information, etc.  Better yet, you can do it the
way I did it...
[more]

May 2005

Encouraging is Leadership
Steve Hankins

Pull My Baton: The Drater Story Chapter One: No Kidding! They Hired Me!

The Yellow Board “Post of the Month”

Why I Use Sibelius Notation Software Richard G. Smith

JUNE 2005