Where are you? Are you coming home before 6:00?
Where are u? Are u coming home by 6:00?
Where r u? R u coming home by 6?
Wru? Home by 6?

   As I discovered, there is a distinct advantage in adopting some of the more current linguistic trends derived from texting, namely succinctness. In the old days one might say, “She’s my best friend” while today a girl would say, “She’s my BFF,” (best friend forever), compactly expressing both status and the supposed longevity of the relationship.
   This conciseness could come in handy in band rehearsals. I’m considering giving my students a key to all appropriate acronyms and require that they be memorized. Combined with non-verbal conducting gestures my rehearsal efficiency might just go through the roof. I can foresee rehearsals like the following (translation in parenthesis):

Director: “WB (Welcome back.) Let’s play our warm-up chorale.”
Director: “OMG! (Oh my gosh!)
Clarinet Player: “WW” (What’s wrong?)
Director: “IMHO UR playing FAAP” (In my humble opinion you are playing as flat as a pancake!)
Student: “LOL” (Laugh out loud.)
Director: “No. Don’t ROFL. CYR, SOG, and SUS!” (No. Don’t roll on the floor laughing. Change your reed, spit out your gum, and sit up straight.)
Student: “BRB ASAP.” (Be right back as soon as possible.)

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Rhythm
   Grade-1 literature has quarter, half, and whole notes in 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4. At grade 2 there are more eighth notes, some simple syncopation, occasional dotted eighth-sixteenth rhythms, and even some 6/8 meters. If there are many eighth and sixteenth notes at faster tempos, the music is for grade-3 ensembles. These works may use more complex syncopations, notes tied across bar lines, frequent meter changes, and 5/4, 5/8, and 3/8 meters. At grade 4 the rhythms include mixed meters, polyrhythms, as well as jazz, pop, and rock rhythms. Grade 5 includes improvisation, some chance music, and time signatures in which 8th, 16th, and 32nd notes receive one beat, as well as triplets, quadruplets, and quintuplets in the space of one or two beats, while grade-6 pieces contain irregular rhythms, improvisation, and aleatoric elements.

Technical Challenges 
   At grade 1 there are few technical problems as music is often written in B-flat or F or with few chromatic intervals. Grade 1 uses simple articulations and restricted ranges. Grade-2 works use a greater range, perhaps 1 ½ octaves and more chromatic intervals. Pieces include varied articulation, some syncopation, and an occasional E-flat key or modulations into the relative minors of B-flat, F, or E-flat. By grade 3 the music uses a much broader range of each instrument and expands into the keys of A-flat, D-flat, and C. Parts include trills, tremolos, rapid scale-driven passages, and require good tone control and smooth phrasing. At grade 4 the second and third parts are independent of the first, and the music is written in the keys of D-flat, G-flat, and D. Whole-tone and pentatonic scales also appear in grade-4 works. Grade-5 pieces will call for fluency and control in all major and minor keys, difficult passages in extreme registers, modes, and manufactured scales. Grade-6 works are the most difficult works.

Scoring
    The scoring of a work often affects the difficulty of playing it. Grade-1 works generally group instruments by playing range rather than in choirs or sections with hardly any independent parts. Flutes and trumpets often have the melody with sustained backgrounds, and bass parts are given to trombone, tenor saxophone, baritone, and tuba players. There may be interludes for the drums, and a piano part may be included to fill out the arrangement. In grade 2 however, the ensemble is divided into choirs with second and third parts written for some sections. Saxes, clarinets, trombones, and some percussion instruments have solos. Grade-3 music will include parts for third clarinet, second alto saxophone, third and fourth French horn, second oboe, second bassoon, and third trombone. The third parts diverge moderately from the first part, but the most difficult playing is still given to flutes, clarinets, and trumpets. By grade 4 the second and third parts are almost as difficult as the first parts. Horns, saxes, oboes, and bassoons have difficult music, but key ensemble roles will have cues in other parts in the event of missing instrumentation. Literature for grade-5 groups has fewer cued parts, requires great attention to ensemble balance because of the use of the extreme ranges of many instruments, and contains special timbre and color effects realized through obscure voicings. The scoring for grade 6 is exceptionally difficult and intended for advanced college and professional players.

Form and Structure
   Another important but more subtle element in determining the difficulty level is the form and structure of a work. Beyond the simple songs used for grade 1, some are expanded into abbreviated three-part overtures or marches with two contrasting sections. Grade-2 pieces have contrasting tempos and meters. The overtures are expanded to include introductions, codas, and simple rondos. Baroque suites, classical-style overtures, solo features, theme and variations, medley, and adaptations of folk songs are written for grade 3, but more complex fugues, expanded rondos, classic overtures, traditional marches, and fantasies with complex transitional passages push the level up to grade 4. Students at grade 5 can play complete transcriptions of symphonies, concerti in original form, themes and variations, and fugues and toccatas. Grade 6 contains all forms appropriate to the modern orchestra.

