Posture and Instrument Position
     Beginning bass students should be comfortable holding the instrument in a good position before playing a note. The end pin should be adjusted so the ridge at the top of the fingerboard (called the nut or saddle) is level or just above the player’s eyebrow. If a student has to bend over drastically to place the bow on the strings between the bridge and fingerboard, the end pin should be lengthened.
The bass should lean in toward the player, and the player should lean into the bass. Many students will stand erect and hold the bass straight up, leaving a space between body and instrument, but this posture causes all types of bowing problems. The instrument should be held against the body. The feet should form a 45° angle with the left foot positioned just behind the end pin and all the body weight on the right foot; the instrument and player should never be locked into a stationary position. The joints of the body should move fluidly, like the hinges of a door, when playing the bass.

Right Hand Position
     The position of the right hand depends on whether a German or French bow is used.
A Ger­man bow has a larger frog to accommodate the hand and fingers in a palm-inward position. The German bow rests in the hand between the thumb and index finger, with the thumb curved over the top of the stick, pointing toward the index and middle fingers. The ring finger hooks through the opening of the frog while the little finger sits under the frog next to the hair. Players should be able to take away the three middle fingers and hold the bow with the thumb and the pinkie, which maneuver the bow.
The thumb ap­plies the pressure on the bow as it contacts the strings, and the pinkie gives the lift as the bow comes off the strings. The hand should cradle the bow, not grip it tightly. The other fingers simply add control, but students often grab the bow with these fingers and apply too much bow pressure to the strings.
     The French bow is held like a cello bow with the thumb on the side and underneath and the four fingers over the top.
The thumb should be positioned opposite the middle finger where the wood and ebony meet. It is common for the thumb of a beginning student to gravitate down onto the curve of ebony between the stick and frog which restricts the flexibility of the thumb. The second finger should touch the silver eyelet. The position of the index finger affects the entire hand position, and when positioned correctly, with the second joint on the stick, the other fingers automatically fall into the correct position. Students tend to move the first finger above or below the second joint, but this pulls the other fingers up too high or pushes them down too low. Young bassists also will try to use a hand position with the pinkie raised off the bow and floating in the air, but this position reduces control because the French bass bow is heavy. The pinkie should be held next to the rest of the fingers for control.
     With either style of bow the right elbow should be held away from the body with the forearm pointing left; the arm should not be vertical with the elbow pointing at the floor. The weight of the arm transfers to the front of the hand and that is what applies weight to the upper part of the bow. Remember that the fingers will not be at the correct angle if the elbow is not held out.

Left Hand Position
     When the left hand is placed on the fingerboard, the forearm should extend straight out from the wrist and instrument. Beginning students often bring the forearm in close to the body and lock the wrist. Others will rest the elbow on the body of the bass and position the forearm parallel to the fingerboard, which decreases finger mobility. From the elbow to the middle finger should be a straight line. Instead of letting the thumb and fingers of the left hand collapse, they should be curved as if encircling a can. Some students use only the tips of their fingers on the fingerboard, while others use the pads. 
    The choice is simply a matter of comfort. Students often flatten or collapse the thumb on the back of the fingerboard, but this restricts mobility. Another common mistake is to grab the bass with the palm of the hand, which prevents the thumb from following the fingers up and down the instrument. The thumb should follow the fingers to provide good pressure against the strings. When the index finger is down, the thumb should be opposite it; when the second and third fingers are down, the thumb should be placed between them. The third finger simply adds support in low note positions, so beginners will only use 1, 2, and 4 on the fingerboard. Because the third finger is not used, there should be space between the first and second fingers to stop the strings in the correct place.
     Students who hold the first finger too close to the second can usually correct the problem by simply pointing the index finger up. All four fingers should be perpendicular to the strings and remain close to the fingerboard. There is a tendency for beginners to raise the fingers two or three inches above the fingerboard when not pushing on a string; but the further the fingers move away, the longer it takes for them to move back for the next note.

