Name: Becky Pritchard
City, State of Residence: Gaithersburg, MD
Occupation: Pritchard Music owner, horn teacher, chamber ensemble coach
Favorite Instrument to Play: French horn
Becky Pritchard, along with her husband Joe opened Pritchard Music-Kentlands in 2009. She is the Director of Music Education overseeing their 260 students while keeping an active teaching schedule herself. Becky coaches many chamber ensembles, including the Powerhouse Brass, an award winning brass quintet that performs throughout the state.
Becky did her undergraduate work at the University of Minnesota and graduate work at Boston University. She spent several summers at the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center near Lenox, Massachusetts, first as a student then returning as a teacher and coach in the brass quintet seminar. While her passion is teaching, Becky is also a strong advocate for funding of music and arts in the schools. Becky and Joe have worked with the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation and members of congress for the past eight years on the wording of the recently enacted Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) bill that was signed into law in December of 2015.
Becky currently serves on the board of directors for the Gaithersburg Arts and Monuments Funding Corporation (GAMFC), The Patriot Brass, and was formerly on board of the Montgomery Philharmonic Orchestra.
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Village Virtuoso: Your business, Pritchard Music Academy, caters to elementary school to high school aged kids, providing music education, lessons, and various local gigs. Do you speak with the older kids about performing music in college and even later? If so, what are those conversations like?
Becky Pritchard: When Joe and I were in high school we were planning to go into the arts professionally – him in acting and me in music performance. We did not have that one teacher or coach that sat us down and said, “This is what you want to do? OK, here is what you need to do. Here is who you need to contact. Here is what to expect”. Had we had that conversation, it would have made things easier and we would have known how to network and how to be in the best places. When we opened our doors we knew that was going to be a big part of what we do and what we offer.
When a student starts lessons, we have a talk with them about what they want to do, play, and learn. Periodically we revisit that conversation, especially if the student begins to show a deeper commitment and passion for music. We always—with all students—encourage preparing recitals, auditioning for county and state-wide competitions, and performing as much as possible. From that a few stand out and we guide them to higher level auditions, summer music camps like Tanglewood, Interlochen, and Aspen. Getting them to know how to reach out to teachers and professionals for lessons or advice is key.
We have brought the Canadian Brass (or members thereof) to town four times in the last seven years, and a different year we drove 13 of our students to the University of Illinois for a Canadian Brass week long camp called “Brass Act”. Giving young musicians that kind of exposure and encouraging them to reach out and keep in touch is a big step. We started our careers the hard way and we want to make it easier or at least more direct for our ‘kids’. They will still need to do the work of course, but maybe doing all of this means the right person will hear them sooner.
VV: Last year you and Joe also started a summer program called Brass Intensive, where brass players of any age could sign up for a week of rehearsals in small ensembles, plus a performance at the end of the camp. How do you think it went?
BP: I was incredibly happy with the success of the Intensive for our first year. There were a few details that we needed to tweak and a few instances during the week that required some pretty fast thinking. We sent out a questionnaire at the end and most participant response was positive. A few items didn’t get the highest marks from some and, while it was tough to read, I appreciated it because I think it helped me with the planning for this year. We have added some things into the week that I think are really exciting.
VV: What new experiences can this year’s camp attendees look forward to?
BP: This year we will have a “Lending Library” with all of our chamber music (not just Canadian Brass music) for groups to check out and read through. Also there will be more time for the more advanced groups to rehearse on their own; same-instrument chamber music; and separation of the youngest campers from the more advanced players for different, more focused master classes.
VV: Last year, the world-renowned Canadian Brass reviewed each of the groups, played a private concert for all the participants, and performed a public concert in a very nice local auditorium. They’re returning this year. Will their part in the camp be any different?
BP: YES! They will be back! We have a great relationship with the members of Canadian Brass and they are so committed music education it was a no-brainer to have them back again this year. There may be a few things that will be enhanced but basically that portion of the week will be the same.
VV: What are your thoughts on having skilled brass musicians at the camp? It seems like a nice outlet for adult musicians who want more experience playing in small ensembles.
BP: I love it! It is different working with adults, as they have a lot more experience, education, and maturity, so the way you coach them can be so different. I also have a lot of producing hours with students and adult chamber groups. I really enjoy working in the recording studio, being the outside ear and helping a group record and master a great product.
VV: What do the other coaches think?
BP: In talking with the other coaches, I found that they really enjoyed the week and getting to work with so many different groups.
VV: What do the students think?
BP: One of the best comments from one of the participants from last year was that he wished it could be two weeks this year! We have a lot of returning students so mostly I think they liked it. There were some comments that were not as positive, but I decided to take some of them into consideration when planning for this year.
VV: Aside from the wide variety of playing abilities, was there anything about organizing a week-long brass camp that was different from what you expected?
BP: Organize. Organize. Plan. Make lists….and after that, be flexible because no matter how much you plan, something is going to happen requiring some quick thinking and imagination. There were a few challenges—rooms and air conditioning mainly. That was really no one’s fault and just needed to be chalked up to inexperience. What I learned (hopefully) was to be really specific and detailed when writing up the proposal.
VV: How about the discipline, attitudes, or personalities of the musicians? Any surprises there?
BP: Honestly, the thing the most surprised me was the young kids. We had a whole group of students that we called “the single digits” because of their ages. I was a bit concerned that they would get bored faster or their chops wouldn’t last, so we had a Plan B, C, D, and E for them just in case. As it turned out, they were right on the whole week. Another thing that didn’t surprise me necessarily but was a good challenge was when some of the adults didn’t agree with my interpretation of a piece or gave reasons for why they couldn’t do something. It is not a bad thing, just not something the school age kids do. I enjoy having to explain my reasoning for an interpretation and being challenged like that by a player. It really makes me think forwards and backwards about why I want to hear something a certain way.
VV: Anything else you want to tell us about student or community brass ensembles, from an organizer’s perspective?
BP: Working with student and community brass groups is what I love to do. I enjoy finding new and interesting places to perform and then getting the music together and learned. As far as the student ensembles, it is amazing to me that there aren’t more quintets out there other than for solo/ensemble competitions. My student ensembles start in elementary school and continue through high school, it is an important part of music education. For adult groups, I enjoy taking things to the next level and working with people that are seasoned players and seeing what more can be drawn out of them musically. Brass chamber music makes me happy and I just want as many people playing it as possible.