Guidelines for Submitting Items to the ITA Website, Newsletter, or Journal

Printable Version

The International Trombone Association produces three separate communication vehicles.

1. The ITA Website -- news and events
2. The Monthly ITA Email Newsletter
3. The Quarterly ITA Journal

Guidelines for each items appear below. General manuscript guidelines appear following that. Please read this carefully before submitting your item/article. Failure to follow these guidelines can delay publication of your item/article or cause it to be rejected entirely.

ITA Website

If you have an event or a news item to publicize, please use the online submission forms to submit your item.

A news item includes the following:

1. Announcing a new CD
2. Providing a recap of an event (a workshop, master class, performance, etc.)
3. Announcing an audition or a job that is open
4. Announcing the winners of a competition, audition, or other contest
5. Advising our membership of a death of a noted trombonist

An event is anything that has NOT yet happened. Please consider the information that a person from across the world might like/need to know to attend your event. Events include:

1. The premiere of a new piece
2. A recital
3. An appearance as guest artist
4. A performance with a symphony

IN SUM -- an event is used to publicize something THAT HAS NOT HAPPENED YET. A news item may be used to recap the event (after it has happened) and may include photos. Please submit photos as JPG files as high resolution as possible. 300 Dots Per Inch is the requested resolution. Lower res files may be suitable for the website, but will not appear in the print quarterly journal.

Please take care it submitting your items (for either news or events) that you include all the necessary information -- Who, What, Where, When, Why, How -- make certain that you include the location of a concert (including the address if the location is not well known outside of your area) -- make certain you include information about ticket prices and availability if tickets are required.

All events and news items will be edited for length, grammar, style, and clarity -- while our editors mainly work with the English language -- every attempt will be made to translate any items that are submitted in other languages.

The ITA Website is updated constantly -- if you submit a complete item -- it should be posted to the website in 5-10 working days. If you do not see your item posted in that time, please check back with us to ensure it did arrive safely.

ITA Email Newsletter

Each month -- news and events are compiled from the ITA Website and published in an email
newsletter. The newsletter is compiled on the first of every month -- and is emailed to the entire membership of the ITA. Every member who has provided a valid email address should receive the newsletter. If you are not receiving the newsletter and would like to -- you may sign up online at www.trombone.net/news/lyris/.

The email newsletter is designed as a digest of all the events and news items from the previous month. Only the headlines from each news item are included -- anyone interested in reading the complete text of an item is directed back to the website version. Anyone needing complete information about any of the events is also directed back to the website version. Again, the email newsletter is a digest.

ITA Journal

The ITA produces a quarterly journal. This glossy slick magazine includes several regular columns including:

• A General News Column (compiled from news items submitted to the website)
• An Orchestral Excerpts Column (compiled by Dennis Bubert)
• A Medical Column (written by Dr. Edward A. Wolff)
• A Literature Review Column (compiled by Mike Hall)
• A Literature Announcement Column (compiled by Karl Hinterbichler)
• An Audio/Video Review Column (compiled by Micah Everett)
• An Affiliate Societies Column (compiled by Brent Phillips)

as well as other columns that may be added from time to time. In addition to these regular columns, the journal includes feature articles, scholarly articles, and other general interest articles -- all designed to address the needs and interests of the broadly defined international trombone world of performers, teachers, and composers.

Unlike purely academic journals, the ITA Journal includes feature articles highlighting important people in the trombone world as well as other kinds of articles that deal with pedagogical issues of interest to educators. We also use the pages of the journal to highlight the details of the two ITA annual events:

1. The International Trombone Festival
2. International Trombone Week

We also use the pages of the journal to highlight the winners of the various awards and competitions sponsored by the ITA. If you have written an article that you would like to be considered for publication in the ITA Journal -- please note the following manuscript guidelines.

General Manuscript Guidelines

All of the ITA publications conform to the following guidelines in matters of style and grammar. Where not specifically addressed, you may find consulting the MLA (Modern Language Association) stylebook helpful. While any generally accepted modern English dictionary is fine to use, the editors of the ITA Journal generally refer to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary for spelling questions.

The ITA editors prefer that you use the MLA Style of documentation whenever writing articles that requires the documentation of sources. If you are unfamiliar with MLA Style, please consult any of the available grammar guidebooks that include a more complete discussion of this style. Two additional resources are

• Purchase the MLA stylebook
• Frequently asked questions about MLA style

MLA Style

Basically, MLA Style asks that you use NEITHER footnotes nor endnotes but instead use an internal reference system, where your references are documented with a parenthetical insert. For example,

Please note -- that "Johnson" in the above example refers to the lead author on the work being referred to and "231" refers to the exact page of that work where this specific information was originally found. Please note that the punctuation is placed after the parenthesis -- the documentation is "part" of the sentence.

At the end of the work, you must provide a "Works Cited" list of all the works referenced in your article. A reader who sees your internal documentation, may quickly flip to the "Works Cited" and consult to see the complete citation information for the entire work. A typical works cited page might include entries like:

MLA Style includes the following specifics:

Please use a single space after end punctuation. Many typing teachers taught students to use two spaces after a period, question mark, or other end punctuation. This is neither necessary nor useful with modern word processing. Use a SINGLE space.

Prepare your manuscript as a double spaced document with one inch margins on all four sides. Please submit your manuscript as an email attachment whenever possible. If that is not possible, then please submit your manuscript as both hard copy and as an electronic file saved to a disk. This ensures that the entire document is received and may be considered. The ITA strongly prefers that you use Microsoft Word as your word processing software, but we can often accommodate other word processing software packages. If you have a doubt, ask first.

