Knock. Knock.
Who’s there?
Knock. Knock.
Who’s there?
Knock. Knock.
Who’s there?
Phillip Glass.

Knock. Knock.
Who’s there?
Tarzan.
Tarzan who?
Tarzan stripes forever.

Knock. Knock.
Who’s there?
Wayne.
Wayne who?
Wayne dwops keep fawwin’ on my head.

    My problem is that I tell bad jokes and can’t stop. I have a brain dysfunction that German researchers now call witzelsucht. Sometimes called the “joking disease,” this condition results in a flood of bad jokes, corny puns, and wacky behavior. If you thought any of the above jokes were funny, you probably have it, too. If you thought they were merely corny, you probably have a milder form of the disease; musicians and band directors seem especially prone to this malady.
    It is a symptom of an injury to the right frontal lobe, which could be caused by brain trauma or a stroke, tumor, infection or a degenerative disease. “Patients who have disease of the left frontal lobe often are sad, anxious and depressed,” explains Dr. Kenneth Heilman, a neurologist at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, Florida. “In contrast, patients with right-hemisphere disease often appear indifferent or euphoric and have inappropriate jocularity.” There are medical treatments available and fortunately, as Heilman explains, the jokiness “can be annoying to family and caregivers, but it is usually not a terrible problem.”
    I’m not sure where I may have contracted this malady, but I suspect it may be genetic since most fathers (mine included) seem to have the condition. I may have caught it from a colleague at a band convention. Whatever the case, I’m hoping that when I share this sensitive information with my band students they will be more understanding of my condition. Maybe when I tell a joke they consider corny, they will laugh politely anyway.
    One of the insidious things about this disease is that I think all of my jokes are funny. Maybe you won’t be so unfortunate. Below is a test I have devised to see if you have witzelsucht. If you think the joke is funny, give yourself a point. If not, don’t. Use the key below to evaluate the severity of your condition.

Question: How is a saxophone like a baseball?
Answer: People cheer when you hit it with a bat.

    A musician told his wife that he was going to the doctor twice a week for his “syncopation” when he was really going out to the pubs and drinking with his friends after promising her that he wouldn’t. After several weeks of evasive answers about his condition, the wife looked up syncopation in the dictionary and discovered what he was up to when she saw it defined as “an irregular movement from bar to bar.”

Question: What’s the definition of an administrator?
Answer: Three losing seasons and a Master’s degree.

Knock. Knock.
Who’s there?
Anna.
Anna who?
Anna Hymnsong of Philip Bliss.

Two ants on a bar are singing “We’ve Only Just Begun.”
A man leans over to the bartender and says, “Hey! What’s up with the singin’ ants?”
The bartender replies, “Those are Carpenter ants.”

Witzelsuchts Diagnostic Chart
0 points: Non-existent (Possibly consider another career field while you are able.)
1 point: Pre-onset. (Buy a good joke book while there’s still time.)
2 points: Mild (Some of your jokes might actually draw a laugh.)
3 points: Moderate (Quality of jokes begins to deteriorate.You begin to laugh at your own jokes even when no one else is laughing.)
4 points: Severe (You can’t understand why others don’t get your witticisms when they really just don’t think the jokes are funny.)
5 points: Terminal (You begin to tell the same jokes over and over again.)

    How did you do? I’m in the process of putting together a support group. At the very least, victims can meet and share a few laughs if anyone in the group can manage to say something even the slightest bit humorous. I think I’ll call the group the BDDS (Band Director Disease Society). That has a nicer ring to it than Witzelsuchts Anonymous.                    

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1. A great sound is the best asset. A beautiful, lyrical sound is the basis for all technique on any instrument and the secret to commanding the attention of an audience. The driving force behind a good sound is the imagination, which can be developed by listening to great players and imitating their style. As master trumpet tea­cher Bill Adam once told me, “When you are playing, the perfect sound in your mind should be louder than your own sound.”

2. Listen to music during practice. It has never been easier to access great music than it is today. The best way to develop a great sound is simply by listening to the sounds of great artists. Teachers should have a list of artists for every instrument and find CDs or download their solo and ensemble works from the internet to hear. Students should spend the first minutes of a practice session listening to the sound of master musicians and then immediately try to imitate them.
    I tell students that playing an instrument without a con­cept of good sound is akin to throwing darts without a dartboard. In darts, the goal is to hit the bullseye. In music, the goal is always a beautiful sound. Beginning practice by listening is what puts the dartboard on the wall.

3. Devise a practice schedule. The best way to organize practice time is to make a schedule. This should include both practice time and location. Instill in students that scheduled practice time should be treated the same as any other appointment or class. Encourage students to find a place that is quiet and free of distractions. Most school practice rooms are usually quietest in the early mornings. 

4. Practice in slow motion. Students often sit down to practice with an anxious state of mind, determined to immediately reach a goal. In the end this accomplishes little, if anything. Practicing in slow motion means playing slowly enough to concentrate on making beautiful music without the distraction of mistakes. This approach creates a relaxed state of mind that is conducive to musical development. When beginning a new piece of music, encourage students to play slowly and even out of tempo. Although some of the benefits of slow practice, such as the decreased likelihood of mistakes, are obvious, on often-overlooked benefit is that students will develop a good attitude toward the music as they play it well slowly.

