How many band directors have you worked with over your teaching career? 
    Six or so.

As a coach, can you point to any specific actions taken by band directors to best assist coaches and student athletes?
    Asking about workouts and working together to coordinate practices. Making everyone aware far ahead of time of special events.

What do you expect from band directors?
    Work together; we both have jobs to do. Toughen up. More times than not the students are going to pick something other than what you want. Know when to play during the game. The band is great, but sometimes you play so loudly that we cannot do our job. 

What should band directors avoid?
    Do not go straight to the administration when there is conflict. Do not make students choose between one or the other. Do not expect the coaches to mark your practice field. 

What advice would you give band directors looking to have strong relationships between coaches and athletic directors?
   Open dialogue. Do not lock yourself in the band hall; get out and have fun with the staff. See if there is a particular theme for the season and see if there is music that goes with it. Beer is never a bad icebreaker. 

What to Do
    One of the first things I try to do in preparation for each year is gather the calendars from the various sports (this is especially necessary in the fall) and compare them with the band calendar. Ideally, the review of the calendars takes place in April or early May. I  have additional people also compare the band calendar to other calendars. Once before the school year started, the UIL academic coach, a former band parent and booster club member, spotted that our concert festival date was in conflict with a One Act Play competition. Because of this early catch we were able to adjust the calendar and alert other schools in our district about the conflict. 
    In a small community specific dates and times for band practice may already be set and unless you have major grounds for changing things, it is best to leave it as it is. While it may be strange to have band rehearsal on Wednesday night anywhere else in the country, it is tradition in this town. Because of the schedule of sports practices and games there is no other available time. The community knows exactly when band practice will be and it could cause a major debacle to try to move it to a different day or time. 
    Communication is key. As long as all of the coaches, extracurricular teachers, and band directors are in communication many conflicts can be avoided without affecting any programs or students. Students have many choices in small towns, and each activity will suffer if students do not have the opportunity to participate in multiple areas. 
    Be flexible. Know ahead of time how students are shared at halftime and work with it. Sometimes football players are able to participate in halftime performances, and sometimes they can only do so on special occasions.
    Communication with the cheer sponsor is just as important as with the football coaches to help Friday nights run smoothly. Because halftime is a break for the cheerleaders, by marching at halftime those girls don’t get a break during the game. As a new band director, I completely forgot the ladies wouldn’t get a chance to relax and for a few games didn’t understand why they would hand their instruments off to other students and run almost immediately after the halftime performance. Finally I asked one of my drum majors, who was also a cheerleader, why they were running off. She told me it was the only time they had to eat. After that I never thought twice about those girls running off immediately after their performance. 
    Minimize interruptions to practices. I have found success in asking for students to miss a practice only when it is absolutely necessary. We have a marching festival each year on the first Monday of October, and it is held at the same stadium as the district marching competition, so it is a perfect opportunity for the band to have a critiqued performance someplace they will play again later in the season. Once I confirmed we were definitely attending, I requested a later performance time so the student athletes had the most possible time at practice. In the past, I have been able to arrange it so the football players only missed ten minutes of practice and were able to ride the bus with the band. The eighth-grade volleyball girls had a game, but I arranged with parents attending the game to bring the girls directly to the performance, and other band members made sure their uniforms and instruments made it onto the bus and trailer. I am sure it helps the band relationship with the coaches that we only ask students to miss part of one practice in the fall. 
    From the beginning of the school year stress the importance of your students communicating their schedules to you. Many students involved with showing animals may attend events outside of the school schedule, and when you gather schedules you may not know about stock shows or agriculture judging events. One Friday night a few years ago I received a Facebook message from a parent letting me know my tuba player needed to leave at halftime to head to Dallas because he was showing his heifer at the state fair the next day. He was excused and I understood, but I had no idea that student had a heifer, much less one that had advanced to the state fair.
    The earlier in the school year you can get the band schedule to students, the less likely you are to have last-minute conflicts pop up. It was not the agriculture teacher’s responsibility to coordinate that event with me given that the student was traveling with his family. However, he was representing the school and the agriculture department, so even though our low brass section thinned out after he left, it was perfectly fine. 
    Remember the small sports. Each spring I was a little thrown off by golf and tennis. Neither golf nor tennis are particularly large team sports, but the school always sent representatives for each to district games. In a small school with a band pushing fifty members, it is likely someone on the golf or tennis teams will also be in band. This is easily worked around by emphasizing the need for students to communicate with you and seek out the coaches who oversee those sports and ask them to keep you in the loop on who they will be sending to district games. The past two years golf and tennis district games have occurred on the same dates as concert festival, and so I made a plan with the coaches to hand off students should we need to share personnel on that day. 
    Take the time to get to know the coaches and sponsors of other activities in your school. I found that eating lunch with the other teachers in my building built good relationships and made it easier to work out scheduling when a conflict arose. Remember that you are all there because you want students to experience success and grow into productive members of society. 
    All band directors should develop some public relations skills. Your support of your students participating in multiple activities will build positive rapport not only with the students but also the community. Particularly in small towns, students and community members need to feel your support for all of their activities, or you will end up losing support and your program will suffer. Always speak well of coaches and other activities when talking to students, parents, or community members, and while you may not want to be shuttling the band to football games in December, never let it show. Play some seasonal tunes at halftime and cheer until the season ends.    

The post Sharing Students appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Equipment
    If we expect our students to play with a characteristic tone, we also must make sure they have instruments that work; this will encourage students to practice and give them the best chance to succeed. If, on the school’s tuba, the slides may not move, the valves may not work very well, and there is a high probability of some unpleasant odors lurking in the bottom of the horn, I doubt that the student assigned to this instrument will be motivated to practice. Equipment does make a difference. 
    On all brass instruments, the mouthpiece makes a difference as well. Older students guided by a qualified tuba teacher have a wide range of mouthpieces available to suit the shape of their teeth, the shape and density of their lips, and the demands of the music they are playing. For students with less experience, I recommend the Yamaha 67C4 or the Bach 24AW mouthpiece. Both have a wide rim to help with endurance combined with a reasonable amount of space in the cup of the mouthpiece to help produce a characteristic sound. A bigger mouthpiece does not always produce better results. Ideally, the mouthpiece should be fitted to the player, based on the make and model of instrument, the physical characteristics of the player, and the music being played.
    Make sure the shank of the mouthpiece is free from dents and free from obstructions. As a clinician, one of my first steps is to use a mouthpiece truing tool and rawhide mallet to straighten the shanks of all the brass mouthpieces. This step alone will improve the sound of the band. A mouthpiece brush, aided by a little soap and water, can be a big help, too. Again, physics is our friend. If the airflow out of a mouthpiece is impeded by dents or by layers of grime, less air gets through, thus less sound is produced. More air equals more sound.

Tuning Slides
    Once students can produce a characteristic sound, the most commonly overlooked factor in tuba intonation is how the tuning slides are set. Because most students play BBb tubas, the musical examples will reflect tubas in that key. Those who play CC, F, or Eb tuba should transpose the examples accordingly. The first step is to identify and adjust the main tuning slide. Generally speaking, this slide will be the last slide after the valve section, as the tubing enters the main body of the instrument. The main tuning slide often has a water key. If the student is playing with a characteristic sound, and is playing on a mouthpiece that fits both the player and the instrument reasonably well, the tuning slide should only need to be adjusted an inch or two, or possibly less. My tuba is pictured at the top of the next column, with the tuning slide set to its proper position. 
    A tuning slide that must be pulled out four inches or more to produce the desired frequency is a sure sign that something is wrong. Likely causes include playing with the teeth clenched together, using shallow air support, having the wrong mouthpiece, or some combination of these three. The student may need to review a good tuba sound and practice imitating it. It is difficult, if not impossible, to tune a poor sound. 
    Adjusting any tuning slide on a brass instrument involves a series of compromises, because multiple notes of the overtone series can be played on any given valve combination. Thus, adjusting the length of a tuning slide will affect numerous notes. A high-quality instrument will minimize the number of compromises required, but setting the appropriate length for each tuning slide on even the best instruments involves some give and take. Professional brass players improve intonation on every note through either adjusting their lips or adjusting their slides. Slide adjustments fall into two categories: general settings that are suitable for most notes and note-specific adjustments. 
    I like to set the length of my slides for general settings by playing against a drone, because this also trains the ears. Sometimes, I will use both a drone and a visual tuner at the same time, to allow my eyes (via the visual tuner) to verify what my ears have already learned from the drone. For example, for a BBb tuba, I would set the drone to produce Bb1, F2, and Bb2 at the same time. Because my goal is to play in tune with other musicians, I use a drone that allows me to play in just intonation, rather than equal-tempered pitch. 
    In generic terms, an equal-tempered scale divides an octave into twelve half-steps of equal size. This is very helpful for Western Classical music, which for over 300 years has assumed the ability to play in any key signature. Equal temperament was discussed as early as the late 1500s but needed time to be refined, developed, and adopted by the makers of a variety of keyboard instruments. Bach responded to the development of a keyboard able to play in any key using equal temperament by writing The Well-Tempered Clavier in 1722. 
    Many electronic tuners today assume this concept of equal temperament. However, physics dictates otherwise. For instance, for the root and fifth of a chord to be in tune, the fifth must be stretched or raised roughly three-tenths of a half step to sound in tune. Just intonation focuses on how the notes sound to be perceived as in tune. Fretless string instruments and singers utilize just intonation when they perform, because they are not constrained by the fixed tuning of a keyboard instrument. Woodwind and brass players are able to play either equal temperament or just intonation, by utilizing a combination of altering their embouchure, tuning mechanisms, and airstream. I use the Yamaha Harmony Director to produce the desired drone to set the length of my tuning slides. The Harmony Director switches easily between equal temperament and just intonation, and can quickly transpose to any key. The setup of the keyboard is intuitive and easy to learn. Richard Floyd advocates the use of this device for full ensemble rehearsal, as well as to help train individual players in his book The Artistry of Teaching and Making Music, published by GIA. The popular iPhone tuning app Tonal Energy has a similar feature, to allow for tuning in just intonation. Regardless of the tool you choose, make sure that students learn to tune fifths and octaves that acoustically sound in tune, rather than merely producing the frequency specified by an electronic tuner.
    With the drone sounding Bb1, F2, and Bb2, I play those corresponding notes on the tuba. Some players might find it easier to sound the notes on the drone on octave higher, where they are easier to hear. In either case, the notes played by the tuba are as follows:

    As I play, I want to find the center of each note, that is, where the instrument responds the most easily. I am primarily concerned with the intonation of the two Bbs, because the F is drawn from the third partial, which is typically sharp on a brass instrument. The two Bbs in this case are drawn from partials (or harmonics) that tend to be well in tune, so I rely on them more to set the length of my tuning slide. One of the notes might be a little sharp or flat, in which case I will adjust the tuning slide. The primary goal is to minimize the number of adjustments I will need to make with my lips, so it is perfectly appropriate to need to lip one note up or down slightly.
    Once the open notes on the horn are in tune, one can now adjust the tuning slides in descending chromatic order, starting with the second valve. When brass instruments are designed, the second valve slide is built after the overall length of the instrument is established. For this reason, the second valve slide has the best chance of being the most in tune. It represents the smallest change in the length of the instrument, thus it always has the shortest adjustment slide. 
    Adjust the length of the second valve slide using the notes A1-E2-A2, pictured below. Remember that the E is drawn from the third harmonic, which is inherently sharp, so focus your attention on the outer two notes. 

    As shown in the first picture below, my tuba plays well in tune with no adjustment of the second valve slide.

This fortunate circumstance is a combination of fine craftsmanship, a great mouthpiece, the shape of my teeth, the density of my lips, and other physiological factors. Another player on the same instrument might need to make a small adjustment, to account for their physical characteristics. However, there is seldom an acoustical reason to pull a second valve slide all the way out, as seen in the second picture. Mathematically, it makes no sense to nearly double the length of the second valve by extending the slide out all the way. However, I see second valve tuning slides extended all the way out on tubas played by students all across the country. Check all the other factors first, especially that the main tuning slide has been set correctly. Distortions in the setting of one slide create even more problems once other slides are put into use, so proceed with wisdom and a great ear. 

    After adjusting the main tuning slide, and making small adjustments in the second valve slide, turn to the first valve slide, using Ab1, Eb2, and Ab2 to set the length of the slides, focusing on the octave Abs. Set the length of the first valve slide such that the octave Abs are as closely in tune as possible, with a minimum of lip adjustments.

    Those planning to buy new tubas soon should make sure to purchase a model on which the first valve tuning slide is within reach of the player. Advanced players will often make adjustments in the length of the first valve slide while playing to refine their intonation even more, based on the intonation tendencies of the instrument and the need to match pitch with other players. 
    When trying to tune valves used in combination, even more thought and compromises are necessary. Valves used in combination are always sharp, because of flaws inherent in the design of a brass instrument. When first and second valve are used together, most of the resulting notes are a bit sharp. Advanced players with a high-quality instrument will often simply pull the first valve slide to adjust the pitch of a note played with first and second valves together. This is one of the most frequent note-specific adjustments, and it should be practiced so the player memorizes both how far out to move the slide and the distance back to the original position. These repetitions should be guided by a drone to ensure that the tuning slide adjustments are made quickly and accurately. This also assumes that the instrument and the tuning slides are well enough maintained to move with ease. 
    Students should make tuning adjustments based on how the note sounds, compared to the inner ear and to the other musicians in the ensemble, rather than simply pulling the slides. All sorts of factors can affect pitch, including temperature, altitude, the time of day, and the player’s general health. If all the factors described above are in place, the first and second valve combination should be tunable with the lips, as well as the movement of the slides. In some cases, the player may want to consider making small adjustments to the default position of the first valve slide, the second valve slide, or both to bring the first and second combination closer in tune. This is fine as long as the adjustment does not distort the intonation of the notes that use just one of these valves. Making these sorts of decisions are exactly the sort of compromises necessary to help your instrument play as well in tune as possible.
    Another way to improve intonation on this valve combination is to use the third valve as an alternate fingering. In some cases, this will produce a note that is better in tune, because the third valve slide is relatively long. The notes that use this valve combination – G1, D2, and G2 – occur frequently in band music, so it is worthwhile to check the intonation tendencies of all of them. 

