FMEA Product Showcase: Just Intonation: Help Your Ensemble Hear And Play Better In Tune

Day: Thursday, January 14, 2021
Time: 8:00 PM - 8:45 PM
Format: Clinic
Topics: Future Music Educators
Grade Levels: All Grade Levels
Sponsored By: Yamaha Corporation of America

Playing perfectly in tune requires more than just a tuner! Setting the length of the tuning slide, neck or string simply minimizes the amount of adjustments the students need to make. However, literally every note they play will need to be adjusted to some degree. The skill of LISTENING and ADJUSTING while playing is the mark of all great musicians, and can be developed and improved by players of any age by tuning against a drone. The ability of the drone to switch between equal temperament and just intonation provides a listening environment more applicable to ensemble performance for the students. Attendees will witness the demonstration of exercises which can easily be applied to your ensemble to help their students develop their listening skills while matching pitches perfectly tuned to make the chords and melodies resonate.

Dr. Thomas Bough

Northern Illinois University
Director of Athletic Bands

Dr. Thomas Bough serves as the Director of Athletic Bands and Wind Symphony Conductor at Northern Illinois University. His 28 years of teaching experience includes 7 years as a high school band director in Mesa, Arizona. As a Yamaha artist and Denis Wick Ambassador, he leads dozens of clinics and workshops per year across the country. He has presented three times at the Midwest Clinic, as well as the U.S. Army Tuba/Euphonium Symposium, the International Horn Society Symposium, the International Women’s Brass Conference, and eighteen different state music education association meetings around the United States. As an author, he has contributed twenty articles to the Instrumentalist magazine and hundreds of new music reviews. His compositions are published by Alfred Music, Cimarron Music Press and others. Bough serves as the founding conductor and music director for the Fox Valley Brass Band in Aurora, Illinois. Hear his music at www.Tombough.com.

The FMEA Professional Development Conference and All-State Ensembles receive support in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture.