1st Place Designs

Central District Update

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 23:48:00 +0000

Not only has the program, been announced for April's big event, but Jeff has set up a blog site just for the kids in the Jazz Band. Check it out at: Central District Jazz. You will find the program, audio of each piece as well as selected audio from source materials. He has also added improv play-a-long tracks for each piece as well as scale sheets to build solos with. The concert will be held at Auburn (MA) HS on Sat., April 30th.

New Show Audio Posted here on our Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 02:12:00 +0000

Clicking here will bring you to audio for our new shows as they are released. Look in the sidebar for audio as it is released.

Jeff's Summer Camp Article

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 01:45:00 +0000

Jeff just posted his preview of sumer music camps for 2011, particularly for MS and HS students in the northeast US. You can check it out by -> clicking here.

Jeff is invited to conduct MMEA Central District Festival

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 02:00:00 +0000

Jeff was invited to once again conduct a Festival group, perhaps one of his favorite honors. He will conduct the Jazz Ensemble for the Mass. Central Jr. District Festival in April. He had the chance to do the same gig back in `06 in this District and had a blast with these young musicians. At present the program, auditions, and details are still being worked out, but we know the actual concert will be held on April 30th in Marlboro, MA. Thanks to Asst. Manager Mike Morel, ex-staff member at ECJ, for inviting Jeff back.

Introducing The Real School of Music

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:10:00 +0000

Jeff is settling in for a winter of curriculum design/writing for The Real School of Music in Burlington, Mass. The Real School has an impressive facility and an exciting vision for their future. As they look to expand their lesson and ensemble offerings, Jeff has been contracted to design, create, and edit a comprehensive wind and concert percussion curriculum. The school already offers rhythm section and vocal lessons, and they have a unique system they are developing to guide a student from beginner to advanced levels. Students are all part of the RealBands program, and are placed in an ensemble based on their level within the lesson program. The school regularly hosts live performances and clinics in their performance venue.

Jeff took a tour of the Real School Burlington campus in September to familiarize his school students and parents with the Real School lesson programs. You can see his tour right here: therealschoolofmusic.com

His ability to create and organize age appropriate literature for developing musicians has resulted in several unique learning systems including his 1st Place Band Builders warm up drills, and 1st Place Etudes. Both of these products resulted from years of experience with school bands and drum corps as a director, lesson teacher, and technical advisor. The Real School administration recognized Jeff's odd skill set, and willingness to create a long term, cutting edge program that offers customized private and group lessons with online delivery of materials, grading info, and exhaustive audio support for every student. His ability to arrange and compose for small and large groups also offers The Real School the chance to eventually offer RealBand opportunities for chamber, concert, jazz, and rock ensembles for wind players enrolled at The Real School. Visit The Real School site to keep informed of this developing school program.

New shows in the works for 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 16:54:00 +0000

1st Place Designs is putting together the final edits and rewrites for exciting new marching band productions. Soon to be released is Pachelbel's Paradigm, which overlaps the Canon with well known rock hits including Hook by Blues Traveler and Cryin' by Aerosmith. This show was designed by Jeff Bolduc, with percussion arrangements by Nick Hobbs. Hook features dueling guitars in the pit, and some great rhythm section and wind solo features. You can hear the demo files of this show in the audio box to the right. We just need to add an intro to Cryin' (3rd production).

Look for the long awaited release of the Dreams of Freedom show this winter as well, and our Latin show will finally be a cohesive show for sale instead of separate arrangements. Contact Jeff directly for information on any of these or our older shows.

Welcome Back Land O Lakes HS

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:59:00 +0000

We are psyched to welcome back Rich Wohl and the Land O Lakes HS Band in Florida as a client. Work has begun on their 2010 show and it should be an exciting original creation developed by Jeff, Rich, and the LOLHS staff. We created the Pink Floyd show for LOL in 2008, and are delighted that the band continues to grow and prosper under Rich's guidance. Stay tuned for a show announcement as the theme develops over the next couple of months.

Jeff Published Two New Articles on MSMS Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:51:00 +0000

Two very useful articles have been written and posted by Jeff over the past 2 months. The first has received countless hits from across the blog landscape as it discusses how 'non-musical' parents can be more involved with a child who is studying to be young instrumentalist. Many parents feel they don't know enough about instrumental music studies to advise their child on what/how to practice, and on tangible advise on how to improve. This article addresses some useful suggestions: Home Practice.

More recently, Jeff has compiled a list of Summer Music Camps available here in the Northeast. There are links to almost every camps site. The time is now to investigate and book a spot for a memorable summer musical experience. Hopefully this article will help to navigate through all the possibilities.

1st Place Team Busier Than Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:44:00 +0000

Although 1st Place Designs has been quiet on the web, they have been active on many other fronts. Fred has returned to Jersey Surf as the staff and show coordinator for the 2010 season. Kim is now the Events Coordinator for the Boston Crusaders and has started a brand new music festival in the Greater Boston area called Mass Bay Music Festival. You can check out their website at: massbaymusicfestival.com. Ed and Matt are very busy with their respective winter groups, and Jeff has been crazy establishing several music ed blog sites for his school music department. The main department site is: msmsmusic. He has set up other blogs for his lesson students, music class, and for interactive SmartBoard presentations in class. The one that most music students (rock history and guitar) kids log onto is Mr. B's Blog. His band kids log onto: MSMS Band Files.

Design Team Unveiling New Shows This Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:16:00 +0000

1st Place Designs has been quiet for the past few months while we prepared for the coming winter show selection season. We have added several Single Charts, but will also be unveiling several prearranged shows. Included will be Aaron Copland's Billy The Kid, Time - The Music of Pink Floyd, and 1001 Arabian Nights. We will also be releasing our first Latin show featuring Ensueno, the beautiful ballad Spain, and the challenging but exciting Malaguena.

If you've got any ideas, send them along. Original show ideas are becoming our primary goal, but sharing the shows above with the marching band world were our biggest priority for this upcoming show season. Check back this Winter for our full catalog.

1st Place Etudes Now Available

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:51:00 +0000

We are excited to announce that the 1st Place Etudes band assessment system is finished and ready! 1st Place Etudes is a tool that Band Directors have been asking for, and Jeff has created. These Etudes are developed to facilitate individual playing assessments to measure student achievement. These 35 melodic studies can follow your band students from grade 6 well into high school with a systematic introduction to common keys, key signatures, articulative combinations, rhythms, and styles. The best part is that there are accompanying Etudes written specifically to enhance your percussionists technique that correlate with the wind studies. Our Etude Snare Book was edited by Charley Poole, DCI Hall of Fame percussionist, ensuring a '1st rate' approach for percussionists as well as winds. This complete set of Etudes will allow a teacher to prepare Etudes while engaging the entire band. They can used an extension of your warm ups, or prepared over time for individual or sectional performances, recitals, or auditions.

Have Assessment Day - After choosing an age-appropriate Etude for your ensemble, set up as many recorders as possible in practice rooms and have each student individually enter the room (Flute room, Trumpet room, etc.) and record the Etude. Teachers can then grade each performance and give students detailed feedback on their performance. Included are a variety of assessment sheets that both teachers and students can use to gauge their progress. There are several teacher grade sheet layouts included from a simple Star system, to more in depth 'checklist' type of systems. Number ranges offer either a 20 point system (so many students can score in the 11-19 range), to 100 point systems that could be used for performance grades or for seating order in an ensemble. Included student rubrics are developed to assist them through the entire preparation of the piece by asking guiding questions that address those areas that the teacher will be assessing. (Tone, Rhythm, Articulation, Musicianship, etc.)

1st Place Etudes can also be used in Private Lesson programs - purchase one book, or the whole set. These Etudes can also be a valuable tool for sight reading activities. Etudes include swing studies, classical pieces such as Hungarian Dance, Minuet, Can-Can, etc, modal pieces, songs in 2, 3, 4, 5, 6/8, and cut time, march melodies, ballads, a spiritual, and many original lines written by Jeff. Something for everyone!

As always, when you but a 1st Place product, you also purchase unlimited copying rights for your school. Why buy a new set of books every year? By buying the master set of parts and teacher score, you can decide how many to make, whenever you choose, for as long as you teach at that school! Why pretend that people don't copy? Buying our materials gives you the right to copy as needed, whether your program has 50 or 500 students. Also, it's available via pdf so you can store them on your computer or use them with SmartMusic, or for an additional cost we can ship an archival quality master set, in binders, that you can have for future use.

This is a product that you will use for years. The assessment sheets alone are a great asset in adding more authentic assessment practices to your band program. You could also introduce other studies, your own melodies, or choose different pieces for each instrument or grade. It's a very flexible system that Jeff has developed over more than 20 years of teaching from middle school through college-age students. The teacher guide discusses possible variables and tips on customizing the 1st Place Etudes method to suit your band programs assessment needs.

If interested on availability and pricing, contact us at http://www.1stplacedesigns.com/contact.html

Welcome Kempsville HS

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:04:00 +0000

We are excited that Kempsville HS from Virginia Beach, VA has chosen to perform our Pink Floyd show – Time – for the fall season. We’d like to welcome new Band Director Tim Gauldin and the Marching Chiefs to our growing list of clients. This show was arranged by Jeff and Ed will be writing the drill.

The show features and intro of Brain Damage, which leads into the opener - Time. The middle production includes Wish You Were Here, and Us and Them, with the closer returning Brain Damage and ending with a constantly building Eclipse. The concept is based on the passage of time and clocks are central to the design. We are confident that the Marching Chiefs and their staff will enjoy bringing this show to life and wish them great success in the `09 season.

1st Place offers printing services for their products.

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:41:00 +0000

Customers interested in our Band Builders – Book 1, or the 1st Place Etudes can continue to order the pdf’s, but can also order archival quality master sets of all our products shipped directly to you or your school. These arrive in beautiful binders that allow band directors or private teachers to start copying right out of the box. If you don’t want to print your own masters and worry about organizing and protecting your investment, let 1st Place provide you with beautifully printed masters on sturdy, long lasting stock. As always, buying these products includes unlimited copying rights for your school or lesson program as long as you teach there. Great deal!

Band Builders Now Available

noreply@blogger.com (Design Team) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:52:00 +0000

Check out the Warm Ups Page on our website to find out more about this exciting twist on traditional printed method books. Book 2 will be ready this summer, and our book of Band Etudes will be available next month. This book features 35 Etudes, available for every band instrument, and includes a variety of assessment sheets and rubrics for teachers to introduce authentic assessment practices into their Instrumental classrooms.