    Setting the length of the third valve slide requires more compromises on a three-valve tuba, because the length of the third valve affects the notes from three sets of the harmonic series. 

    Longer combinations of valves increase the length of adjustment necessary to compensate for the inherent sharpness of the valve combination. On the three-valve tuba, the lowest valve combination of 1-2-3 should produce a Bn1. However, this combination can be almost an entire half step sharp without substantial adjustment. Even a skilled player will have to make all sorts of adjustments in airspeed and embouchure to maneuver this note to play in tune. Young players will have to work even harder.
    The combination of first and third valves should produce a C2. This note is extremely sharp as well, although slightly less so than the Bn. To bring both notes close to an accurate representation of the desired pitch ,a long extension of the third valve tuning slide will probably be necessary. However, making this long extension will distort the intonation of the 2-3 combination. 
    Both problems can be solved with a four-valve tuba. The length of the fourth valve is intentionally extended to correct the intonation of both B1 and C2 and lowers the pitch of these otherwise sharp notes without distorting the notes produced by the 2-3 combination. Air tends to flow more easily through the fourth valve, making it easier to produce a resonant, relaxed sound on these notes as well. The fourth valve also extends the low range of the tuba, making it possible to play in tune nearly as low as the fundamental pitch of the instrument, that is, Bb0.
    If a three-valve instrument is the only tuba available, adjust the third valve slide to get the best intonation on Bn1 and C2. Although the length of slide extension required to get these two notes in tune will probably drop the pitch of the Gb and Db produced by the 2-3 valve combination a bit too low, the higher priority is normally to keep the pitch down for the B and C. High school bands often encounter key signatures that require tuba players to perform the low Bn using a 1-2-3 or 2-4 valve combination, and low C is commonly seen. Typically, these notes are doubled an octave higher in the low woodwind instruments, who are not burdened with the mechanical intonation challenges faced by the tuba section. Thus, the director must beware of the potential for a substantial discrepancy in intonation between the tubas and the low reeds when these notes occur in the score.

Conclusion
    The bottom line for the bottom of the band is that tone quality and intonation are not separate concerns. Rather, they are inseparable components of being a good musician. All the notes of a major chord are contained within the harmonic series of the fundamental note of the chord. If the tuba section is able to produce a professional quality of sound and fine-tune it through thoughtful manipulation of the valve slides the whole band will benefit.

The post Tuning the Tuba appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Intonation
    Intonation and tone quality are interdependent; each is necessary for the other. Most percussion instruments have fixed tones that cannot be adjusted during a performance, but snare drums, bass drums, and tom-toms can be tuned and sound best when their heads are in tune and balanced. There are devices that enable players and conductors to tune drum heads quickly and accurately by measuring drum head tension so they are resonant and in tune. Concert percussion tuning at least once a week is advisable, because percussive pressure on the drumheads, humidity, and temperature changes can adversely affect head tension, which affects pitch. 
    Timpani are the sole percussion instruments for which the player can alter and tune the pitch. This process involves clearing the timpani head, or tuning the membrane so each spot on the head in front of each tuning bolt has the same tension as the others. A cleared timpani head produces a pure, sustained pitch, which is necessary before trying to tune the timpani to a specific pitch.
    Tune timpani quietly by putting your ear close to the timpani head and lightly tapping it with your finger. If the timpani have tuning gauges, set them weekly to ensure pitch accuracy. Many adjudicators will note conductors and students loudly tuning the timpani or taking an unusually long time to do so. Just as wind and string students are expected to tune their instruments by themselves, the timpanist must do the same. 
    Mallet instruments can develop pitch problems from overplaying, improper percussion technique, or the age of the bar. Check the accuracy of the bar with a digital tuner. If it is out of tune, either replace that specific bar or hire a professional percussion repairman to tune it.

Precision and Technique
    Because most percussion instruments are non-pitched, an adjudicator’s focus is often rhythmic precision. To master percussion technique, focus on proper grip and rebound stroke when striking the instrument. Because percussion is a highly visual instrument section, the adjudicator and audience notice it. Improper technique may cause an adjudicator to focus on that player and ignore stronger elements in the performance. Always consider proper posture, grip, and basic playing techniques of the instruments your students perform on during the assessment, and be sure to observe the following.
    Stroke. A proper strike of the instrument always results in a rebounded stroke unless the music specifically indicates a dead-stroke technique.
    Dampening. Properly dampen a bass drum by using the hand, knee, or a towel. Also, make sure the snare drum sounds dry, with no superfluous ringing that could detract from the ensemble’s performance. A muffling ring, towel, tape, or even student ID card can be put on the drumhead to dampen the tone. Timpani and metallic instruments must be properly dampened as rests within the music indicate.
    Roll Technique. Mallet instrument rolls are performed as single-stroke rolls, and only when designated. Play only what is indicated in the music, and do not add rolls unless the score notates them. Proper timpani rolls are single-stroke (not buzz rolls) at a speed that creates a smooth, sustained sound with an appropriate mallet that is neither too hard nor too soft. Closed snare drum rolls are a quick, evenly sustained buzz-stroke. Bass drum rolls are executed with two matched bass-drum mallets as a slow single-stroke roll. Suspended cymbal rolls are executed with a matched pair of soft yarn mallets on the cymbal’s edge. Triangle rolls sound best with one beater in one of the closed areas of the triangle; avoid moving the beater around the triangle in a circular motion. Tambourine rolls can be shaken with a wrist-flex, or a thumb or finger can execute the roll. If a thumb/finger roll is used, be sure to rub beeswax or bass rosin on the tambourine head to make it sticky and cause friction. Tam-tam rolls are possible on the same side of the gong or on opposite sides using two identical tam-tam beaters. 
    Sticking and Articulation. Just as bowing and tonguing are imperative to a successful string and wind performance, so is percussion sticking. Conductors must familiarize themselves with any difficult percussion sticking passages, or consult a percussion specialist. Implement selection (softer or harder mallets), dampening, and technical stroke can affect articulation, causing accented, longer, shorter, lighter, and/or heavier notes. 
    Music Stand and Instrument Height. Ensure the students’ music stands are tall enough for them to see the conductor. Frequently, percussionists’ stands are too low, forcing them to look down at their music and miss important directorial cues or communications. Since students are of varying heights, adjust all instruments to proper playing height, which is generally at the student’s waist level.
    Playing Areas. Every percussion instrument has a sweet spot at which it sounds best. Strike mallet instruments in the center of the bars and for fast passages play on the edge of the accidentals, avoiding the nodal point (where the string goes through the bar); strike chimes on the top cap, perpendicular to the tube; and strike the timpani approximately one-third of the way from the edge of the head to the center, or two to three inches from the rim.
    Envisioning the snare drum as a clock, the player strikes the drum at the top edge (12:00) for a softer sound and moves toward the center for a louder one. The snare’s strainer throw-off lever should be at the front of the drum near the player’s waist (6:00), so the player can turn snares on and off easily and play in the sweet spot, just above the snares, which would run vertically from 6:00 to 12:00. Be sure to turn the snare lever to the off position when not playing to avoid the sympathetic vibration of the snares from the buzzing of string and wind instruments when they match the drum’s pitch.
    Strike the bass drum and the tam-tam slightly below the center of their heads, and crash the cymbals by avoiding the air lock that causes them to be drawn toward each other and stuck together. Just before the right cymbal makes contact with the left cymbal, tilt the latter slightly away. Strike the suspended cymbal on the edge for normal playing technique, strike the triangle at its bottom, away from its open end, and strike the tambourine over the wooden rim on top of a jingle for softer playing and in the center of the head, for louder playing. 