Harmony  
   Grade-1 works use primary chords and are written in B-flat and F, but by grade 2 there are accidentals, chromatic parts, simple modulations, suspensions and non-chord tones. Some works include modal and minor harmonies. In grade-3 music the extended harmonies of 7th and 9th chords are common, as are polytonal combinations, works based on quartal relationships, and the keys of A-flat and G. The harmonic palette of grade-4 works includes all major and minor keys, modal and layered harmonies, chromatic dissonance, and jazz harmonies. At grade 5 there is dissonance, polytonality, and chromaticism that stems from serial techniques, whole-tone and pentatonic compositions. Grade-6 works abound in dissonance and unrestricted combinations of tones and layered chords.
   While this list is largely the result of my experiences as a reviewer of band literature, it is subjective and by no means represents the full spectrum of band music.
   Beyond the six characteristics I have discussed, others are less obvious and can misdirect grade assignment. Several well known works for band hide these characteristics and consequently appear simpler than they are.
   Novice and experienced teachers alike may encounter unanticipated problems in these works. One of the more common traps is an unusual key center that generates difficult intervals or irregular harmonies. On first glance, the Overture for Winds by Mendelssohn appears to be a relatively manageable grade-4 work, but the choice of C major places B-flat instruments in an underdeveloped and virtually unexplored key center. This inhibits smoothness of technique, accurate tuning, and resonant performance of solo passages, making this piece instead a grade 5. Likewise, Stargazing by Donald Erb (Presser) appears at first to be a grade-3 work but is really grade-4 due to soloistic writing, irregular harmonies, and fragmented entrances that create formidable obstacles to accurate performance. The same is true for Estampe by Vaclav Nelhybel (Frank) which contains soloistic writing and an irregular form that is easily overlooked when a director scans through the score.
   Another pitfall in rating music is that some material can be far more difficult than it appears at first glance. In works such as Chorale Prelude: So Pure the Star by Vincent Persichetti (Elkan-Vogel), Walking Tune by Percy Grainger (Schirmer) and Antiphon by Fisher Tull (Boosey & Hawkes) what appear to be simple melodies and chord progressions are complicated by instrumentation, balance problems between melody and accompaniment, or difficulty of keeping accurate pitch and characteristic tone. With phrases far more difficult than technical challenges, Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral by Wagner has woodwinds playing in the extreme upper register in a thinly scored, slow work, and similarly Grainger’s Irish Tune from County Derry is a slow work with thin scoring and high French horn parts. Only a mature ensemble can play the Nimrod variation of Elgar’s Enigma Variations with the rubato that this romantic movement should have. These works are often given a lower grade because they are technically easy, but are very difficult to play well. 
    On occasion scoring can create surprisingly difficult voice leading and part connections that do not jump out. Joseph Wilcox Jenkins’ Charles County Overture (Bourne) appears to be a grade-4 work, but hides scoring difficulties worthy of a grade 5 or 6. Also when scoring combines unlikely instruments to create unusual timbres, dynamics and balance become more important issues. Unusual tone colors in the context of relatively simple notation can be found in Elliot Del Borgo’s Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night (Shawnee), which should be graded as a 5, not a 4.
    Instrumentation can also create hidden performance obstacles. Although the notation of a piece may appear conventional and playable, vital roles in the score may be assigned to weaker sections of the ensemble. Prime examples of this category include Spoon River by Percy Grainger (Schirmer) which contains difficult parts for bari sax, piano, and the mallet percussion (misgraded as a 4, rather than 5), and Marche Caprice by Delius/Boyd (Galaxy) that calls upon the second chair players to perform cameo duets with their section leaders, and therefore should rate a grade 5 rather than a 4.
   With these traps in mind as well as the guidelines I have outlined, rate the grade level of a work by assigning a grade level to each of the six categories (including weights). Add the 6 grade levels, divide the total by 6, and round out the decimal. The resulting number is the grade level of the piece.
   As part of a comprehensive music program, appropriate grading guidelines match music to ensembles in a way that maintains student interest and enthusiasm.