The Bow and Sound Pro­duction
     A bass produces the best sound when the bow is just above the center of the area between the bridge and the fingerboard. The bow should be tilted slightly up toward the fingerboard to spread the hairs of the bow. More hair in contact with strings produces more sound, but beginners often play with the bow perpendicular to the strings.
     Rather than only moving the bow to jump from string to string, the bass should rotate a bit. When the bow is on the G string, the bass should be turned into the body. As the bow moves to lower strings, the instrument should be turned away from the player. On the G string, the bow should be just above the center between the bridge and fingerboard. On the lower strings the bow should be closer to the fingerboard because the thicker lower strings will not respond well if played too close to the bridge.
     Because it takes a great deal of coordination to draw a full bow, students should start by using only the middle third of the bow. It may help to divide the bow in thirds with pieces of tape. At first students should practice slow and smooth legato bow changes, using the center third of the bow and continue by playing with each third of the bow separately. Once students can control each section of the bow, they can begin using the full bow.
     A fundamental of playing any string instrument is to draw the bow straight across the strings, parallel to the bottom of the fingerboard. As a player looks down at the instrument the natural tendency is to tilt the bow. For the beginning lessons the teacher should physically guide a student’s forearm and wrist. Place your left hand on a student’s shoulder and then grasp his right wrist with two fingers on top and the thumb below to guide the arm and hand. Students often lock the wrist and elbow, but each joint should be relaxed and move fluidly. The movement of the bow arm comes from the back of the shoulder. It often helps to compare parts of the body to parts of a car: the upper arm, shoulder, and back muscles act as an engine to provide power while the lower arm is a shock absorber.
     Many students approach bowing without a proper concept of the motion or pressure needed to produce good tone. Directors should alternately grab the tip and nut (frog) of a student’s bow as he plays to create resistance, which will in turn cause the student to draw the bow slowly and apply sufficient pressure in both the up and down bow. On a down bow, the muscles from the back of the shoulder are used, and on an up bow, the chest muscles are used. In both directions the bow hair should sink into the strings, not skate on top of them. Poor intonation is common with beginners be-cause low pitches are difficult to hear and tune.  Once students develop good bowing technique, the next step is ear-training exercises to identify pitch problems. Directors should select orchestra music with interesting bass parts that will encourage bass students to practice and progress.

Instrument Setup
     String basses are among the most neglected of instruments in a public school because they are awkward to transport and expensive to repair. Students typically do not own these instruments and treat them carelessly. For a student to develop good playing habits the bass has to be in good condition. The bridge causes the most problems. If set too low it rattles and buzzes the sound. Adjustable bridges alter the height of the strings with a few twists of adjustment screws, and this flexibility is worth the extra cost. A warped bridge will cause the bow to hit two strings simultaneously. If the notches on a bridge wear down, one solution is to raise an adjustable bridge, but another is to place a small piece of cloth or felt between the strings and the notches.
     Do not store basses near a radiator or an outside wall because erratic temperature changes will damage the instruments. A bass resting against a cold wall in winter may crack or come un­glued. An area with a controlled temperature minimizes these problems.
     Because a set of bass strings can be costly, directors defer replacing them,  but all strings unravel with time and distort the sound. A set of good strings can be purchased for about $150.
Only a bow with a full complement of clean hair and sufficient rosin will grab the strings properly. The bow hair should be taut while playing and slightly loosened when not in use. Students will naturally grab the bow with the palm wrapped around the hair to check for tautness, but grease from hand perspiration causes the bow to slip on the strings.
     A good way to check hair tension is with the index and middle fingers acting like scissors. Because every bow screw is different, directors should spend a minute with each student to determine how many times the screw should be loosened and tightened. Student have a tendency to overtighten the bow, which  bends the bow out from the hair.
     Rosin helps the bow to grip the strings of the bass. With too little rosin  the bow will slip, but too much rosin makes it difficult to draw the bow smoothly across the strings and a coating will build up on the strings and distort the sound. Beginners usually start with a fresh cake of rosin, which is hard and flat. Scrape the cake with a key to rough it up before applying rosin to a bow. Then hold the rosin in the left hand and pull the bow across the rosin in one direction. The bow can be moved across the rosin in both directions, but students tend to rosin only the middle section of the hair with this method. By pulling the bow in one direction across the cake, the odds are better that rosin will be spread evenly. Five strokes will usually suffice, but new hair may take eight or nine strokes.
     Even beginning students should develop the habit of keeping a soft cloth nearby to wipe away the rosin dust that builds up on strings and on the instrument during each session. They should also wipe off the fingerboard because pers­piration from the left hand will ruin the strings if left to dry.
     Small students and large instruments are not often considered a good combination, but if directors help young bassists to avoid the most common errors of begin­­ners, they will develop the technical foundation to become the next Bottesini or Dragon­etti.