Balance and Blend
    Players should consider their balance within their section and their blend within the entire ensemble simultaneously and look to the conductor for immediate feedback on how well they are doing. Percussionists should strive for a unified sound that makes the most important percussion line fully audible without overplaying the ensemble or obscuring the composition’s primary melodic line. Directors should make sure percussionists know which instruments have the primary melodic line so they can hear the melody when playing. If the melody is inaudible, the accompaniment is too loud and must balance properly with the rest of the ensemble. If the percussion section balances within itself but upstages the ensemble, consider softer implements and adding muffling to the instruments. Towels can line the bass drum and snare drum heads if they dominate the ensemble. 

Musicality
    Include percussionists in all warm-up procedures. Full-band warmup exercises, including chorales, can help the entire ensemble to reinforce dynamics, style, articulation, shaping, phrasing, balance and blend. Conductors can communicate important musical elements that transfer to contest pieces, reinforcing proper implement selection and playing technique. 
    When rehearsing pitch and musicality, conductors utilize the technique of singing. Be sure to include percussionists when singing and to have them play warm-up exercises on pitched (timpani and mallet instruments) and rhythmic exercises on non-pitched instruments (snare drum, bass drum, and accessories) while the strings and winds play, to emphasize musicality and enable the percussionists to match the ensemble’s shaping, phrasing and dynamic contrasts.

Other Considerations
    These usually constitute the assessment form’s final section, but they may profoundly affect the ensemble’s final rating, as they often contribute to poor percussion performance. 
    Stage Set-Up. Most assessment performances do not occur on the ensemble’s home stage. Therefore, to prepare for the adjudication, the director seats the players in their regular seating arrangement according to the established seating chart. The set-up must include the percussion instrument arrangement and the precise number of music stands the ensemble normally uses. Research conventional percussion layouts to ensure the logical staging of the percussionists so they are near their instruments during the entire adjudication. Mallet instruments are grouped together, usually to one side of the battery percussion, to facilitate quick changes, and are placed near the upper woodwinds, because composers usually orchestrate woodwinds and percussion together. Vibes and marimba are closer to the front of the stage, as they are less audible. 
    Timpani usually play with the low brass, so their juxtaposition will improve ensemble intonation and rhythmic precision. The bass drum and crash cymbals work as a team, so the cymbals are on the right of the bass drummer for overall ensemble balance. Snare drum, bass drum and cymbal parts work in tandem, so the snare or tenor drum is stage right of the crash cymbal player. Suspended cymbals are often notated on the same part with crash cymbals, so juxtaposing them allows either player to cover the part if quick alterations are needed. Accessory percussion instruments are beside the cymbal players on a padded or covered trap-table.
    Equipment. Bring all sticks, mallets, and accessory instruments used regularly for rehearsals, so the adjudication performance can reflect the ensemble’s other performances. As with string and wind instruments, the quality of an ensemble’s percussion instruments and equipment helps to determine its performance characteristics. Accessory instruments such as triangle and tambourine should be made of high-quality materials and stored in designated instrument bags. Tambourines should always have heads; headless tambourines are generally used in popular music and not considered appropriate for concert assessment. Crash cymbals should be the appropriate size for the music, as well as for the player to properly control. 
    Trap Tables, Towels, and Mallet Bags. A mounted mallet bag or trap-table covered with a towel or carpet is best for resting sticks and mallets. Never set implements on a chair or the floor. A designated padded or covered percussion trap-table or a music stand draped with a towel can hold tambourines and triangles. Crash cymbals rest on a crash-cymbal stand or on a table with a large padded towel.
    Part Assignments. Create percussion assignments before the first rehearsal, post them in an area clearly visible to all players, and give copies to each player. When rehearsing sightreading, assign a specific snare, bass, timpani, accessory, and mallet players, to alleviate confusion during the sightreading performance.
    Chairs, Stools, Entering, and Exiting Stage. Concert band and orchestral literature may have minimal or tacet percussion parts in which the player will not play for a period of time. Percussionists sit in chairs or stools when not playing. They may exit the stage when resting for a prolonged period, but they must exit and re-enter quietly so they do not disturb the performance. 

Conclusion
    Instrumental music adjudications are relevant, meaningful opportunities for both students and conductors to receive feedback and measurable evaluation. Educators who employ the above methods and procedures enable successful performances from their percussionists.  

The post Preparing Percussion for Adjudication appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    Several years ago, I took a group of brass players to play Christmas carols at a local assisted living facility. After we finished, a man came up and explained that he was a retired educator who had taught high school for 40 years. He told the students he was so glad that they had come on a Saturday morning, and as a former teacher, he knew how significant it was to give up their time. He said that his wife had recently had a stroke and lost the ability to speak, but he looked over at her while the students were playing and could tell she enjoyed the music immensely. The man had tears in his eyes, and his story moved us to tears as well. One of the students would later reflect in a college essay, “At that moment it didn’t matter that I had gotten up early on a Saturday morning in the middle of winter to play for people I didn’t know. It felt so incredible to affect someone in that way and to know that I had made a difference.”
    My school has had a chamber music program for decades. Students would pick a piece, practice in small groups for about five weeks, and then perform it at a chamber ensemble concert. However, it didn’t matter how much I preached about the virtues of small ensemble playing. Interest and engagement were low. Playing at the nursing home flipped a switch for me. There is a sense of purpose and extraordinary levels of engagement when students can see that their music has a destination beyond just another performance here at school. Defining a gig as any sort of outreach beyond the walls of our school, in fall of 2015 I challenged students to play 100 chamber gigs by the end of the school year. We created a chart in the band room to keep track of the number. I explained that two or more performances in the community by any group, would entitle that group to participate in a celebration at the end of the year – if the challenge of a hundred gigs was accomplished. That first year we almost made it to 130. Last year we set it at 150 and surpassed it by 15-20. This year we’re shooting for 175 just to see what happens.

Gigs First

    You don’t start a chamber program by breaking students into groups, having them rehearse, and then telling them you will find them a gig when they are ready. Start with the gig. Go to the nursing home and ask if you could work out some dates to play if you got a group of students together. Settle on a few dates and take them back to the students. Say you have a nursing home that would love for students to perform and ask who is interested. You need a destination for your art first. That establishes a sense of purpose. Once you have that date in place, everything else falls in line. Decide how much music is needed and what to prepare, then start with the easiest pieces. Suddenly, students are moving along and starting to feel solid as a group, and they have the confidence to tackle a more difficult piece.
    I do much of the legwork in lining up performances, but we are starting to see students line up gigs at a church party or a grandparent’s retirement home. When I find an opportunity for students, I announce the gig information in rehearsal and ask who is available. I have found that it is important to frame the request as if it comes from the outside organization and not me. If I am just the messenger, relaying information regarding a special performance opportunity, students see it as a grown-up activity – a professional gig. 
    Once students played for a group of seniors, people at a homeless shelter, or patients at a stroke recovery center, they saw how what they were playing made a tremendous difference in their audience’s day. That sort of purpose reorients the entire process.
    Setting a gig for a group now means that they have a sense of urgency for their rehearsals. They know they have 15-20 minutes of music to prepare. That type of autonomy strengthens that sense of purpose even more. The end result is that engagement is enhanced. There is nothing like a gig to motivate you in the practice room. That’s a big part of why we’ve seen success.
    When offering gigs, aim for the Goldilocks effect: gigs that do not cause too much anxiety, the way playing in front of thousands of people might feel, but not gigs that feel like a joke. This use of just the right amount of anxiety is where the real magic happens. The gentle pressure during the performance, which stems from the vulnerability that is inherent to one-on-a-part chamber playing, is the key ingredient in building bonds of trust and interdependence between the students. I’ve watched students celebrate with a fist bump after they’ve navigated a difficult piece of music at a gig and seen them celebrate with knowing smiles and head nods to each other after they self-corrected a missed entrance within the music.
    One of my favorite stories happened watching a woodwind quartet playing a gig at a coffee house. I sat in the back with a cup of coffee and noticed that the bassoonist got entirely lost. I was curious to see what would happen. I could see their nervous glances, but they didn’t stop. At the right moment, the clarinetist lifted her bell and dropped it down at a rehearsal mark, and they were back together. This culture doesn’t designate a leader but allows leaders to emerge when needed. This interdependence, trust, and shared sense of purpose is the stuff that great organizations are made of. We are just beginning to reap the remarkable benefits of these experiences.
    We started a monthly chamber ensemble concert at our local library and are getting crowds of about 100. Students come to listen to and play for each other. Experienced chamber music players are the best audience member; they know how it feels to be that vulnerable in an exposed performance. They are listening, appreciating, and then celebrating with each other afterward.
    Getting our percussion ensemble out has been the most difficult part. The best choice for them so far has been going to middle schools, where there is equipment they can use. We are purchasing a set of singing bowls and investigating options for using percussionists with music therapy.

Picking Music

    Younger students work on music that I pick for them, and we have gig books students can use to select music. The gig books came together through trial and error. There are magical tunes that students connect with right away. That is important; there has to be an initial sense of accomplishment. At first, the goal is to get students excited about chamber music. Later, we can work toward the finest pieces available.
    There is a chasm in literature for this age group. Chamber music collections seemed to be more common 60 years ago, and similar volumes are difficult to find today. We would like to commission some music, and I keep my ear to the ground about new chamber pieces. I would love to see the community of composers put their creative spin on clever entry-level chamber music. 
    As students move into their junior and senior years, music selection diversifies more. Some students are content to work on what I give them, and others start buying or even writing their own music. When I told these groups that I would be glad to purchase new music for them, they responded that they wanted exclusive rights over their music – they wanted to build their own library of tunes. A couple of our top groups receive outside coaching, and these coaches also assign music. The top woodwind quintet is transcribing a piece it hopes to publish.
    Before changing my approach, I would preach and coach endlessly, as though everything musical needed to flow through me as a director. That is limiting. Now, students make their own decisions, because they are responsible for preparing for coming gigs.

Rehearsing

    We have weekly chamber music days. Sacrificing one full band rehearsal a week for our ninth grade and middle concert band and two days a week for our top symphonic band has been more than worth it. Everything is better. Students see themselves as collaborators rather than just fifth chair clarinet, for example. They gain a sense of their role in the full ensemble. Full band rehearsals are more efficient because students are more aware of subtle differences in phrasing and articulation and have a better understanding of how to listen for the active lines within the music. The sense of internal pulse is better because students learn that in a small group they are completely responsible for pulse. Their understanding of how to watch for non-verbal cues means that I can talk less and conduct more. Chamber music makes that much of a difference.
    Students in chamber groups with a gig already on the calendar feel accountable to the music on the page and the people around them. They have gained a sense of putting their own stamp on the music and have dramatic control over how it sounds – style, volume, and nuance. Students realize how connected to that they are through chamber music. They listen more and learn how to communicate nonverbally within the ensemble. You do not get that in the practice room. It comes from playing in front of an audience that generates the potential for that to happen.
    This accountability is especially valuable for students who play bass instruments. In a chamber ensemble, a bass clarinetist cannot hide the way he might in full band. The sound has to be present and strong to support the group. In one of my saxophone quartets, our bari player hasn’t been as engaged as he used to be. He is a good player but doesn’t especially care for playing bari. One day last fall, I talked with this quartet extensively about movement and communication. I told the quartet members that I didn’t care how they moved, as long as they moved. This bari player is the most extroverted of the group and was the first to start to move. Suddenly, everything changed. He discovered the potential for his instrument’s voice to change everything about the quartet’s sound. Sometimes a chamber music experience helps low wind players to see just how much power their sound has. Admittedly, it happened by accident, but that activity caused a profound change in that student’s thinking about what he could do on that horn.
    I have found that it is important to do as little coaching as necessary at first. Matthew May, in his book In Pursuit of Elegance: Why the Best Ideas Have Something Missing, frames this engagement technique as if you are asking someone to finish a jigsaw puzzle for you. If you do too much of the puzzle for them, the task will seem too simple and the engagement will be inhibited. If you do too little of the puzzle, the task may seem overwhelming – and again, the engagement levels will be inhibited. Your goal is to help or coach just enough to inspire and facilitate the elements needed for achieving the goal without squelching the natural autonomy that you want to happen within the group. Your job is to make sure the goal is clear, it seems achievable and yet leave an element of mystery as to how the goal will be accomplished. Specifically, the process consists of giving students a picture of how the gig will look, providing appropriate music as a resource, and setting up a space and time for students to fill in the gaps.
    As I walk around between the different chamber groups on small ensemble day, I most commonly tell students to trust themselves. Play out. Take chances. Move. To really understand the value of unspoken communication you have to move. Students also have to teach themselves to start together. It is common to hear freshman groups start a piece in rehearsal with someone counting up to three or four measures out loud. It takes practice to progress to starting by just taking a breath together.

Conclusion

    Directors can get hung up on the notion that students are not ready to perform. Let them go out anyway. One of my favorite quotes is “Artists stop being artists when they lose a destination for their work.” If they go out and the performance does not go as well as they want it to, that rings a warning bell in a way that a teacher could never do. It sets up a series of priorities for them when they go back to the practice room. You have to be okay with members of your program going out and being less stellar than you would like. That struggling is part of learning.
    Students in a chamber ensemble know that they are in charge of their own music making. They don’t need a director to line anything up. Students can learn how to select music, organize a gig, and lead a rehearsal. They know the difference it can make.  

The Students’ Take On Chamber Music
    We interviewed a number of students in the York High School band program for their thoughts on playing chamber music and the 100-Gig Challenge. Here are their responses.

What are your favorite things about playing chamber music?

    With chamber music, whatever you put in is what you get out of it. If you make the effort to be available for gigs and set up time to practice after school, it is really fulfilling when it works out, because you know you set it up and put it together. It is a good feeling.
    My favorite part is the experience of performing for people in public and playing with friends. We develop relationships as a group, and it is enjoyable and addicting. I don’t think there are any cons to it, because everyone gets to hear music, and we get to enjoy our time together.
    It is nice to know that it’s just you and three or four other people making this music. You aren’t lost in a large band; there are just a few of you.

How has playing in a chamber ensemble improved your musicianship?

    There is another quintet that has been together for two years now, and they are a role model for the entire band. They were talking about how they write each other’s names in the music so they know who to listen for or highlight. We started doing that too, and it has helped us a lot. We now know who should be featured at any moment, and if we get lost we use each other’s names in our music to get back on track.
    I have more confidence. In full band you don’t hear yourself that much, but in a chamber group you have to hear yourself, because you’re the only one on your part. You are forced to gain confidence.
    Chamber music teaches you to hear instruments that aren’t yours. Playing with a horn, trombone, and tuba has made me more aware of what those instruments do in a large ensemble. I think more about how these instruments fit together in a large group.
    I considered solo playing and band to be different because in band I had to focus on hiding my sound within everyone else’s. I entered this small group with that mindset that I still needed to hide, but with this group I can combine both mentalities and be both a soloist and a group player. This is a valuable thing to learn.
    I used to drown out other players. I was self-centered. Working with my chamber group and seeing what can happen when you interact with each other for the sake of the music has made me realize how important it is to listen to others and think of more than just yourself.
    Joining a chamber group forced my to confront my stage fright. We rehearse three days a week, and my first year in the quartet was a struggle. It forced me to build confidence and ignore that part of myself that tells me other people shouldn’t hear me play and that everyone else will judge me.
    I internalize time more, both in my small group and in full band. Obviously, you still watch the director in band, but you also listen to your part and learn where it should match up. It gives you a better sense of your part.

What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned from playing chamber music?

    We have only been together a short time, but we have learned that in small groups you have much more responsibility. It pushes you to be work harder, which makes you into a better player.
Chamber music gives you a good picture of who you are as a musician because it exposes you a lot as an individual player. You pick up on many aspects of your playing that need improvement that you might never have noticed playing in a large ensemble or practicing on your own.
    It is easy to be complacent in a big section and think that you just have to follow the person who is in front of you, but as the only person on my part in a chamber group there is a lot more responsibility on me to do things with the dynamics so it’s interesting. In full band it was easy to let the first chair player choose dynamics and then just follow them. Now I’m the first chair player because I’m the only one on my part.
    You learn to pay attention to the little details. If I am running through a passage I really listen to my intonation. That’s something we pay attention to in the small group because of how much one out-of-tune player can stick out.
    We started on simple pieces but realized that we weren’t going to get anything out of it until we put something into it. We had pieces that seemed simple, but after running them we realized that chamber music could be fun and these pieces could sound great if we all put in the energy the piece needed.

What is your favorite story from a gig?

    When we played a jazzy piece, one of the women in the audience started dancing and got a lot of other people to start dancing with her.
    My freshman year I played a duet gig with another flutist, and a woman started crying in the middle of our performance. My first thought was to wonder if we were really that bad, but afterward she came up to us and told us that our music reminded her of when her son used to play his trumpet and it touched her.
    We were at a farm, and we could not find our performance spot.
    There are always jitters before a performance, but the assisted living center was a great place for a first gig because the residents were so appreciative. It was a comfortable place to grow as a group of players.
    We were a little underprepared for a gig at a library, but we played, and that’s the good part.
    We got to meet a lot of the residents of an assisted living facility. Hearing us play carols for them made some of them really emotional. You could see how happy they were. They passed out bells for when we played jingle bells, and one man in particular seemed so happy to be able to play along. It warmed my heart.
    Many people mistake my bassoon for an oboe.
    We had the opportunity to play for a formal dinner at a house in Chicago. We got to perform for people who had never met us. Usually we play for friends and family, so that was our first serious gig. We were treated like professionals, so it was really special.
    I had my first experience of packing up my drumset, loading it into my car, and driving to Chicago for a gig. People were there to hear good music and were appreciative.
    I had a man come up to me afterward and express admiration because he had heard the horn was a difficult instrument to learn. His last words to me were “I guess you did good.”
    During one gig, while playing we forgot the audience was there and were focused on playing for each other. It was an amazing experience. Music is at its most honest when you’re making it with people you care about.    

How has playing chamber music changed your future plans?

    When I was a freshman and sophomore, I was opposed to majoring in music education, probably because both my parents were music teachers. With our quintet, we choose our music, which is a game changer because we choose music we love to play. We learn it to the point that we have it memorized, which lets us be engaged with each other and focused on combining our sounds into one. It makes me happy, and I realized that if I was learning this, I wanted other people to learn it, too. It changed things for me. I’ve always loved working with kids, and now I want to do that for a living so I can show people they can take control of their music and their own path in music rather than always following what the band director says. It’s great to have your own take on it.

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When did you know you wanted to play the clarinet for a living?
    Although I was hooked from the beginning, there was another moment when real passion for the clarinet started. My dad was an adjudicator for All-State and received audition tapes from region and area candidates. I remember one clarinetist’s tape with an incredible sound and flawless technique. This tape was the made by the son of the head band director at the University of Wyoming; he ended up attending the Curtis Institute. I wanted to sound just like that, and this was inspiration for me when I was practicing.
    I was not a gifted clarinetist; I had to work hard. However, it was an outlet for me – something for which I could see the progress. For whatever reason this became my passion. My parents would have to pull me away to eat dinner or go to bed. I wanted to keep getting better. I didn’t know what it meant to be a professional clarinetist or play in an orchestra, but I wanted to play the clarinet for a living.