Characteristics of Grade Levels
Grade 1
   Music for beginners, primarily written in quarter, half, and whole notes in 4/4, 3/4, 2,4. Simple melodies and articulations in the keys of B-flat, F, and E-flat. Ahort ABA forms with unison rhythms, sustained harmonies.
Grade 2
   For second- and third-year players; more eighth and sixteenth notes, basic syncopation. Some staccato, accidentals, and trills. Range of 1 1/2 octaves, some pieces in A-flat. Pieces have introductions, codas, contrasting moods, and dissonance.
Grade 3
   For intermediate students in junior and senior high. Fast 16th notes, 5/4, 5/8, 3/8, changing meters, key of D-flat. Fast articulations, scale patterns, varied scoring within sections. Multi-sectional pieces, simple counterpoint, polytonal and dissonant harmonies, 7th and 9th chords. Theme variation, overtures, traditional marches.
Grade 4
   For good high school musicians; fast technical passages, polyrhythms, music in D-flat, G-flat, and D. Orchestral transcriptions, jazz elements, complex suites, tone poems, and tocattas; more modulations, minor harmonies.
Grade 5
   Difficult music for college or very advanced high school players. Irregular rhythms, changing meters, wide intervals, extended ranges. Improvisation, 12-tone compositions, all major and minor keys. Complete symphonies, impressionistic works, preludes and fugues.
Grade 6
   Aleatoric rhythms and soloistic writing for all parts. Tone clusters, irregular forms, large orchestral works, virtuoso pieces for advanced college and professional players.

The post Subtle and Overlooked Factors Change the Difficulty of Music appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Learning to Move
   Fear of violating social norms sets in around age 10, at which point people begin to feel uncomfortable expressing themselves freely around others. I find that when I first work with conducting students they tend to be frozen with fear over the idea of using their bodies. Most conducting students would much rather just move their arms in the traditional patterns than explore different possibilities. Improvising or trying new movements makes them extremely self-conscious.
   I usually start with exercises that have nothing to do with conducting, so they can see what their bodies actually do. One of the first exercises I do with a class is to take three or four volunteers, clear out space in the room, and tell them to close their eyes and walk forward as slowly as the body will permit without stopping. After about 30 seconds I have students stop and open their eyes. Some make it to the end of the room, others go halfway across, and some may have only taken two steps. This is a really good indicator of the internal natural tempo of a musician, showing whether they have the tendency to move quickly or are more comfortable with legato or adagio movements. For example, because I am tall, I tend to be more comfortable with adagio tempos. It is important for musicians to understand their tendencies to rush or slow down when conducting or playing.
   I also ask students to talk about what they were thinking and feeling while they were walking. Often there is a moment when they feel insecure or as if they are losing balance. This is a good cue that there is a specific weaknesses in their bodies; walking slowly exposes where stomach muscles may disengage or whether one side of the body is stronger than the other, which is the case for most people. It gives people an idea of what work they should do to balance the body.
   Many conductors have irrelevant idiosyncrasies in their technique; these are often the result of compensation or masking deficiencies of movement technique. I can go to a performance and watch a conductor and immediately see where his weaknesses lie because his shoulders are doing something funny or his elbows are moving outward and kind of flapping. Conductors may claim that these odd motions are their style, but it is usually just a way to cover up something that is lacking.

Feeling the Core
   Another exercise is to have students stand with the spine in good alignment, which should engage both the stomach and back muscles. What they often don’t realize is that the arms are attached to the back muscles, which are attached to the stomach muscles, so any time the arms are raised it involves the scapula, the stomach, and the latissimus dorsi muscles, which are in the back, below the shoulders. I have students stand up straight and reach their arms down with as much strength as possible so the shoulder muscles drop and they’re reaching with all their strength. This helps students feel the lateral muscles on the side of their bodies as well as the latissimus dorsi in the back. When people reach their arms down to the side they notice how the back muscles flatten out and can also feel the core muscles working. It is from these muscles that upper body movements always initiate.
   Early on in my dance career I struggled with the idea that in every movement there is a counterforce present. If you lift up your arms it actually comes from pressing down the scapula and the sides of the body. So in motion there are two things happening: the motion and the muscles and ligaments stabilizing the structure. As an example, conductors often think that lightness is demonstrated by using no resistance with the body and the arms. The opposite is actually necessary; light movement requires the muscles to engage. Using no resistance simply makes the arms flop around like a wet noodle. Resistance allows the arms to move in a way that appears lighter, to float or glide more accurately. If the focus is on keeping the core muscles tight and the shoulders and elbows down, the resistance all this creates allows the forearm to float but stay controlled. That control makes a gesture appear light.
   After reaching downward I have them reach out to the side so they can feel all these muscles stay engaged and learn that most people can reach beyond what they think their natural limitations are. To do this, conductors have to focus on keeping the shoulders pressed down and letting them go into the back rather than allowing them to tense up or lift.
   We then work on reaching forward. This pushes the scapulae into the back and the stomach muscles toward the spine. I tell young dancers to avoid chicken wings (the shoulder blades) poking out from their backs. Shrugging the shoulders and pressing the elbows into the body will make the shoulder blades pop out, which means the back muscles are not being flattened, which, in turn, inhibits movement of the arms.

