Another in our series of tips on how to best get your band ready to make a television appearance.

In tip #8 of this TV-series, we talked about watching for cues from the stage producer and talent for entrances and exits. The question of how to stop playing effectively when cued (without sounding like someone pulled the plug) is the topic of today's tip. It requires us to shift gears and talk music theory. To pull off an entrance or exit theme on the fly and stop on cue requires a different type of musical thinking. You must think theoretically as well as stylistically. We already discussed the fact that up-tempo music works best for live television shows. From a stylistic standpoint music that is repetitious, say a 2- or 4-bar phrase, would be appropriate. A style that fits the bill is funk; it's high-energy, repetitive, and usually centers around a 2-bar phrase. In terms of theory, the phrase is usually a turnaround, which in jazz refers to a 2- or 4-measure phrase that forms a cadence at the end of a verse or chorus that leads back to the opening chord. The advantage of this is that since songs tend to end on the opening chord, you can end the phrase quickly and on cue, rather than in the middle of a chord progression, which will sound unfinished. It's like stopping a sentence in the middle without fully…

In the tenth and final tip of the series, we'll discuss how a little music theory can help you create a cadence from any chord in a progression &mdash so you can avoid musical phrases from chopping off like the preceding sentence.