How do you achieve an even tone through all the registers of the clarinet?
    The most important register of the clarinet is the chalumeau register. The lowest register of the clarinet is the basis for all the overtones and fundamentals in a clarinet’s tone. I instruct students that when selecting a reed, they should test the sound in the chalumeau register. The sound should be rich and full, with clarity, warmth, and deep resonance. The laws of physics dictate that the sound will thin out in the higher registers of the instrument. The chalumeau register must be as deep and full as possible so the clarion and altissimo registers are full as well.
    The amount of air pressure you use and the amount of resistance built into your setup are important. Sometimes students change their embouchure as they go into other registers, but this is a big mistake. Keep the same musculature in the embouchure from the lowest register to the highest register. There are things that change, but they are internal.
    In the days that I started playing the clarinet, and even before, we were told to smile when playing. Smiling makes the chin straighter and flatter but does not compensate for likely air leaks. Pulling in the corners of the mouth produces a perfect circle of pressure, not just on the bottom lip, but all around the mouthpiece.
    It is becoming more common that people who play with single-lip embouchure, as I do, practice double-lip embouchure on a daily basis. There were and are still some great clarinetists who play with double-lip embouchure. Richard Stoltzman, Harold Wright, and David Weber played with double-lip embouchure, as did Ralph McLane, who produced the most beautiful sounds ever made on the clarinet. Today, we go back to these recordings religiously to emulate the beautiful qualities of the double-lip embouchure.
    I think it is important for students today to learn how to play with double-lip embouchure as well as single-lip embouchure. The best voicing possible on the clarinet occurs with a double-lip embouchure. You will never have an air leak, because the lips seal everything. Go back and forth between double- and single-lip embouchure, and the result is a naturally forming ideal embouchure. I encourage students to try double lip at an early age because it eradicates air leaks.
    It also helps you find the absolute sweet spot for where the bottom lip meets the reed on the mouthpiece. Some people play on the lip and have done well, but most of the time, I find that where the skin meets the lip tissue is the optimal place to produce the most resonant sound on the clarinet. It is farther back than many people think they should roll.
    By playing a double-lip embouchure, clarinetists learn that the top teeth should meet the bottom teeth perfectly and a 90-degree angle to the clarinet. The mouth should look like a perfect C, but tilted. I often find that people with single-lip embouchure take too little mouthpiece in. Also, their top teeth sit too close to the tip of the mouthpiece. It is as if they are afraid to take more inside. 
    Although we strive for an optimal embouchure that does not change, it must be an embouchure that does everything that it is supposed to do in all registers. People might bite too hard, use too little bottom lip pressure, or not use enough corners of their embouchure to seal the air. There are multiple facets to developing a great embouchure, but once the embouchure is settled, clarinetists realize that even this is not enough. You must have a relentless airstream. In that relentless airstream, you find that every note through the clarinet speaks a certain way. An embouchure is the common ground that can allow all of them to feel as unified and as even as possible.

What are your favorite warmup exercises?
    I do not have much of a warm up, but there are two exercises I do almost every day. The first and most important is an overtone series exercise designed to develop the richest low register that you can and then go into the harmonics of the clarinet. Start on low E, playing a deep and resonant mezzo forte – nothing softer than that – and hold that low note for four beats at 60 to the quarter note. Then, barely touch the register key with the thumb. The aim is to pop out the twelfth without holding the register key down. Hold the twelfth for four beats, then come back down to the fundamental again for another four beats. The dynamic should remain mezzo forte, and there should be no diminuendo. I am working to control the clarinet so that I will be intentionally making the pitch change when I need it to rather than by mistake. 

    I go up chromatically all the way to written F4. Low E, F, F#, G, and G# are the most difficult harmonics to get because the more holes that are closed, the more resistant the clarinet becomes. Everybody talks about going over the break, which is going from Bb to Bn. As soon as you hit that Bn, it feels like you’re fighting against the entire world. In response, rather than change my embouchure, but I expand my throat and raise the back of my tongue as far as up as I can go. That reduces the resistance of the B. 
    If clarinet students cannot get this on the low E, I have them start on C. Then we work our way down. It is far better to start with what you can do than to try to make a mountain out of a molehill. With elementary, junior high, or high school students it is probably better to start this exercise on a C and down chromatically.
    This harmonic exercise ultimately teaches how to play the clarinet without the register key. I have this deep resonant voicing already; the register key only helps me with intonation. I’m just voicing everything.
    I also play a chromatic exercise starting on low E and going all the way to C7. I play every note with one pulsation of air as softly as possible. I do not use the tongue to articulate. I have a stream of slow air going the entire time, similar to what you hear when someone blows through the horn to warm it up, but greatly reduced. Then I give a soft puff of air, which must be fast enough to make the reed vibrate. Once the reed vibrates, you should hear the desired tone.
    This exercise trains players to feel the resistance of each note. Every note on the instrument has a diffferent resistance and voicing, so not only am I giving a pulsation of air for each note, I also either expand or change tongue position for every note as well.
    An Eb clarinetist might have to rest for multiple movements before coming in on a high E at pianissimo. I know exactly how that note feels, because I’ve practiced feeling the resistance of every note. One thing the clarinet does well is play softly. Most of the time, clarinets are the instruments that try to emulate string players, because strings can play softer than anyone. String players can feel the vibrations of each note. I wanted to take it one step further and be able to come in on any note on the clarinet as softly as possible and do so exactly when I want.

What causes squeaks?
    Squeaks are common and happen even to the greatest clarinetists. There are a number of causes. Water in a key will sometimes cause a squeak, as will misfingering something. Squeaks are often caused by the throat and tongue position. Articulating with a tongue position that is too low can cause a squeak. The tongue’s main job is to get out of the way, because it only has one percent to do with technique. Technique is all air and voicing; the tongue is your worst enemy if you let it become too heavy or tense or let it get in the way of the airstream. If you are not in the right voicing for a note, you might hit another partial, which is why the best way to avoid them is to practice that harmonic exercise. We are human beings, not machines. It is expected that something occasionally will go wrong, but the more that you practice, the easier it gets. I always try to teach my students to identify passages likely to produce squeaks, such as slurring from high register to low and back and forth. It is easy to squeak in passages like that.

What are the keys to getting a good sound in the altissimo register?
    Anytime you have to play in the high register of the clarinet, take it down two octaves and practice phrasing it beautifully. Whenever I am articulating in the highest register of the clarinet, I play more tenuto than in any of the other registers of the clarinet. The tongue is more noticeable when you articulate short in the highest register of the clarinet, so I like to play longer. The music becomes more lyrical, and you are less likely to play abrasively. You will rarely need to play above a mezzo forte in the altissimo register of the clarinet. It will carry.