   The next step is to reach down, then to the side, and then over the head. This is where the body really starts to struggle to maintain proper alignment, because people tend to lift the shoulders up toward the ears, and tension starts to move into the neck. When lifting the arms up it is important to focus on dropping the shoulders down and pressing them into the back.
   Dancers start learning these upper body techniques, called port de bras, which means carriage of the arms, in pre-ballet classes at age three or four, where they are taught to imagine holding a beach ball and lifting it over the head. Formal training of these port de bras starts at about age seven, and from that point on dancers practice them every day through an entire career. These exercises build a range of motion while keeping all of the core muscles engaged. The aim should be for the arms to move freely within the shoulder joints without lifting the shoulders or contracting the upper chest.
   This does not come naturally or easily, and the artistry that is developed takes thousands of hours to perfect. It takes this much practice because in the average person the shoulder muscles are almost always tense. Tension in the core muscles results in an unnecessary contraction of the arms, shoulders, and neck. This is the result of faulty alignment of the pelvis, stomach and ribs. To simply ask a conductor to start conducting expressively without this kind of work or body awareness will limit how expressive gestures can be. I recommend that conductors work on these reaching exercises often.

Improvised Movement
   After showing students how there muscles interact to create movement, I use improvisation to encourage them to look at music differently. I have everyone close their eyes and listen to a piece of music. I don’t want them to think about the notes on the page, but rather to focus on whatever imagery is evoked. The goal is to describe the music without using musical terms. This can be simple descriptors like scary, sad, chaotic, harsh, or it can be a scene or story. The second movement of Holst’s First Suite always reminds me of a game of tag and darting back and forth. If I were to conduct it, there would be a sense of playfulness and the movements would be a little more darting rather than frenetic or chaotic.
   Many conducting teachers are starting to incorporate Hungarian dancer Rudolf Laban’s movement theories and notation systems. He has eight effort shape actions – press, flick, ring, dab, slash, glide, thrust, and float – and every movement imaginable falls into one of these categories. I will occasionally write them on the board, and students can immediately associate one or two with the music they are listening to. They might describe music as slashing or say a section seems to glide or float along.
   After students decide which of these words best fits music, I have them physically demonstrate their descriptions through movement improvisation. The goal is for them to look like the music without using any beat patterns. This is extremely difficult for conductors to do. It is ingrained that when there is a crescendo the left hand reaches upward with the palm up. I want students to show a crescendo with the whole body. When the musical phrase or style changes, the body should react accordingly. This exercise can be expanded by examining the various voices in the music individually. Focusing on the percussion, bass line, or inner voices separately may produce different descriptions of what the music shows.
   If people have difficulty describing the music, Laban’s words are ideal. Movement theory defines a press as a bound, sustained, strong movement, and while most people don’t need to worry about movement theory, if you tell 100 people to press something, they all will do roughly the same thing. When people start to improvise with movement they can use those words as a guide. Saying that music evokes sadness gives a feeling to produce but not much information on how to communicate that. Sadness might be conveyed by pressing, and anger could be shown through thrusting or slashing. After students come up with their descriptor words, they should try to move in a way that depicts the music. There are no rules for this, other than a ban on conducting patterns.
   In modern dance classes, the dance teacher often sings the movements. This isn’t singing the music that the movement goes to, but actually calling, “da-da, swish-swish.” It sounds ridiculous, but there are some famous choreographers who use sounds rather than choreographing terminology; they give verbal cues about how a movement sounds, and that immediately tells the dancer how it should look. It is easy to get a group of dancers to do a movement with the same quality by just making a sound. Conducting is basically the reverse of this – giving visual cues for how something should sound.
   I next have musicians move to an 8- or 16-count phrase, paying attention to note length. They should move to the phrase following what the notes do; the body should move and react exactly to the note lengths. This makes conductors self-conscious, so it often starts as very simple movements, such as reaching up with one arm for a high note. I want them to follow note lengths, so if that high note is a quarter note, the arm goes up and comes right back down. A set of four 16th notes could be shown by slicing or chopping the air with alternating arms, and a half note might be an arm gliding from one side of the body to the other. This exercise gets conductors started in increasing the available range of motion. After some practice conductors become quite adept at mimicking exactly what the music is doing.
   Because conducting students are so shy, the first movements they make tend to be extremely small; I liken advancing through this exercise as going from one to ten on a volume control. That high note where the arm reaches high should start increasing in volume, which may lead to reaching and stepping up on the balls of the feet or even jumping. A lower note could be indicated by crouching down or curving the upper body over. I call out the volume and find this is a really easy and effective way to get people to move beyond what they believe they are capable of.
   In dance classes, if you start moving at a volume of four and then ask for more, the dancers make larger and larger movements to the point at which they start running and jumping. They eventually stop mimicking each moment of the music and start thinking of the overall phrasing. Instead of chopping movements for 16th notes, they start running and then jump up in the air for a quarter note and crouch down for the next. It gets bigger until they reach the 10 volume where all chaos breaks loose, and people are running, jumping, and using the eight Laban words as ideas. It is difficult to get musicians to this point, but I want to see conductors out of breath. When people move with so much intensity that they become winded, they naturally breathe at the appropriate point of the phrase.

