Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • December 2014
18
in the future, rather than picking apart each mistake
made in the past. This activity utilizes technology to
capitalize on the students’ cultural dependence on
visual reinforcement and empowers them to interpret
and analyze more readily what their ears are hearing
in terms of intonation, tone, articulation, air flow and
overall body of sound (overtones).
Taking off the training wheels
By Pre-UIL in the spring, the students are so
much more adept at adjusting their chords that
tuning becomes almost second nature. By now, the
individual tuner on each stand gets in the way of the
students’ musicianship. We keep the tuners on the
stand for independent warm-up and tuning at the
beginning of rehearsals and concerts, but turn them
off once we are working on the music. It is amazing
to hear the difference between a band at this stage
playing with their tuners up and running, and the
same band playing the same music with their tuners
off. If the band has been working toward intonation
independence all year, they will be ready to tune
independent of the machine. The students move
their performance to a level above all the individual
pitches and the technological gadgets. They make
music together infused with their intellect, passion and
energy. The quest has reached its objective, and this is
the moment of triumph… for this year!
Join the quest !
I welcome any questions that you may have regard-
ing your own journey as we guide our students towards
intonation independence:
jason.schayot@risd.org.
Acknowledgements
Every idea revealed in this article has been learned
from many amazing educators in my life who inspired
me to synthesize their information into something
that worked for me. Thank you to Beth Bronk, Mary
Ellen Cavitt and Rob Myers for all of your fantastic
clinics at TBA and TMEA regarding intonation and
the Yamaha Harmony Director. Much of what I teach
grew out of your body of work! Rodney Klett was my
mentor in Georgetown, and helped me understand
how to analyze a score and break it down for the
students. He is an amazing educator and musician,
and I learned so much from him. Lynne Jackson is a
dear friend and colleague at Berkner who has been a
driving force for the documentation of my intonation
work by inviting me to SMU to give clinics to her
graduate classes for the past three years. I owe much
to Andrew Weak and Chris Pineda who lead our two
fantastic feeder junior highs—Apollo JH and Liberty
JH. Their attention to fundamentals, quality of sound
and articulation empowers the high school directors to
take the students to the highest level. Finally, so much
credit and gratitude goes to Frank Troyka who has
been a guiding light for me and all of Team Berkner
as we have developed many of these techniques in the
Mighty Ram Band Hall.
Jason Schayot is Associate Director of Bands at L.V. Berkner High School in the Richardson ISD. His responsibilities include conducting
Symphonic Band II, the jazz band and the pit orchestra as well as co-directing the Berkner Mighty Ram Marching Band and Symphony
Orchestra. He is currently in his 18
th
year of teaching. Before coming to Richardson in 2011, Mr. Schayot served as Director of Bands at
Georgetown High School. Under his leadership, Georgetown received UIL Sweepstakes awards each year and advanced to the Area level in
TMEA Honor Band competition. In addition to his secondary work, Mr. Schayot worked at the middle school level in Georgetown as Head
Band Director at Forbes Middle School and Associate Band Director at Benold Middle School. Before coming to Georgetown, he was the Band
Director at Giddings Middle School in Giddings, Texas, for three years. His dedication to music education at the beginning level continues
as he works daily teaching sixth graders in the Berkner High School cluster. Mr. Schayot holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from
Southwestern University. He is a member of the TMEA, TBA, Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society and TMAA.
Guiding Students to Intonation Independence