The post First Lessons on Bass appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Start with the Headjoint
    Using the headjoint alone avoids the need to talk about balancing the flute, positioning the hands, standing and sitting positions, and fingering. It is better to start simply with the headjoint and make sure that students understand how it works, where to blow, how to tongue, and the basics of vibrato before assembling the flute. These will be topics for future masterclasses.
 
Curriculum
This curriculum works well for any age level. The goal for the first class is to teach students how to produce beautiful sounds, articulate, and vibrate. This is most easily done using only the headjoint, which they should hold with their thumbs and index fingers. The left-hand fingers should not block the air stream as it crosses the embouchure hole.

Preparation
    You will need a one-page handout for each student, soda straws, small plastic storage bags, a pinwheel, a cleaning rod with a cork placement marker on one end, a tuner, and a Bigio insertion tool. The Bigio tool is available from J.L. Smith in Charlotte, North Carolina or you can make one by drilling a small hole in the end of a ½" x 12" dowel rod.
 
Getting Started
    Each student’s headjoint cork should be checked for proper placement. To save time, do this before the class begins when possible. (The box on page 44 offers guidance, although some of the suggestions are for more thorough cleaning and adjustment at home.) The line on the cleaning rod should register in the center of the embouchure hole.
If you are uncomfortable adjusting corks, take a lesson from a flute technician to learn how to do it safely or follow these basic directions. If a cork is too loose in the headjoint and does not stay in place, remove the cork and place a strip of pipe or cellophane tape around the base of the cork. This quick fix will last until the student can take the headjoint to a technician for a permanent repair. The class will be playing on the headjoint for almost an hour, so you want them to be in tune.

Sweet Spot and the Soda Straw
Teacher’s Goal: Find the Sweet Spot on the headjoint.
    Every headjoint has what I call a sweet spot – the optimum place at which to direct the air to produce a ringing, bell-type tone. A soda straw helps students find the correct location. With the straw in the right hand, as if it were a pencil, and the headjoint in the left hand not touching the chin, have students place the bottom edge of the straw on the back edge of the embouchure hole – the edge that would normally be under the lower lip. Then have them blow while slowly moving the straw across the back side from left to right. Listen carefully. There will be one place where the tone will be more focused. This place is position A, which might be in the center of the back edge or a little off to the left or right. This position depends on the individual cut of the embouchure hole.   
    Then, with the straw in position A, angle the straw while blowing the air toward the outer edge – the edge furthest away from you – and move the straw from left to right. When you hear the best focus, that position is position B. As you blow from position A to B you will find the sweet spot. Now try to duplicate that blowing position with the headjoint against the chin. This exercise really helps students understand how to find the best place to direct the air for a great sound and focus.

Anatomy and Blowing
Teacher’s Goal: Align the head, separate the vocal folds, place the embouchure hole parallel to the ceiling, release the air from the body.
    Position the head at the bottom of a very small nod. To understand how the head balances on the spine, ask students to nod their heads several times and also have them pant several times in order to
notice that the vocal folds are separated during inhalation and exhalation. This position, sometimes referred to as an open throat, is what they should feel while playing.
    Check that embouchure holes are parallel to the floor and ceiling, not facing back toward the player. The inside edge of the embouchure hole should be where the skin changes from chin to lip.
While students blow several notes, feel with your hand where each student’s airstream is crossing the embouchure hole. Place the pinwheel at that spot and instruct the flutist to make the pinwheel spin. This teaches them that the air must leave the body when playing the flute. It also helps students increase the speed of the air.