What made you choose the mouthpiece and ligature that you use?
    I was trying to incorporate a resistance in the mouthpiece and reed that would help me expand my dynamic range. I want the softest dynamic levels to carry and to avoid spreading the tone at loud volumes. Finding the right combination of reed, ligature, and mouthpiece was important in my development. I play a Pyne mouthpiece with a Bonade nickel-plated ligature. I use the least expensive ligature available, but I crank them so tightly that I buy a new one every three months or so. This set-up requires a great deal of air.
    If you learn to use more air, you widen the range of your technique and palette of colors. Musicians in junior high, high school, and even college would do well to stop grabbing the next hot thing on the market. I would ask each of them whether they were using enough air.
    The most important thing clarinetists can do in their early development is to find something that is stable, and has good intonation, and requires a bit of work on the player’s part to develop a stronger airstream. Once you develop that, you can start to branch out into whatever you want. 
    One bad habit I hear from people coming up the ranks is not using air properly. Players try to get by with lighter reeds and less air but cannot understand why they lack a deep, rich tone or why their sound does not carry in a big hall. People without great air and great air capacity do not get past the first round of auditions, even if they play everything technically perfectly. 

photo by Todd Rosenberg Photography

What are some of your favorite orchestra repertoire selections? The selections that you look forward most to playing?
    I love everything written by Beethoven, Mozart, and Brahms, and I love all the operas by Puccini and Verdi. It took almost ten years at the Met to start recycling into some of the standard operas. I have only been in the symphonic world for six to seven years, so there is still a lot of repertoire that is new to me. For example, last year was the first time I played the Bartok Concerto for Orchestra. I auditioned many times on these excerpts, but to play the piece in its entirety was a thrill. it is like a new lease on life, I’m learning all this great repertoire that I love and grew up listening to, but some of it is still new to me. 

Is there any repertoire that you do not look forward to playing?
    I have a hard time playing minimalistic music. I often find that such music is written either on a synthesizer or through a computer without regard for a human player’s physical ability. Physically, tendonitis and issues of repetitive disorder are so common, and I wish that composers like that would understand that there’s a threshold to the physicality of being a human being as opposed to the computer they used to write the piece. I avoid it when possible to preserve my career. 

As a performer in a large ensemble, what are the most important qualities of a good conductor?
    The most important role that the conductor can have is truly understanding the ensemble – knowing what is within their grasp and what is not. As a teacher, I have to be similarly careful about the repertoire I choose for students. I want it to be engaging, something that will make them better players, and within their ability. I might love a difficult piece, but I will not program it if it is out of an ensemble’s grasp. If it is somewhat in their grasp and I have enough time to work with them, then we will try it.
    Conductors should know how to use their time wisely. Keeping the ensemble engaged is important, and part of that is knowing whether something should be done in sectionals or during full rehearsal. If you’re working on a passage with just the flutes or the percussion section but it applies to the entire ensemble, then rehearse it in front of the ensemble. If it is just individual question that can be addressed somewhere else, then that should also be kept in mind as well.
    Great conductors learn how to stay out of the way. Conductors at any level can be guilty of overconducting – making larger gestures when a small one would be the better choice to get the proper sound, the attention, and the right musical atmosphere to come through. Sometimes, I think it is difficult for conductors to understand that if something isn’t together, conducting more broadly makes it worse.
    One helpful thing conductors can do is make ensemble members aware of distance. In a large enough group or a large enough performance venue, ensemble members in the back are sometimes unable to hear the beginnings of notes at the front of a stage. They need to know not just that they are behind, but exactly how far behind they are. Have members of the brass or percussion section come to front where the conductor is and listen to what is happening, so they all get a chance to hear what the conductor hears. 

What recommendations would you make to band and orchestra directors?
    Strongly advocate getting students into private lessons and make sure that students are going to reputable teachers who agree with your fundamental teaching. The aim is not to turn these students into child prodigies, but rather to make sure they do not develop bad habits from the beginning. I think it is difficult for a director to assess every student for all of the little things that need to be worked on from the podium. 
    Do not think that the students without money cannot get a private teacher. You would be surprised at how many musicians, including me, are willing to teach for no pay if we see the passion and the desire in a student. That is what it means to be a musician. You have to be generous with whatever gift you have, and you have to give. People think they cannot go study with someone because of what lessons can cost. Never assume anything; always hope that the spirit of generosity will take precedence. 
    Competition is good when it is helps students develop as players and gain the self-confidence that comes with feeling good about what they did. There is no greater competitor in a person’s life than himself. Teach students to compete against their best. Get them trying to do better than what they just did. Find a happy medium between congratulating them and knowing when to push. This can sometimes get lost in a fog of pride.

What advice would you offer students as they prepare for a career as a professional musician?
    Never forget why you want to be a musician. Even if I did not have the position that I have, I think I would still be a musician. I just know that is who I am inside. I think as long as we remember the joy that being a musician brings, not just to yourself but to others, you will begin to understand that there are many roads to being a musician, and not all of them are traditional. 
    My woodwind quintet won the Concert Artists Guild Competition in 1995 or 1996 in New York. One of the other groups that won was a contemporary ensemble called Eighth Blackbird. They are still off and running and have won Grammy awards. They did it by thinking outside the box.  They commissioned works from new composers but also learned how to compose themselves. Eighth Blackbird also found instruments that haven’t been heard before in this country and figured out how to play them. 
    If the will and the passion are there, it is going to happen. I look back and remember how passionate my dad was every day. He was so excited to get to school to rehearse the band. He was so excited to see the charts he designed for the marching band, to see how things were going to play out on the field. He loved every aspect of being a band director, including the moments that students would come into his office and sort of spill their guts about their life. Everyone loved to be around him. 
    My dad wasn’t the best conductor in the world; he would be the first to admit it. Students loved how passionate he was about what he was doing. He had good ears and he could say what he wanted to happen. Even if he couldn’t show it, he could say what he wanted and we were able to do it. 

What have you learned on the job that you did not learn in college?
    Before winning the job at the Met I played on Broadway and took studio work. What I found in these contexts is that while you have to be an outstanding player, it is equally important to be a decent human being. One of the only ways to learn how to play well with others is by playing chamber music. How do you adjust when somebody is ten cents sharp on a note, or incredibly flat, or responds late on entrances? If they are in front of you, go with what is in front of you. If people are playing louder instruments and they are behind the beat, go with the louder instruments. You have to learn how to get the best performance out of something by being flexible, compatible, considerate, and understanding that we are all human beings. These things are not taught in school.
    Never say no to a performance opportunity. Whether it’s playing in a nursing home, if it’s going out on the street and playing for someone, or something for no pay, the one thing that I never did was say no, and I think this is one of the most important character-building benefits of being a musician. Our role as musicians is to give unconditionally.  

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    Prior to coming to Chicago, Williamson was the principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic (2013-14 season) as well as principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (2003-11). Williamson was the grand prize winner of the 1994 Boosey & Hawkes/Buffet Crampon First Annual North American Clarinet Competition. Other past awards include the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Coleman International Chamber Music Competition. He received his Bachelor’s degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and his Master’s degree from the Juilliard School. As a Fulbright Scholar, he furthered his studies at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin, where he collaborated with various members of the Berlin Philharmonic. His past teachers include Peter Rieckhoff, Charles Neidich, Kenneth Grant, and Michael Webster.

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