Bluffs Middle School band students get Stellar lesson Published April 20, 2011 By Katie Bradshaw Star-Herald Newspaper, Scottsbluff, Nebraska Scottsbluff, Nebraska -- On Tuesday morning, Bluffs Middle School students were treated to a performance by the U.S. Air Force Academy Band's Stellar Brass Ensemble. During three class periods around the lunch hour, BMS band students in each grade participated in clinics led by the ensemble members. BMS band instructor Mike Koch said he tries to bring in new learning opportunities for his students whenever he can. He said that guest instructors like the Stellar Brass Ensemble musicians benefit his students in several ways. The ensemble members are role models of adults who enjoy playing music. Koch wants his students to see that it is possible to play an instrument through middle school, through high school and into adulthood. "Music is something you can do your entire life," he said, adding that he has heard of research studies that indicate that people who are actively involved with music tend to live longer and happier lives. Koch said a recent joint jazz concert between the BMS band and the Western Nebraska Community College band provided a similar example of adults continuing to play music for fun. The WNCC band is composed of community members of all ages. "You don't have to be a professional" to enjoy music, Koch tells his students. He also reminds them that they don't have to be stupendous musicians to have fun with music. He paraphrased a quote, "If only the best birds in the forest sang, the forest would be awfully quiet." Koch also appreciated the fact that during their visit the Stellar Brass Ensemble members reinforced the lessons he teaches in class. During the first of the three clinic sessions, the six ensemble members in crisp Air Force Academy attire held the attention of the seventh-graders filling the band room. Technical Sergeant Emanuel Jester led the class in a lesson in which he compared breathing to using a bow and arrow - pull back, breathe in, and let it go. "Air is free. Take in as much of it as you can," Jester said. Technical Sergeant Tim Blake advised the students on how they should focus their practice sessions. Practice doesn't make perfect, he said, noting that no one is perfect. Instead, the students should work on developing good technique. "Practice makes permanent - you're building habits," Blake said. Koch smiled at this reinforcement of a lesson he teaches in his classroom. "Have you ever heard that before?" he asked the class. "Yes!" came the response from around the room. Koch asked the Stellar Brass Ensemble members to tell the students why they should continue playing their instruments through middle school and beyond. The Air Force musicians had a lot to say. Blake told the students that music would allow them to meet new people, work as part of a team, see different parts of the world and make a connection with the people who come to hear what they have to say with their music. "You'll be able to do things that not a lot of your peers will be able to do," Blake said. "That's a really powerful thing." Jester spoke of the stress relief music can provide, using a tuba-playing rocket-scientist friend of his as an example. He also emphasized the skills the students will build through music that will help them succeed in life - studying, practicing, committing to something for the long term. Many successful people, like doctors and lawyers, have a musical background, Jester pointed out. Senior Master Sergeant Steven Kindermann said that learning to play music in a group is a complex and nuanced undertaking that trains the brain to be able to handle multiple sources of information at once. After the ensemble members were done speaking, Koch stepped up to the front of the room and led the class in a performance of the U.S. Field Artillery March. As the ensemble members listened, several of them smiled and tapped their immaculately polished shoes to the beat. At the end of the performance, the Air Force Academy musicians praised the student musicians. "This is middle school?" "Wow." "Very good!" The bell rang. The seventh-grade students left the band room, the sixth-grade students filed in, and the Stellar Brass Ensemble began another lesson. Today the Stellar Brass Ensemble is scheduled to play for pre-kindergarten students in the morning and for Westmoor Elementary students in the afternoon. The group will play in Chadron on Thursday.