Embouchure Development
Teacher’s Goal: Make a smooth octave slur.
    Practicing slurred octaves on a headjoint is a quick way to develop the embouchure. Ask students to slur half notes several times, low to high, at mf.  Alternate with the students – you play one slur and then the class responds. When the class is small, you can work with students individually. If someone has difficulty making the slur, ask the entire class to play the low note while seated and then rise to a standing position for the upper note. The energy that is used to stand is what was missing in the previous attempts to produce the upper note. By asking the entire class to do this exercise, you don’t embarrass the student.
    Joseph Mariano taught students to increase the air speed just before the upper note to make the interval sound easy. William Kincaid taught to slightly lengthen the note before a slur if the interval was a fourth or more. 
    Generally, when playing slurs from a musical perspective, we play large intervals small and small intervals large. Octaves on the headjoint are not in tune, even when the cork is in the proper place because the headjoint is not completely cylindrical. How-ever, the parabolic shape makes third-octave notes less sharp when using the entire flute.
    Encourage each student to play with his natural face. I prefer to let embouchure’s evolve rather than giving explicit instructions about mouth shapes to young students. Exercises with harmonics will help students’ embouchures to evolve naturally. 
    Every criticism sheet that I received during the years I was playing school solo festival competitions mentioned that I did not play with a smiley face. The corners of my embouchure were down naturally, and my aperture was on the left side. The judges suggested that I change my embouchure immediately.
    Thank goodness I was a stubborn young student. I thought I sounded pretty good. I was winning contests and did not see why I should change. Then I played for the legendary Frederick Wilkins at the Tri-State Music Festival in Enid, Oklahoma, who commented, “You have a beautiful embouchure. The corners are down and your aperture is on the left. Did you know that all the famous flutists had an aperture on the left?” I was glad I had not followed the advice of a less-informed band director whose only flute playing experience was in a methods class.
    Over the years I have changed only about 10 students’ embouchures.  When I have made an embouchure suggestion, I have prefaced it with  the words, “This is only a suggestion.” Those I have encouraged to change were students with apertures on the right. While they were able to get beautiful sounds that way, I was concerned with how far back their right shoulders had to be in order to play. I worried that they would not be able to play this way without pain for four or more hours a day for 40 years. However, before any changes were made, we studied the arm’s anatomy and talked about what modifications might be made. The goal is to teach the student so that he may continue performing all through a long career.
 
Tonguing
Teacher’s Goal: A perfect attack.
    The tongue releases the air to produce a sound. The general movement of the tongue should be horizontal rather than vertical. Say the word thicka several times quickly to achieve the snake-like tongue motion. The jaw should hang with the upper and lower teeth separated, and the tongue should be placed through the teeth.
    When the air comes before the tongue, a hoot attack is produced. Remind students over and over again that the tongue releases the air. When an attack is harsh, the beginning of the note is sharp, and then the note settles into the pitch. A tuner will show the beginning of a note. 
    Ask students to hold the ends of the headjoint with thumbs and index fingers and start the tone (using the sweet spot) with the tongue outside the lips, as if making a face. Pull the tongue back horizontally to release the air and make a tone. Repeat several times until they understand the motion and can easily start the tone with the tongue out. Now repeat the stroke placing the tongue on the top lip and drawing the tongue back while saying thi in the rhythm: thi, thi, thi, rest.
 
Musicianship
Goal: Strength of the beat concept.
    Each masterclass should teach basic musicianship fundamentals. In the past, many teachers delayed teaching musicianship until students’ early teen years, but I have had excellent results teaching basic musicianship techniques to beginners. The strength-of-the-beat concept works well while teaching tonguing, and this chart will be useful:

    Research shows that muscles learn faster and with less stress when practice occurs in small chunks with a rest between each event. In 2/4 play three eighth notes in the lower octave followed by a rest (thi, thi, thi, rest). The stress is strong, weak, weaker on each unit. Repeat until the quality of the stroke is excellent and simple. Now tongue four 16ths on the first beat and one eighth note and rest on the second beat. The first note is strong with all the following notes weaker.
    After several repetitions ask the flutists to remove the headjoint from their lips. This will give them practice finding the sweet spot from a cold start.
    With each repeat, remind students to position the head at the bottom of a small nod, face the embouchure hole to the ceiling, look and listen for the  sweet spot, have the vocal folds separated, and finally blow.