Independent Study
   Band and orchestra directors can do these exercises in the quiet of their own homes and develop these skills without an audience. For conductors, each rehearsal is a performance, and it is easy to get caught up in how it looks and how people might to react to it. When I set out to choreograph a work, I don’t have dancers in the studio with me, I begin in the studio alone. I start to play and see where my body goes.
   Most colleges have dance departments, and it would be beneficial to watch a class; I typically invite University of Georgia conducting students to attend a ballet or modern dance class and see how the bodies react to all the varying tempi and musical ideas.
There are many good sources to explore other ways for the upper body to move and more scientific studies on the upper body. Laban for Actors and Dancers by Gene Newlove provides some nice exercises and explanations of qualities of movement and gives some good situational examples.
   Any beginning ballet basics book is beneficial, although it may be difficult for someone who has never tried it. The eight ballet port de bras are always listed. One that talks about the science behind ballet and has a good chapter on the upper body is Both Sides of the Mirror: The Science and Art of Ballet by Anna Paskezska.
   An excellent dance performance video is called American Ballet Theatre Now: Variety and Virtuosity. It has varied excerpts from classical ballets to modern ones. One excerpt I show to conducting classes is called “Remanso” by the choreographer Nacho Duato.

   A conducting student at University of Georgia takes three or four undergraduate conducting classes, compared to dancers, who have countless hours of dance technique under their belts,  but musicians can benefit from the same techniques. They can explore larger ranges of motion and then bring them back into the traditional conducting patterns and see how left arm gestures can benefit from new movement ideas. Because we all learn and move from muscle memory, what the body naturally does is based on the vocabulary of movement that has been learned. Someone who hasn’t thought through how arm motion originates in the core or experimented with various motions has restricted movement.

The post How Dance Techniques Improve Conducting appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

What makes a composition stand out?
Mark Hosler: I am always on the lookout for unusual works that will appeal and be educational – something that will intrigue students enough to want to explore a composer, event, time period, or certain style of music they haven’t heard before. Some of most memorable pieces I’ve reviewed over the years are the ones in which the composer used a folk song as the central part of the work. Things like that lead to further exploration by the students.
Beth Peterson: One thing I like to do is put CDs of new band works on as background music. The best pieces will catch my attention and make me stop what I’m doing to listen. I am a big fan of melody, whether that melody is catchy, unpredictable, or just different. I once heard Frank Ticheli comment that a good piece of music has enough repetition that it gives unity, but not so much repetition that it becomes boring.
I do like that some composers are writing for unbalanced bands – for ensembles that lack perfect instrumentation. I have found some of that music to be extremely interesting.
Julie Carr: I like to see something that has some educational longevity. Students like music that  sounds more difficult than it is. To them, something like that sounds phenomenal, and such a piece is something they’ll want to play every day.
Charles Groeling: I check the scoring. It is easy to give the first trumpet the melody all the time and double it with the flute. I like to see lower-grade pieces that take some risks by using a double reed sound or even an undoubled saxophone choir.
Jon James: It’s nice to see old jazz standards that haven’t been touched in a while come back with a fresh approach, whether that’s for a big band or as a combo piece.

