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Rehearse Your Ensemble Less

This is the time of year when music programs in schools are preparing for festivals, honor bands, conferences, etc. Oh, the pressure of sounding great in public so we look good in front of our peers. We must add extra rehearsals, and after school sectionals, and Saturday clinics. But, is this counter productive to what we are trying to do educationally, and what does this really do to the student musician?

Think about this.  If we provide a system for young musicians that allows them multiple chances to get things wrong, will they ever strive to be right the first time? If we make it easy on the student by placing all of the responsibility on us, will they ever take personal responsibility to practice?

How much do we really need to rehearse?

Kids that are in band/orchestra or choir programs in school get class time every day of the week (in most situations). That is roughly 5 hours of rehearsal per week. Most programs begin preparing pieces for concerts months in advance of the concert or festival. If programs are rehearsing 5 hours per week x 3 months, that is around 60 hours of rehearsal on 3-4 peices of music.

There is no way mentally this is stimulating to young musicians. Oh wait, I forgot that we need to add after school rehearsals to this as well. Subconsciously the student feels there is no reason to practice, because there will always be another chance to try and get it right.

Are we scared to turn our groups loose without over rehearsing?

I believe we are. My belief is that human nature is to want to succeed. If you tell a student we have a concert on a specific date, and rehearse and educate them enough to give them the tools they need to prepare, my belief is with less time to get it wrong, they will get it right. . . . . . through their own personal responsibility because they want to succeed.

What if they do not succeed? What if this doesn’t work? Would there not be a great lesson to teach through this process?

Let’s treat these young musicians like professionals.  In the professional world, there might be one rehearsal for multiple concerts instead of multiple rehearsals for one concert.  If we treat students like adults and professionals, will they not rise to the occasion? There is only one way to find out.

I teach multiple chamber music programs with many different school music programs and make it a point to only rehearse one time per week for 1 hour. We have maybe 10 hours of rehearsal and then perform a concert, and it is always miraculous to hear the musical product and to see the level of improvement in each musician individually. It was a scary thing to do at first, but the effeciency in both the music education and the teaching allows learning to happen at a faster pace and higher level, and the students WANT to succeed.

Why are we scared to rehearse less?

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Make the Right Decisions

Ways to Improve Your Marching Band

Its cold and miserable in the middle of January and band programs are knee deep in the middle of concert season preparing for spring concerts, music festivals and solo and ensemble events. This time of year is no doubt the most important part of the year to the improvement of our young musicians. With our heads down and our focus centered on music making, when do we begin planning for the upcoming marching season?

This is it! This is the time to begin looking at what we did last year, and begin looking at how we can improve our product for the 2015 fall marching season. The problem many of us face is that we are afraid to self reflect and “die to self” when we take a step outside of our programs and look at what needs to improve. What decisions were wrong decisions? Why was our program not as successful last year as we thought it might be?

It is easy for us to say “those judges last year were not great,” or “I think I might try a different circuit, as they do not like us in the circuit we were in last year.” Instead of looking for excuses, we need to self-reflect and make changes.  What we need to realize is:

Every Decision Matters

There is no decision that we make from January-November when planning, implementing, and rehearsing a marching band, that is not important.  From deciding what music to play, to if I should have a first trumpet play a high G in measure 15, every decision must be the right decision.  In fact, to be extremely competitive, every decision must be scrutinized and pondered until you are certain it is the right one. The problem is that we all think our decisions are right most of the time but we need to not be afraid to ask for help and accept advice. Being humble, learning from others, and being constant learners in our profession will help us make more educated decisions. We have to realize that we cannot do everything ourselves. We cannot design the guard costumes, rehearse the brass, make music changes, handle student/parent issues, balance an ensemble, refine marching style, arrange the music, etc. without HELP!

When planning the upcoming program, ASK FOR HELP!

What do we need to do when looking at the upcoming season? Well, assuming all the right steps are being taken in the concert season to improve the musicianship, begin asking yourself some simple questions to SELF REFLECT.

1. Am I providing these young musicians with the best opportunities for success in brass, woodwind, visual, guard, drill writing, music arranging, etc.? It is ok to make changes, but do not make changes just for the sake of making changes.  The grass is not always greener on the other side so be very specific in providing students the best product for success.

2. What did I do last year that hurt the product? This is a hard one. None of us want to admit that we did anything wrong, but the truth is, we all do things that we wish we could do differently. Try to humble yourself, and improve.  BE HUMBLE.

3. Why do I do competitive marching season? What are my goals for the program and most importantly the students for this time of year?

4. Labor over every decision, and take money out of the equation.  Yes, we all have budget restraints that we deal with, but just for sake of argument, make a wish list of things that provide the best experience for your musicians, and see what you may be able to change, or move around to make it work.  Do you really need the new winter guard mat this year, or would a new woodwind instructor benefit the students and program more this year?

Make every decision an important one and remember. Your decisions affect many more than yourself. Every decision made must give the young students the best chance for success and give them the best education opportunities.

Are you making the right decisions?

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Musicality Over Volume in the Marching Arts

We just finished a wonderful marching band season here in Kentucky.  I am thankful to be able to adjudicate marching bands within KMEA and work with many ensembles as either a music/brass coordinator or as a music consultant.  As a music educator, I am constantly longing to be affected by the music in marching season but very seldom am. Here is why I think that is:

Louder is not always better

Why do we work so hard on creating a product that is aesthetically pleasing but ruin it with overblown moments of uncharacteristic tones, poor phrasing and unbalanced timbres? Can beauty of balance and sonority affect us deeper than shear volume?