Skills
Teacher’s Goal: Explore the tongue and vocal folds.
    There are five skills to practice: thi, cka, hah, tk or tkt, and vibrato. Practice each of these strokes, omitting vibrato, on the headjoint in rhythm. (thi, thi, thi, rest; cka, cka, cka, rest; hah, hah, hah, rest, t k t rest, tkt t rest) The cka should be forward and as high in the mouth as possible.
 
Vibrato
Goal: Basic vibrato cycle.
    Vibrato is produced by air moving through slightly opening and closing vocal folds. To open the vocal folds, say hah, which places the vocal folds at their widest separation. When you say hah, hah, hah out loud, the vocal folds will close slightly in between the hahs. Georges Barrere named this hah, hah, hah stroke throat staccato early in the 20th century.
    To teach students where the vocal folds are and how to engage them to produce vibrato, ask them to say hah, hah, hah, silence, in 24 as eighth notes. Add a slur to the hah, hah, hahs, and they will produce vibrato. This exercise is best at a piano dynamic level.

Visual Aid
    With a small plastic bag on the end of the headjoint secured with a rubber band, ask students to blow into the embouchure hole to fill the bag with air. Next practice the hah, hah, hah, silence exercise, both staccato and slurred. When done correctly, the bag will bob up and down in time. When students get a good even bob, they are on their way to a good vibrato. Try a variety of rhythms, with and without vibrato.

End With a Fun Activity
    The clever arrangement of The Snake Charmer by Phyllis Louke in Flute 101: Mastering the Basics, Volume 1 by Phyllis Avidan Louke and Patricia George is a fun way to conclude a masterclass. Students make the lower sound by covering the end of the headjoint with their right palms. The upper note is produced by opening the end of the headjoint.

 
    A one-page handout will help students follow and remember the lesson. List each topic covered in the class and leave space for note taking. Writing notes in their own words will help students recall the information at a later time. 

The post A Flute Masterclass appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

     One secret to the band’s success is the unusual practice Nichols has of recording every single rehearsal, sectional, and performance. “If you record everything, you get a more honest assessment of how the band really sounds. It is not always possible to review every class period, but many students come down to the listening lab to review how they played the day before.”

Lanier M.S. Percussion Ensemble
Buford, Georgia
Conductor Hunter McRae describes preparing to take 31 7th and 8th grade percussionists to Midwest as a marathon and has attempted to pace things to keep students from getting burned out. Nine of the ten tunes on the concert are divided between three en-sembles; the tenth tune will be performed all students making the trip.
     The 2,700 students at Lanier Middle School, loc-ated just north of Atlanta, recently moved into a new building that includes a modern band room and small ensemble room. “The additional room gives us space to take the percussion out and work on techniques and concepts unique to percussion instruments.” Because of a school day that starts at 9:30 a.m. any extra rehearsals are held before school.

Walton H.S. Chamber Music Society
Marietta, Georgia
     No one was more surprised than director Perry Holbrook when chamber music suddenly became popular at this school. “These chamber ensembles started playing anywhere they could: nursing homes, school functions, and art shows.” Last fall Holbrook realized that his two top string quartets, including some of the best students he had ever taught, were made up entirely of underclassmen. He decided to make a tape and submit it to the Midwest and was thrilled when these groups were accepted.
     The students take a creative approach to programming, drawing on everything from traditional string works to Led Zeppelin. Holbrook says these players have “adopted a bit of a brass quintet attitude that nothing is sacred when selecting music. One of the quartets even appeared as the opening act for a local rock violinist. I don’t know how chamber music became cool here, but we want to run with it.”