What recent trends have you noticed in music that is being published?
Julie Carr: I see a lot of good music coming out for first- and second-year players. Frequently I mark the best of these as check rated or reviewer’s choice because they’re valuable teaching pieces. Another trend I see lately is that much of the music coming out can be used to teach a specific skill. This is a great way for directors to do more in rehearsals than just prepare for the next concert. The trend seems to be that more music is rehearsal-oriented than concert-oriented, and I think that’s a good trend.
   Flexible scoring pieces are a phenomenal idea. I have some books that let me combine parts any way I want. I often put the first violins on the harmony part because frequently the harmony is more difficult than the melody. These books let you beef up a weak viola section with third violins, or, if the cellos are weak, violas can cover the cello part. Flexible scoring music is great for chamber music too, which is becoming more prevalent.
   One thing I’d like to see more of is music for second- and third-year players. This is a difficult group to write for because there can be such a range of abilities, and a lot of music that’s meant for second- and third-year players may be more difficult than they can play. When I had a student tell me his music was too easy, I’d say, “Okay, play it in third position up the octave.” After I told the students to play up the octave a couple times they stopped asking and would just let me know when they were doing it. It’s good for their reading skills, and with strings it is easy to pull off.
   A couple ideas for publishers are to include an additional part for advanced players or optional wind parts that are the same as the string parts. This gives the students for whom the music is too easy an opportunity to play with the full orchestra, plus it is good early training for orchestral winds, and the string students who are struggling have an extra part to listen to.
Kevin Schoenbach: I have been pleasantly surprised by how much good music there seems to be. It seems that more and more pieces have meat for everybody and good style.
James Lambert: I think demand for programmatic compositions is increasing. This is especially true in percussion ensemble music, which can easily go outside the boundaries of tonality, but should still be somewhat enjoyable to the audience. If the audience doesn’t like something, it’s not going to have any lasting effect.
John Thomson: It seems that band composers are writing parts for piano and English horn more frequently. In this day and age, piano parts are common enough that even some band organizations are starting to carry pianists. Although these instruments, along with soprano saxophone, are common in higher-grade music, I’ve seen grade 3 pieces with piano parts.

What are the first things you look at when you open a score?
Charles Groeling: I want to get an idea the difficulty level, and I look for factors that might differ from the publisher’s rating, such as note combinations students at that level may not have seen or solos for instruments that are not necessarily strong at that grade level. Usually, this might be an uncued horn, oboe, or bassoon solo.
John Thomson: I check for unusual instruments like a soprano sax and also whether such parts are essential or optional. I also check the percussion writing for any instrument I might not have, such as a log drum. After that I look for critical solos. I want to be sure I have the right player to handle such parts.
James Lambert: I look to see if general scoring is appropriate for the difficulty level the publisher has indicated. Sometimes a publisher will overrate, or in small instances underrate a work’s difficulty.  Particularly I check whether percussion is used in a tasteful contemporary fashion or as support.
Mark Hosler: I always look at ranges. Trumpet is my primary instrument so I always look at those parts. Sometimes even a lower-grade piece can have a third trumpet part that is too difficult for a student at the listed level. There may be a reason that a student is playing the third part, such as a limited range or technical ability; this is true for all instruments that are scored in multiple parts. First trombone parts are sometimes surprisingly high compared to the rest of an ensemble.
Kevin Schoenbach: I make sure that everybody has some kind of challenge in their part. I want all students to have something to work on not just for the first couple rehearsals, but throughout the time we work on a piece. For example, I try to avoid jazz charts that give the saxophone section and lead brass players difficult parts and leave the trombones with easy background parts.

What makes a good grade 1 piece?
Jon James: Besides making sure the range is appropriate, the music should be something students will enjoy. Usually it’s the melody that grabs them; the pieces that students walk out of the band room humming are the best. Students never forget their favorite piece from the first year of band. Even as adults, they can sing the melody surprisingly well.
James Lambert: The most pleasant grade 1 compositions I have heard are in minor keys or dorian mode. A key signature of two flats with a tonal center on C is perfectly suitable for beginners.
Beth Peterson: For that level the ideal piece will be something that beginning students find interesting, which could be playing the melody, a fun rhythm, or an interesting color. This can be difficult to find for students who only know six notes and three different rhythms, but some of the best grade 1 pieces I have found are multi-movement works. The movements are short, but everybody gets to play something interesting at some point, and every movement has students making different kinds of sounds and creating different styles or moods.
Charles Groeling: I have tried writing grade 1 band works several times, and there are note combinations and part distribution that often take the inner parts out of the realm of possibility for the level of students that play them. I have a great respect for people who can write grade 1 and 2 music and make it sound good. It takes a lot of discipline on the part of the composer to do this.

What factors make one piece more difficult than another if both are the same grade?
Mark Hosler: Dynamic levels can add to the difficulty of a lower-level piece. If most of a piece is loud, students are going to get tired and struggle with tone production and intonation. Long phrases can add to the difficulty as well; students may struggle to play everything in one breath.
Bruce Moss: Instrumentation adds to difficulty. A work with essential parts for such instruments as Eb clarinet, string bass, or uncommon percussion instruments is more difficult than one that does not require these just because of the assumption that these instruments will not only be available, but played by strong players.
John Thomson: Risky scoring, with many exposed solos and solis and thinner textures and colors takes better players. Range also affects difficulty. You might find a piece that in every way would be a grade 3, except that the first clarinet part has a lot of altissimo. Grade 3 clarinet parts rarely have ledger lines, so from a consumer’s standpoint you have to know that you have clarinets who can handle that.
Jon James: When considering range, it isn’t just how high do brass and woodwinds have to play, but how long do they have to stay in extreme ranges. Endurance is a factor, but extreme high ranges can create technical difficulties for woodwinds with some difficult fingering patterns.
Julie Carr: In string music it would be altered fingerings, difficult bowing articulations, flat keys, and keys with too many sharps. The most difficult keys for string players are those with no notes played on open strings, which are needed to help find whether fingered notes are in tune. Students from beginners through high school still need some pitch reference, and that’s what the open strings do. Young violists have difficulty with C# on the G string, which is rarely taught before the end of their second or third year of playing. It is a difficult note to play.