The marching arts is an extraordinary opportunity to take beautiful music and marry it with a visual product to enhance the emotional effect for the listener. We have a chance to create musical nuance to take the listener on a journey AND have the ability to pair it with nuanced visual effect.  What a great opportunity! Of course, volume is important as we reach climax, but it certainly does not control the emotional effect of the listener or performer.  There are so many rewarding opportunities for student musicians to learn and grow as musicians during marching band but only if we pave a musical avenue that is free of anything other than beauty and heartfelt emotion.

I like to ask students to think of adjectives that come to mind when they are performing different parts of the musical selections.  Some might say “longing”, or “hopeful” as feelings they want to portray.  I also find it very useful to have students think of adjectives that describe their feeling of the tones they are producing.  Obviously if one says “harsh” or “loud” we have an issue with the way this music will affect the listener. We want students to be comfortable and proud with the power they have as performers and musicians to guide a listener in and out of the same adjectives they feel as they are making the music. Instead of “loud” lets feel “power”. Instead of “harsh” lets feel “intensity”.  The performer must put musicianship and emotion in every note they perform, or the music feels lifeless and unimportant.

Can we have students be marching musicians instead of a marching band?

Long phrases with dynamic interest on every note. Using the middle dynamic range instead of just “soft” and “loud”. Musical communication between performers allowing them move out of they way to let more important lines be heard. Exploring the different rich timbres of each instrument in relation to what the music asks. Feeling and perfoming the emotion of the music and guiding the listener through the music using forward motion and direction. Creating a beautiful balance and blend that warms the musical soul. WOW! I would take those over “loud” any day!

It all starts with a well structured and fine tuned concert program including placing much personal responsibility on the students to make their own music with minimal “spoon feeding”. This comes with less after school rehearsals for concert band, more focus on chamber ensembles and private lessons, and very efficient rehearsals where music, instead of ratings, is of the utmost importance. Trips to the symphony, masterclasses with professional musicians, and solo and small ensemble concerts in and out of school can guide this kind of learning. Directors and students alike are longing for music making that means something and affects the heart and soul.

Marching Band can be of so much value to the student musicians and to the audience. Our sense of musicianship must be heightened when taking the concert medium to the outdoors.  What story are we trying to tell, and how musically can we present the information that is best for the performer, listener and staff involved?

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Band, Meet Chamber Music!

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Training young musicians is what makes me excited and over time I have tried to not do things as they have always been done, but find the things that truly give the students the best avenue to be better musicians. I believe that young players can be truly amazing beyond what they ever thought capable of themselves, and love the process. I do not feel there is any limit to the level of expertise a young musician can achieve when given the right opportunities.

Young aspiring musicians need the opportunity to perform on their own parts and be independent of others helping them.  They need to be able to get in touch with the senses that open up creativity and tap into the ability to concentrate and engage while making music. Musicians need to be free to communicate and listen.  They need to have the responsibility of preparing a part that is theirs and noone elses. They need to understand how to find tempo and refine intonation on their own.

Also, can we get rid of the conductor!

Nothing against conductors as I have performed under great ones and have conducted groups myself, but removing the person in front trains students to rely on their senses for music making. It also trains students to be communicative with each other regarding all things conductors would normally help with. When musicians have freedom to communicate with others, it changes the musical product for the performer and listener. It seems we are always trying to get students to “be more musical,” but are never really allowing them the chance to communicate.

Implementing chamber ensembles in any music program will bring success beyond anyones wildest dreams.

Think about how often high school band programs rehearse, including after school rehearsals because, let’s face it, five days a week for an hour a day is not enough time, right? Anything that allows the student multiple times to get something wrong tends to build bad habits and create boredom. What if we filled each day with different small group opportunities, using no conductors, and allowed students to read and create music with each other on a daily basis?   That potential makes me excited! Everything would improve. Tone quality, musicality, sight-reading, professionalism, personal responsibility, interest, etc. The possibilities are endless.

School bands provide opportunities for students to make music together, but is that THE thing that is going to create the most growth in our young musicians?

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Passion Leads to Hard Work

When I was in college studying music, I honestly didn’t know what path I wanted to take in my career.  Actually I thought there were only a couple of choices for me; Band Director or Orchestral Musician.  I am thankful for the training I received while in college, but does college help us form educated decisions about our potential career paths while helping us get to know ourselves and our passions?

Find_Your_Passion

It wasn’t until I graduated and got out on my own that I began to realize that I wanted to be involved with many different musical experiences.  I felt I had a wide variety of expertise and had many things to offer and there was no way to limit that to one particular career path.  One quote that is heard more often than not is “You can’t make any money as a musician.” While on the surface this might seem logical, my belief is “You can’t make any money if you arent a passionate, hard-working musician.”  As with any career, the people who are most successful are the ones with passion for their craft and the ones putting that passion into work with a very intense work ethic.

Will we ever work hard at something we aren’t passionate about?

 Do you love what you do for a living? Are you truly passionate? Is that passion translating into a driven work ethic? Do you wake up every day with a yearning to “get to work?”  Many of us, whether in school, or in a career feel stuck. Are we living our true passion, and if not,  how do we find our true passion? These steps helped me when wondering what I should do.

1.  Don’t be afraid of change!

2. Ask questions, and be a constant learner. Do you have an interest/ability that makes you tick?

3. Be very curious and observant of others who have become successful doing the thing you love.

4. Seek help, and step outside of your comfort zone. Don’t be afraid to talk to people (and not just on social media or text message!)

5. Don’t be afraid to fail.

My undergraduate degrees are in Music Education and Music Performance, and my masters degree is in Music Performance.  My passion is Music but almost equally I have found a new passion in Business/Marketing.

What is your passion and are you living that passion?