Stephen F. Austin H.S. Orchestra
Sugar Land, Texas
     A veteran of the Midwest Clinic, Carolyn Vandiver has taught at the Stephen F. Austin High School for 14 years of her -year career as a director; she brought her first orchestra to the Midwest in 2003.  She remembers several incidents from the trip five years ago, the most unexpected being that she became unnerved right before the ensemble performed. “It was a surprise to the students because  they had never before seen me upset. I think it had to do with facing the unknown – of not knowing any of the faces in the audiences or even who was on the venue with us. I doubt it will happen this time.
     “Another surprise was that one student brought five days worth of shorts to wear. We told everyone it would be cold, but this fellow didn’t get it at all; he was used to the hot temperatures of Houston. Some of the students had never seen snow, so making their first snowballs was fun but also shocking – a few of them made snowballs out of ice and didn’t realize they could hurt people.”

Penn H.S. Symphonic Band
Mishawaka, Indiana
     Conductor Keith Rudolph’s advice to directors who are thinking of auditioning for the Midwest is to send the very best audition tape possible. “Last year, we worked intensely on the music in November and December and then made a tape in January that simply wasn’t good enough. With mid-March as the deadline for the audition tape, I briefly rehearsed some other literature, then re-turned to the Midwest pieces for a recording session in March. The band played the two selections for the audition tape in a concert the day after the recording session. Once I evaluated the tapes, the recording of the concert turned out to be equally good as the best recording session, so I sent the recording of the performance.”
     Each year five or six students from the music program go on to attend music school. “We also have a number of students who enroll at Purdue University and Notre Dame University; even though they may major in engineering or science, they keep playing in college, and I’m just as proud of that.”

Green Valley H.S. String Orchestra
Henderson, Nevada
     Over the years the Green Valley High School Orchestra has performed in London, Scotland, and Rome and even played in Carnegie Hall, but director Geoff Neuman expects that this year his students will have a very different kind of experience at the Midwest because it will be their first concert in front of an audience of music educators. “The people at Midwest know every note of the music you are playing, and they truly listen. Parents will clap no matter how the sound comes out, but nothing can replace playing at a conference where people appreciate the work you’ve done. There is nothing like it.”

Bloomington (Indiana) H.S. North Advanced Jazz Ensemble
     Director Janis Stockhouse has attended 40 consecutive Midwest Clinics as a student and director, and this is the third group she is bringing to the convention. The Midwest called with an invitation after a group from another school drop-ped out. Aside from having less rehearsal time, Stockhouse also had to select music long after other invited ensembles had made their choices. She recalls a frenetic 24-hour period of reviewing all the remaining music.
     Stockhouse has invited a stellar array of guests to appear on their Midwest concert. Legendary director Ron Modell will lead the band on a Basie tune. Stockhouse recalls that Modell often brought his Northern Illinois University jazz ensemble through Bloomington. “His students worked frequently with ours. Ron Modell is quite a mentor to me.”
     Continuing the Basie theme, the group will premiere a piece commissioned by the Midwest Clinic specifically for this convention. Dennis Wilson, jazz professor at the University of Michigan, wrote the Count Basie Midwest Suite and previously spent many years in the Basie band. Wilson will lead a clinic on the day after the premiere about playing in the Basie style. Indiana University jazz professor and trumpeter Pat Harbison will also solo with the band.

Grisham Middle School Band
Austin, Texas
     This will be conductor Betty Pierce’s second Midwest group. “The advantage,” she says, “is that I’ve learned to have a better approach to rehearsals now. The first time I was so concerned about preparing such a long program that I didn’t spend as much time on fundamentals. That hurt me. Now, I am spending the normal amount of time on fundamentals, and it is making the music preparation easier.”
     The Grisham Middle School Band may be the only one at the Midwest to feature a student on accordion. When composer Julie Giroux wrote a commission that included an accordion part, it took a girl in the ensemble to express an interest in learning to play the instrument, even though she had never before tried it. After a German teacher at Grisham loaned her an accordion, the girl made such rapid progress that her parents bought a new instrument for the Midwest performance.