What are your thoughts on the scoring for percussion instruments?
Beth Peterson: I like the pieces where percussion is treated as its own color or voice equal to woodwinds and brass rather than just complementing them. Vincent Persichetti and John Mackey write percussion parts well. Percussionists should add something to the piece, whether it’s rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic, and not just beat time.
James Lambert: I think vibraphone is an under-used instrument. It is extremely resonant and blends better and has more presence than the marimba. Marimba is a great solo instrument, but in the band it seems to get covered up in the percussion.
John Thomson: I like it when there is more than one mallet part for a piece, especially in grade 2 and 3 music. Young percussionists these days start with percussion kits that include both a snare drum and bells, and they learn to read at least treble clef during the first year of band. Richard Saucedo and David Holsinger write very adventurous percussion parts, and I would love to see more of that for younger students.
Kevin Schoenbach: Some of my favorite pieces are those in which everybody in the percussion section is responsible for multiple instruments. As an audience member it looks nice when you see the timpanist move to the chimes and then back to the timpani, where a suspended cymbal is also set up. Meanwhile, the snare drum player is also covering suspended cymbal and has a gong as well. I think every grade 4 and above piece should have at least 5 or 6 percussion parts.

Would you make any changes to the grading system if you could?
James Lambert: I would include a separate level for beginning band, easier than grade 1. Students who have been playing for just a few months may not be ready for some grade 1 music.
Kevin Schoenbach: It is difficult to know how to assign a piece that is rhythmically simple but has a first trumpet part that goes up to D6. I lean toward giving such pieces a lower grade; as long as there is one good player who can hit that note everything else is playable at the lower level. I try to make a note of such things when writing reviews, but maybe the pieces at the more difficult end of a level should have an X.5 rating – instead of giving a piece a grade 4 for just a few high notes it could be a 3.5.
Beth Peterson: There is much variation in each grade level and different sources grade music differently.  Directors really need to listen carefully in order to decide what is appropriate for their own ensemble. There will be something that works for everyone. 

Charles Groeling teaches at Triton Community College and was previously professor of music at Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Bruce Moss is director of bands at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) and music director of the Wheaton (Illinois) Municipal Band.
Julie Carr teaches string education majors at Ithaca College. She previously taught junior and senior high strings in Cortland, New York, for 27 years.
Beth Peterson is an associate professor of music education and conductor of the symphonic band at Ithaca College. She taught in public schools in Ohio and Illinois.
Jon James has been director of bands at Polo (Illinois) schools since 1992. He is also director of the Sterling Municipal Band.
Mark Hosler is an associate professor of music at Clemson University in South Carolina, where he currently teaches music history and appreciation classes.
John Thomson was director of bands at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, for many years and is currently an adjunct professor at Roosevelt University.
Kevin Schoenbach is associate director of bands at Oswego (Illinois) High School and teaches private low brass and jazz lessons.
James Lambert is chairman of the department of music and professor of percussion at Cam-eron University in Lawton, Oklahoma.

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Appearance
   I may be old fashioned, but I like to see bands dressed the same. They don’t have to wear band uniforms, but uniformity is important, especially for state music festivals. Directors should make sure that students are dressed appropriately – no white socks with black uniforms, no untied shoes, no sandals.
   The order in which students come on stage can make a good impression as well. I like to see a band enter in single file and remain standing until everyone is on stage and has a chair and stand. It says something about the level of coordination and attention to detail before they ever play a note.