ITA Style

The following are conventions observed by ITA Style.

Email Addresses/URLs
Email address and website URLs should be listed IN BOLD PRINT as follows

• claire@trombone.net
• www.trombone.net

Please notice we do not include the "http://" designation at the beginning of website addresses. Neither do we use the brackets or parentheses to enclose website or email addresses -- please do not use -- ( ) < > [ ]

Please use the following formats:

• online NOT on-line
• website NOT web-site or Website
• world-wide-web

Commas
We use a serial comma.

• CORRECT — Red, white, and blue
• INCORRECT — Red, white and blue

Capitalization
Note that a title, when following a name, is not capitalized. A title that appears before a name is capitalized.

• CORRECT — Ron Barron, principal trombonist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• INCORRECT — Ron Barron, Principal Trombone with the Boston Symphony Orchestra
• CORRECT — Principal Trombonist Barron was available after the concert.
• INCORRECT — Principal trombonist Barron was available after the concert.
• CORRECT — Tom Brantley, professor of trombone at the University of South Florida,
  was not at the meeting.
• INCORRECT — Tom Brantley, Professor of Trombone at the University of South Florida,
  was not at the meeting.
• CORRECT — Tom Brantley is the trombone professor at the university.
• CORRECT — I saw Professor Brantley heading off to class.
• INCORRECT — Tom Brantley is Director of Jazz Studies at the university.
• CORRECT — Professor Brantley is director of jazz studies at the university.

Periods
We prefer to use ITA without periods. In the same way that NFL, FBI, and CBS are generally used without periods, we recognize that ITA has come to represent the organization as a name and not simply an abbreviation. We also use ITF and ITW for the same reason -- without periods.

Title of Works
The titles of long works -- symphonies, operas, concerti, book titles -- should always be underlined or printed in italics.

The titles of short works -- chapters of books, poems, movements from longer works, arias -- should always be used with quotation marks.

• CORRECT — Beethoven's Ninth Symphony contains the wonderful fourth movement,
  which is known as "Ode to Joy."
• CORRECT — Verdi's Il Trovatore contains the famous tenor aria "Di quella pira."
• INCORRECT — The David "Concertino" has been played to death.
• CORRECT — Mozart's Requiem includes the oft-required "Tuba Mirum" trombone
  excerpt.

Numbers
Numbers one through nine are written as words; numbers 10 and higher are written as figures.

Time
Time is expressed as 4:30 p.m. 10:30 a.m.

Dates
Dates are always written as month date, and year November 22, 1934

Telephone Numbers
Telephone numbers are written 555-555-1212 +44-5555-123221

Life Dates
Life dates are written: 1900-1945 1894-1934

Quotation Marks
Commas and periods are placed inside quotation marks.
Semicolons and colons are placed outside quotation marks.
Question marks, exclamation points, and dashes are placed outside the quotation marks unless they are part of the quotation.

Musical Notation
Please write out musical notation -- or use special characters to indicate sharps and flats.

• E-flat Major or Eb
• F-sharp minor
• A-flat
• C-sharp

Place Names
Use traditional English form for place names such as Florence (not Firenze) and Munich (not Munchen).

Foreign Languages
Be careful to accurately represent accents and special characters in words in languages other than English.

Copyright
Publication of materials by ITA provides global recognition and distribution of each Author’s contribution through ITA’s printed journal, back issues and reprints availability program, and electronic publication and distribution program including but not limited to the ITA Web Site.

In consideration of the International Trombone Association (ITA) publishing materials from an Author, the Author grants to ITA either the Exclusive or Non-exclusive right to use the material in any manner, including but not limited to publication in the printed and/or electronic versions of the ITA Journal, Journal Supplements, Compilations, or Reprints; CD-ROM; for access via the Internet; Non-ITA Reprint or Distribution Centers; or in any manner or means that ITA wishes, including by and through any media, whether now existing or hereinafter developed. ITA may use third parties to accomplish any part of its publication/distribution programs.

The Author is the original copyright owner of the materials or has provided written documentation of current copyright ownership. If the Author's material incorporates text/musical/graphic/photographic/sound works or excerpts of other copyright owners, the Author agrees that, upon request by the ITA should the ITA deem it necessary to do so, the Author will provide to ITA written permission from each copyright owner, to the extent such releases can be obtained following a reasonable effort, prior to publication by ITA. The Author agrees to indemnify against any liability, and to reimburse ITA, its officers, or Publications Editor for any expenses or losses due to infringement of the intellectual property rights of others resulting from the publication of the Author's work.

The Author agrees to allow ITA full use of the submitted materials without monetary compensation.

If the submitted materials include interviews, the Author agrees to provide a written release from each person interviewed.

Where to Submit?

News
A news item for the ITA Website: www.trombone.net/news/

Events
An event for the ITA Website: www.trombone.net/events/

Items on the ITA website are collected and included automatically in the ITA Monthly Email Newsletter. News items from the ITA website are collected quarterly and comprise the General News column that appears in each issue of the ITA Journal. There is no need to make an additional submission.

ITA Journal
A scholarly article:

A feature article on a jazz topic:

A feature article on a non-jazz topic:

A CD or performance video for review

A piece of published music (sheet music)

A program from a recital or performance

The mailing addresses and fax numbers of the editors are also available in the ITA Journal on the Table of Contents page (page one) of each issue.

Reviews are the sole opinion of the reviewer and do not necessarily represent the views of ITA or its members.

Corrections of factual information in a review, especially bibliographic information, are encouraged and will be printed in the next available journal.