Vicfirth.com

=Vic Firth Website [|www.vicfirth.com]=

=Authority=
 * This website is the official website for Vic Firth Inc., a popular manufacturer of percussion sticks, mallets, and accessories.
 * Mr. Vic Firth, founder of the company, has been a leader in the music education community for the last 40 years. He has performed professionally with many prestigious music groups in the Boston area. Vic Firth has also published 17 compositions for high school and college performers, as well as written eight method books for student musicians. A full biography can be found within the website.
 * The Vic Firth Education Team is one of the industry’s innovating forces in providing resources to percussion educators.

=Instructional Content= > #2. Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. > #3. Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments. > #5. Reading and notating music. > #6. Listening to, analyzing, and describing music. > #7. Evaluating music and music performances. = = =Purpose, Viewpoint= = = =Reputation=
 * This site has a wide variety of features useful for both music educators and percussion students including:
 * **Percussion News**: Industry news can be seen on the site itself or emailed to you by your interest (drum set, marching percussion, concert & keyboard percussion, or education).
 * **A schedule of events** for sponsored artists and educators giving clinics around the country.
 * **Video Pod casts**: Performance spotlights, master classes, and video interviews are featured for drum set, marching percussion, and concert percussion.
 * **Tutorial on How Drum Sticks are Made** (pictures and video)
 * **Product Catalog**: A comprehensive catalog of all products available for purchase through Vic Firth music dealers.
 * **Vic Firth Artists**: Links to artist pages with most featuring instructional videos and tutorials.
 * **Education Resource Center**: Audio and video files with the experts featuring instructional content including 40 essential snare drum rudiments, online exercises, and articles for teachers and students written by professional percussionists.
 * **__National Standards Used__**:
 * Although one of the goals of this website is to feature its line of products, it clearly represents a strong commitment to music education.
 * The site states one of its main goals is to "provide resources to percussion educators."
 * The majority of the content on the website is for instructional purposes, compared with only a small amount of content for its products.
 * The majority of articles and videos on the website do not specifically endorse Vic Firth products in a written or verbal form. Artists can be seen using Vic Firth products, but that seems to be the extent of support.
 * The Vic Firth Company is known throughout the percussion world and in music education circles as a reputable company that makes quality products.
 * Vic Firth, the founder of the company is well respected in the music education community and is recognized throughout the country for his contributions to music education.

=Overall Evaluation=
 * Overall, I think this site would be very useful for student percussionists and teachers of percussionists. There is a wide variety of information and topics available on the website and it does a nice job of covering many percussion issues. Marching percussion and concert percussion topics are given as much attention as topics related to drum set and education. There does seem to be a lack of topics on "world music percussion" on this site, although the argument could be made that Vic Firth does not produce many products that would be used for this genre. As a music educator, I would refer to the resources on this site often when teaching my middle school and high school percussionists. I believe actual class lesson plans and assignments could be designed using the content on this website.
 * Rating - * * * * *

Brad Hruska 3/26/08