Sound Quality
   All bands should spend time listening to excellent ensembles so they know the standard they are trying to reach. Even for outstanding school bands, hearing themselves every day is not the same as hearing the Dallas Wind Symphony or the Tokyo Kosei. Only after students know what to work for can they begin working toward it. Sound development includes teaching good breath support, playing chorales in warm-ups, and training students to listen to each other. Warm-ups should be a musical experience rather than just technical. If we teach a good sound concept during the warm-up process, and have a routine tuning process, these musical elements will transfer to the music we are playing in performance.
   If an ensemble lacks low reeds or tubas, I encourage directors to add these voices. Without those voices, it is impossible to get a good band sound. With some creative rewriting and careful attention to balance, directors can still tone down upper woodwinds and brass to the point that alto, tenor, and bass voices can be heard. Bands tend to be top-heavy, but many directors don’t make the effort to overcome those things, taking an attitude of “This is what we have, so we’re going to go with it.” Instead of that, find a way to overcome the problem.
   Saxophonists playing too loudly is one of the most common balance problems. This is often because there are too many saxes. The best solution is to ask the saxophonists to adjust their dynamics: if the part says forte but there are six altos, they should mark the dynamic down to at least mezzo-forte. Directors should take time to make these adjustments to dynamic levels to bring things into context, which depends on the instrumentation.

Substitutions
   I don’t need to see notes in the score when parts have been rewritten. Such substitutions as saxophones playing horn parts, euphoniums playing bassoon parts, and baritone saxes playing tuba parts are common, and if I hear a tuba part but don’t see a tuba player I can figure it out. For something more unusual, such as a trumpet player covering a second alto sax part, a note would be appreciated.
   It is unwise to write a note in the front of the score explaining why the band may not sound good. Directors may write that it is a 7th-12th grade band that is 60% 7th graders and meets on a block schedule, and that is a difficult situation, but if you pick appropriate music the band can still sound good.

Percussion
   Timpanists should use a tuning fork or a pitch pipe. If these are unavailable, a mallet instrument is a good choice, although students invariably choose bells. Instead, they should use a marimba so the pitch sounds in the correct octave. I find it distracting for a trombone player to stand up and play a note for the timpanist to tune to.
   Other things to watch for include making certain that students play with a true bass drum mallet that is in good shape, use an actual triangle beater rather than random things found in the percussion cabinet, such as a snare drum lug, and use appropriate mallets. Yarn mallets might work best with a chorale, but a louder section may best be played with acrylic mallets. It boils down to making conscious choices rather than letting students arbitrarily choose mallets.
   Too often bands leave auxiliary percussion parts out instead of coming up with appropriate substitutions for missing instruments. Use a triangle instead of finger cymbals or bells instead of crotales. This is especially frustrating if there are percussionists who are not playing on that piece. If there is an available student and a substitution can be made for a missing instrument, the part should be covered.
   These small details send a message that there wasn’t enough depth of thought while preparing the ensemble. Students have learned notes and rhythms, but haven’t delved into playing musically; they’re only concerned with the managerial aspects. Tuning the timpani with a trombone or using a snare stand that is too low leaves a bad first impression on a judge.

Articulations
   I hear too many ambiguous articulations because students ignore accents and staccatos, and when they do play staccato either only some of the band plays staccato or the note lengths are unequal. Similarly, the important part of slow legato music is what happens between the notes. If students understand how to move and keep the direction going from one note to the next, they’ve got the legato style down. Rather than worrying about the beginning of the note, students should know how it moves to the next note.
   I use different types of balls to teach articulation. Think about ping-pong balls for staccato, softballs for a normal articulation, and bowling balls for marcato. Legato is like keeping a feather afloat: the motion of the feather never stops and just a little breath of air keeps it floating and moving from side to side. For tenuto, I use those giant inflatable rubber balls with the handle that children can ride on. The note leans down and then rebounds back up. I’ll say, “Let’s play four softballs or four ping pong balls or four feathers.” Students easily grasp the difference in those sounds when they can put a visual representation with them.

Dynamics
   For dynamics, I teach the difference between miles per hour, meaning air speed, and gallons, meaning quantity of air. If playing forte means moving ten gallons of air 70 miles per hour, then piano should be two gallons of air at 70 miles per hour. The quantity of air may change, but the speed of air cannot. Students run into problems when they decrease both the speed and the quantity of air because the sound is no longer supported. I’ve had good luck with this analogy getting students to continue pushing air through their instruments, but with a smaller airstream.
   When flute and brass players play softly and don’t keep the airflow going, they go flat, but clarinets tend to pinch sharp. The pitch of dynamic changes is incredibly important. I recommend playing exercises where the goal is to maintain a consistent pitch through different dynamic levels. When a band is playing fast and loud, there is a certain sound that is produced, but as soon as the tempo and dynamics slow down, there is often a completely different sound because of a lack of breath support.

Most Common Comment
   The thing I ask for most often is more shape to the line. Students can play the right notes and rhythms without communicating anything. I want to hear contour, emotion, and energy. Move on from notes and rhythms to dynamics, blend, and phrasing. That’s what creates life in music. It’s easy to get bogged down working on technique and ensemble precision.               

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