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The Pride of Pizitz, An Interview with Kim Bain

James M. Rohner | November 2015


    When director Kim Bain received the email inviting the Pizitz Middle School Symphonic Band to perform at the 2015 Midwest Clinic, she did not believe it at first. “I figured it was a rejection but quickly discovered that it was an invitation. I read it three times and asked Leah Seng, the assistant director, to make sure I was seeing it correctly.” The happy directors broke the news to the band three days later with the principal and school in attendance at the celebration. The band, located near Birmingham, Alabama, has earned a string of prestigious performances, including appearances at the NBA/CBDNA Southern Division Conference and the Music for All National Concert Band Festival. The group has also been the Southeastern United States Middle School Honor Band Guest Ensemble, and the University of Alabama Middle School Honor Band Guest Ensemble. Now, they are the first Alabama middle school band ever to perform at the Midwest. Bain could not be more proud.

How have performance preparations gone?
    It was a great summer. I have felt really encouraged by the students’ attitude and work ethic. We held three well attended music-reading sessions in June and a pre-camp for four days in July. We had a morning session each day of the pre-camp from 8:00 to noon. We wanted to introduce some of our music selections during these sessions. We broke into sectionals ­– I’d take the brass and percussion, and Leah took the woodwinds. We accomplished quite a bit, and the sessions built enthusiasm for the actual camp in August.
    For the full camp we spent Monday through Wednesday at school, with band rehearsals and sectionals each day. Then, we took a field trip on Thursday to the University of Alabama, where Carl Hancock and the faculty set up an incredible day for us on campus. We rode cheese wagons down to Tuscaloosa, and the faculty there rolled out the red carpet. Graduate teaching assistants and faculty led sectionals in the morning, and in the afternoon, they held a masterclass for everyone by section. We also had a 90-minute full rehearsal during the day. Students enjoyed the chance to play in the large Moody Performing Hall. The day at the University of Alabama made students excited about the music and also brought them together as a family.

What fundraising will your group do to raise money for the trip?
    We have quite a bit of fundraising planned for this year. I am so excited that the board of education has agreed to provide some financial support for the trip. We have a tremendously supportive school system, not just the administration, but also the parents who support various activities. We are going to hold four fundraisers this fall before departing for Chicago. We take a spring trip every year, so the community knows our fundraising efforts, but Midwest is a special challenge because it takes place so early in the year. We need all of the money by early November. We kicked off our first fundraiser before school even started by selling tumblers that represent the various colleges in the SEC. Some of our other fundraisers include selling fruit and a cookie dough and cheesecake fundraiser. We have had lot of success with that one.

Are you working with any composers on special works for the Midwest performance?
    Tyler S. Grant is composing a fanfare to open our concert entitled Miles in the Sky, dedicated to our principal, David Miles, who recently retired. He was an integral part of helping the fine arts department at Pizitz become what it is today.

What collaboration did you have with the composer?
    We have had a couple of meetings, and he came in with some ideas. We talked about David Miles, the type of man he is and how much he has meant to the band program. Tyler took that information, developed some ideas, and played some demos for us. I am mostly leaving it in his hands because he is such a talented young composer. He will be a sophomore at the University of Alabama, but has already published many works with FJH and through his own publishing company. He is all of 20, but when you talk to him he sounds mature like a 45-year-old man. He is way beyond his years in so many ways.
    I am also collaborating with Dean Sorenson, director of jazz at the University of Minnesota. He is an old friend of mine; we played together way back in the Disney All-American College Band. We became reacquainted when he came to Alabama to director our all-state jazz honor band last year. I asked him to write a closer for our concert, something fun that would feature soloists.

Are there composers you particularly like to program for your students?
    My big three are Brian Balmages, Richard Saucedo, and Robert Sheldon. I have had a lot of success with their compositions.

How would you describe Vestavia Hills?
    We could be called a suburb of Birmingham. We are a little south of the city. Our school system in Vestavia Hills has one high school, two middle schools, and five elementary schools. We are named for Louis Pizitz, founder of Pizitz Department Stores, and we have 1,100 students. The fine arts program has close to 500 students with about 220 in band.

How did you come to teach at Pizitz?
    I taught for 17 years before I came here. Suzanne Winter lifted this program to a really high level, and I interned with her when I was a student. Years later, I came on board as an assistant for one year, and inherited the program the next year in 2006 when she retired. Her husband was my high school band director. Prior to coming to Pizitz, I taught in Hoover, Alabama at R.F. Bumpus Middle School. I started that band program when the school opened in 1999.
    Our ensembles include the symphonic band that will perform at Midwest, an intermediate concert band, a jazz band, and two beginning band classes that all meet daily for 52 minutes.