Clint Small M.S. Wind Ensemble
Austin, Texas
     As she prepares to take her middle school students to Chicago, conductor Paulette Rainey says the hardest part of taking a middle school group is estimating what their ability will be in December. “You want students to work hard and perform well.” One highlight of the performance will be the premiere of a work written by band parent and composer Rick DeJonge.
     Because so many students participate in both music and sports, it can be difficult to schedule things so everyone can participate. It is not uncommon to see students coming to a sectional in athletic uniforms. As Rainey notes, “Some-times music is the most important thing students have to do, and sometimes it is not. We just make it happen.”

Spring High School Wind Ensemble
Spring, Texas
     When Hurricane Ike hit the Houston area in September, Gabe Mussella wasn’t worried about how missing two weeks of school would affect Midwest preparations. “Our students don’t balk at the idea of working hard on a daily basis.” One reason that Mussella needn’t have worried about his ensemble was the long tradition of excellence. “There must be something in the water in Spring,” he marvels when talking about the school’s multiple Midwest invitations dating back to 1980. He has invited Richard Crain, who first took a Spring High School band to Midwest to guest conduct the group in Chicago this year. Tom Bennett, who took the band to Midwest in 1999, will also conduct on the concert, and Brian Risinger, a Spring graduate and brother of associate conductor Terri Risinger will solo on trombone.   

The post The Road to the Midwest appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

     Most combos play out of fake books, which are a great resource, but these often provide only basic melodies and simple chord progressions. Although it could be beneficial to have more arranging provided, I prefer the blank canvas such books provide; it leaves plenty of room to create interesting arrangements that can custom fit any group. The tune “Dearly Beloved” from The Real Book, Volume I (Hal Leonard) is an excellent example of a chart that lends itself well to some arranging.

Enhancing the Melody
     There are a couple of simple techniques that can be used to make a melody feel like it swings more.

Anticipation
     Often certain downbeat melody notes can be moved ahead by half a beat, giving the phrase a much more swinging sound. This is usually most effective when used at the ends of melodic segments. The pitches do not change at all.

Syncopation
     Syncopation is simply taking consecutive downbeat notes and moving them ahead by half a beat to create more upbeats. Again, pitches have not changed from the original.

Non-Harmonic Tones
     Adding simple non-harmonic tones to a melody will generate more energy by creating more movement. Passing tones, neighboring tones, escape tones, and appoggiaturas can all work. In this example the melody is slightly changed, but the original pitches are all still there. In measure 6, the original melody consists of four quarter notes: F, G, A, and C. We can add a passing tone B between beats 3 and 4 and then anticipate the B on beat 1 of the next measure by moving that to the upbeat of beat 4. This creates a nice diatonic eighth-note run that swings much better and generates more energy with the moving line.

Enhancing the Harmony
     A good way to approach reharmonization is to analyze the relationship between the bass note or root of the chord and the melody. By substituting for certain chords a much more     interesting relationship between the bass and melody can be created. Do not try to change every chord in the tune, and avoid changing chords that are unique to a tune or used at the beginning or ending of phrases.

Simple Chord Substitutions
     Most tunes are built with major, minor, and dominant chords. The simplest substitute for a major or minor chord is to move the bass note a diatonic third away in either direction. Each of the new chords will share multiple notes with the original chord but has a different sound because of the root movement. With this technique, starting from a major chord will produce minor chords, and starting from a minor chord will create major chords.
     When substituting chords it is important to look at the relationship between the new chord and the chords surrounding it. In the example below, the C6 chord in measure 10 could be changed to either an Am7 or an Em7. The C in the melody will clash with the fifth of the Em7 chord, eliminating that option. Am7 works beautifully with the melody, and also produces a logical progression of C6-Am7-Dm9-G9. If the chord progression sounds forced, a substitution should be avoided.
     In addition, the CMaj9 chord in measures 13-14 can be changed. The G, B, and D in measure 13 fit perfectly into Em7, and the next measure could work with an A7 chord. This produces an interesting Em7-A7-Ebm9-Ab9-Dm9-G9 progression.