How do you structure your rehearsals with your top group?
    I feel spoiled because of the extra summer rehearsals for Midwest. We had huge chunks of time to work on fundamentals and breathing. When school started, I lost that time. It has been fun to focus more than usual on warmups In a 52-minute rehearsal I spend as much as 15 minutes for fundamentals and warmups at the start of the year. As we get closer to Midwest, the balance will change as we work more on the concert music. Our warmups often begin with breathing exercises. I like to get students moving some air with different counts along the lines of the Breathing Gym. Then, I use long-tone exercises with the brass buzzing while the woodwinds and percussion play. We also use the Remington warmups, including some singing by different parts of the band. We try to use lip slurs. I like Larry Clark’s book Connections, which has a daily warmups page that is gold. Then work from Foundations for a Superior Performance, which we call the blue book. Those are our daily musical vegetables.
    Next, we take a short break, because research shows that the adolescent brain can only pay attention for about ten minutes before shutting down a bit. I work hard to understand how the adolescent brain works. You cannot expect students to stay seated in their chair and remain focused for 52 minutes. It is not going to happen. You have to build in breaks so they can have a fresh learning cycle when you return to the podium. That is reality. There was a time when I taught without stopping for breaks, and it scares me to imagine what my rehearsals were like. Along the way, I have learned that you can be much more effective with time management in rehearsals when you allow those breaks.
    As rehearsals progress, I try to go from known to unknown and back to known. That is the shape of the rehearsal. I start with something they feel confident about before introducing new ideas and material. To close out rehearsal, we play something they feel more comfortable with to leave on a solid note.

What techniques have you learned over the years to keep rehearsals on track?
    I try use humor to keep students interested and engaged. At the same time, for rehearsals to be productive, it has to be my show. The danger about humor is that sometimes students want to jump in there with you.

How have middle school students changed over the years?
    I think kids stay the same, but technology sure has changed. If I put a piece of paper in a student’s hand, the chances of having it making it home are slim. I think that is due to social media and having phones. The day of the hard copy is pretty much gone. Emailing to parents is the way to go. This may do a disservice to students by taking responsibility away from them, but I am willing to forgo that so that their focus is on the music.

How do you use technology with students?
    We are switching to Google Classroom this year, and students will report their practice logs that way. As the technology expands, so many things that were difficult in the past become easier for students and parents.
    We have had a Promethian Board for the past four years. I thought I would never use it, but instead have become so dependent it. If we lose the bulb on the projector, I feel like I can hardly teach. I put up our lineup for the rehearsal, sometimes a tuner, and we discuss the shape of the sound wave as a student plays.

How do you approach beginning band classes?
    We have instrument selection in August with the help of local band directors and give students a chance to try everything. Then we have conferences with students and parents to pick the right instrument. On the first two days of class, I bring in specialists for each instrument, and kids get two lessons with a specialist on opening the case, assembling the instrument, holding it correctly, putting the fingers on the instrument, and using the air and embouchure. Many programs in the area have summer camps for beginners, but we have had success starting with this two-day mini-camp at the beginning of the school year.
    We give a mini-concert and serve refreshments in the band room for the beginning students and their parents at the end of October. The parents love it. This is important because parents have made a huge investment in an instrument and may wonder, “what have I done?” This is especially true if they do not have a background in music. If you can give a performance to show the fruit of their labor, that is good.

Has your approach to instrument selection changed over the years?
    The older I get, the more I am willing to stick to my convictions. If I think a child will not be successful on an instrument, I try to keep them from being miserable later because they cannot make the sounds they hear around them. If I do not educate parents during the selection process, I am not doing my job as a professional. Leah Seng, the assistant here, and I have looked back at our retention rate, which is quite good. The kids that we lose almost always are the ones who did not follow our advice during instrument selection, and then did not have the success they wanted. After one year, they want to try a different elective. I am willing to stand my ground as much as I possibly can, particularly with the need for balanced instrumentation. In the end, you can only do so much to persuade a parent, and it is their call. Nine times out of ten, I can help them see why one instrument might be a better choice.

How have you learned to deal with parents?
    If you are having problems with students, it serves you better to make contact with the parents and develop a positive relationship as quickly as possible. Don’t wait for a crisis. If you postpone contact, it will come back to bite you later. I get emails and an occasional phone call from a parent, and I think it is part of our job to return all emails within a day.

What is your relationship with the high school director?
    I have a great relationship with Jerell Horton, the band director at Vestavia High School. He took over the program at the high school the same year I took over at Pizitz. We have grown these programs together, and it has been fun to watch. He is great about coming here to help whenever he can. It is tougher for him to get away in the fall with the demands of march-ing band. It is always awesome when he comes second semester to help out with low brass when we are getting ready for a performance. He also does a great job letting middle school students know what they have to look forward to at the high school.

Talk about your work with Alabama Winds.
I am so excited about this group, a community band of directors from across Alabama and professional musicians. We are just starting our third year, and have members who drive a long way to attend rehearsals. Our director is Randall Coleman, the associate director of bands at the University of Alabama. I am a co-chair and help out behind the scenes organizing and coordinating. This group has been so rewarding. It is fun to get together with you peers and friends and make music without being on the podium. We usually give two or three concerts.

When did you realize that you wanted to be a band director?
    I always knew. I almost feel like it chose me. I cannot remember a time when I did not want to go into music in some way. I never really had an interest in doing anything else.   


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    Kim Bain is in her 10th year as director of bands at Pizitz Middle School in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, and her 25th year of teaching. She was named the 2012 teacher of the year for Vestavia Hills City Schools. She earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Music Education, a Master of Arts in Music Education, and an Education Specialist degree from the University of Alabama. She also earned a Master of Music degree in saxophone performance from Bowling Green State University.

James M. Rohner is publisher of The Instrumental-ist. He earned degrees from Colgate University and Tulane University.