     A simple solution for dominant chords is to substitute the chord a tri-tone away. Two dominant chords with roots a tri-tone away share (enharmonically) the same third and seventh, and there are many instances in which substituting at the tri-tone will create an extremely colorful relationship between the chord and the melody. In this example, tri-tone substitution produces an interesting  D-D flat-C run in the bass line.

Secondary Dominants
     Secondary dominants are frequently used in big band writing. At any time a chord can be considered a temporary tonic, in which case a dominant can go in front of it. Although this technique is easy to abuse, it adds quite a bit of color and energy. In the example below, the chord in measure 10 can be changed to an A7#9 leading to the Dm9, or to really make things interesting, use tri-tone substitution of the secondary dominant and add an E-flat 13 chord instead.

Pedal Point Bass

     A favorite technique of mine is the use of bass pedal points. Many jazz standards are built using IIm7-V7 progressions. Placing the IIm7 chord over the same root as the V7 chord creates a bass pedal point that slows down the harmonic rhythm. A pedal point also opens the arranging possibilities to adding a rhythmic or even melodic ostinato on the bottom of the arrangement.
     The example above could also make an excellent introduction.

Have just piano and bass play the pattern for four measures, then repeat it, building by adding drums lightly catching the piano and bass rhythms and guitar. If the combo has a trombone or bari sax, this player can double the bass line for the second four measures of the intro. In this chart, the ostinato can continue through the first eight bars of the tune, then the bassist and drummer can switch to a walking line and swing style.

Changing Tempo, Meter, or Style
     A simple way to change up a tune is to change the tempo. It is especially effective to take a ballad and push the tempo up to medium or even fast swing. Arranger Frank Mantooth was a master of this.
     Another option is to change a tune from 3/4 to 4/4. All sorts of ideas will stem from condensing the original melody to fit the new time signature. Here is the first half of “Dearly Beloved” played as a waltz.

     Changing the style of a tune can also liven things up. Converting a common swing tune to something in a Latin, rock, or funk style will naturally inspire some simple arranging ideas for the melody. “Dearly Beloved” as a bossa nova might start this way.

Orchestration
     Using various instrument combinations within a combo may be the easiest way to add interest. A group with three horns has seven different options for who plays – and that is without even considering the rhythm section. When changing combinations, think in terms of longer phrases. Changing more frequently than every eight or 16 bars will make the tune sound fragmented.
     Changing or adding instruments should help the tune build. Think low to high and few to many. Starting with bari sax and trombone, then progressing to alto sax and trumpet will naturally build the tune. A tune will also build if you start the first phrase with just one or two horns and end with all of them playing the last phrase.

During Solos
     Although a tune itself can be quite heavily arranged, simple is better during solos. I frequently revert back to straight-ahead swing and near original chord changes. It is important to use the rhythm section to build each solo with volume and activity, then drop in volume and build again with subsequent solos. This adds a lot of interest to the performance and also encourages young soloists to build their solos. The drummer can change the texture by alternating ride cymbals with each soloist; another way to add variety is to have drums, bass, or piano drop out at the beginning of a new solo and come back in halfway through.
     The number of solos should be limited, and the order of solos should be changed for each tune. One idea is to have piano or guitar solo before the melody is played for the first time.

The End Result
     The instructions for an arranged version of “Dearly Beloved” might look something like this:

• Intro: Eight measures of pedal point ostinato. Start with bass and piano; add bari sax and drums in bar 5.
• Melody: Trombone and bari sax play first 8 bars over the ostinato, bari and alto sax play the next 8 in a straight-ahead swing style. Trombone and trumpet play the third 8 bars (over ostinato), and all play the last 8 together (swing).
• Solo 1: Alto sax (guitar comp, straight-ahead swing).
• Solo 2: Guitar (piano comp, straight-ahead swing).
• Solo 3: Drums solo over the ostinato as a vamp.
• Melody: All play, with alternating ostinato and swing sections.
• End: Same as intro, but drums and bari sax play the first four bars, then drop out. 

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