5. Successful repetition leads to suc­c­essful performances. An important aspect of practice is training psychomotor skills, such as breathing, fingering, and tonguing. Mastering a passage means the body is trained to play it automatically, without conscious thought. Correctly playing passages multiple times in a row increases self-confidence, which will lead to more musical performances.
    In the beginning stages of practicing new music, students should avoid the temptation to tackle the entire piece in one sitting and instead work slowly on a measure or two with the goal of playing it correctly many times before moving to the next phrase. Remind students not to be in a hurry to reach the next phrase, because each correct repetition leads to more dependable results.

6. Keep a practice journal. During practice sessions, students should write down what they practiced, the amount of time spent on each piece, and the tempo at which each was played. Student journals permit both students and teacher to track progress. If students have questions during practice sessions, this journal is a good place to write them, so they are not forgotten before the next lesson.

7. Set long- and short-term goals. Each semester teachers and students should come up with a list of realistic and attainable goals. There is nothing as frustrating as setting goals that are impossible to reach and then coming up short. Each practice session should be a step toward reaching these goals, and teachers should regularly assess students’ pro­gress toward them. If a student is not progressing, work with him to discover the reasons, whether it is a lack of practice time, poorly organized practice sessions, or growing tension.
 
8. Record practice sessions. By recording practice sessions students can listen to themselves objectively. Some aspects of their playing will be a pleasant surprise, and some of them will be a disappointment; students should record both in their journals. Band and orchestra students who don’t already have a digital recording device should get one as soon as possible.
   
9. Practice for the right reasons. Encourage students to practice for the simple love of making music. Kenny Werner’s incredible book, Effortless Mastery (Jamey Aebersold), provides excellent insights into why musicians should practice and perform in a happy state of mind. For students (and many professionals), the motivation to practice tends to be preparation for the next lesson, rehearsal, or performance. While there is nothing inherently wrong with those reasons, the love of music sometimes gets lost in the shuffle.

10. Practice in a good frame of mind. Musicians don’t work on music, they play music. However, the pressures of preparing for lessons, recitals, and keeping up with music for several ensembles can cause any musician to lose sight of the goal, which is to express oneself through music. Think of the practice room as a sanctuary from the stress of daily life, a place of quiet and calmness where it is easy to relax and be musical. In college I sometimes practiced while sitting on a bridge overlooking the Clark Fork River in Montana, and the beautiful setting made for some re­warding, productive practice sessions. Remind students that we are fortunate to be musicians, and they should always approach playing from this standpoint.      

The post Ten Practice Tips for Students appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    This same exercise can be expanded to incorporate intonation into the warm up. Once the exercise has been learned in all keys and registers, a drone can be added. Drone references can either be purchased commercially or recorded with a synthesizer. Some tuners also produce drones. For example, the first descending exercise begins on a written F; when played on an Eb saxophone it should be paired with a drone on concert Db. Each note of the exercise, which includes the fifth, third, and root of a Db chord, should be held until it is in tune with the drone.
    Another component of a sound saxophone warmup is work on manipulating pitch. A good way to practice this is to have students play only the mouthpiece. An alto saxophone mouthpiece should produce a concert A. Any pitch either drastically higher or lower than this shows that the embouchure is either too loose or too tight. After students can play the correct pitch, they should begin to explore bending the pitch up or down by half and whole steps, slowly increasing the interval in either direction, with the goal of a one octave range on the mouthpiece.
    When students can do this, mouthpiece playing can be regularly included in the warmup. Have students play the first three scale degrees of any key on the mouthpiece. Eventually this can be expanded to the first five scale degrees, and an entire scale if possible, always using a pitch reference such as a piano. More advanced students can work on major, minor, augmented, and diminished scales and triads by playing only the mouthpiece. Also, familiar tunes and folk songs can be used as exercises to expand the student’s abilities on the mouthpiece.
    Overtones are a third aspect of a good saxophone warm up. Much like brass instruments, saxophones can also produce multiple partials in the overtone series. This is possible through voicing, a concept that allows saxophonists to play various pitches with one fingering. Saxophone overtones are effective when produced using low Bb through E. Low Bb is the best note to start on; without changing the fingering or adding the octave key, students should be able to produce the note an octave higher. Beyond this a fifth higher and then an additional octave can also be produced. When a student has mastered the ability to produce these notes in the overtones series, without any physical change to the appearance of the embouchure, the range of the exercise can be expanded to high D, high F, and then the altissimo register.
    The benefits of incorporating overtones into the warmup process are numerous. By playing the fundamental of the series, low Bb through D, the saxophonist is practicing long tones in the low register. Furthermore, they are practicing the articulation of these low notes numerous times. Student should not move to the next overtone until they are able to attack the fundamental cleanly.
    Overtones can also be used as a tone matching exercise. An overtone produced on the saxophone will sound purer than that same note played with the traditional fingering because the overtone is played with an entirely closed tube. Saxophonists can practice making the pitch of the traditionally fingered note as pure as the overtone. For example, the first overtone above the fundamental of a low Bb is a written Bb4. Students should play the first overtone of Bb, and then reattack the same pitch using the traditional fingering for Bb4. This exercise should be repeated until the discrepancies in tone of the two types of fingerings are minimized.
    This can be expanded to playing major scales with overtones. A Bb major scale could be produced by playing the first overtone of low Bb through Eb and then producing F through A with the second overtones of low Bb, C, and D, ending with the third overtone of low Bb.
    Using overtones in warmups will also expand students’ range. Slowly, if played daily, students will begin to develop an altissimo range, which is called for quite frequently in solo saxophone works.
    The final component of a sound saxophone warm up is exercises to facilitate finger coordination. The first way to improve this aspect of playing is with the manipulation of a five note scale. This exercise, a variant of Marcel Moyse’s flute scale patterns, is also known to some as Twiddles. This exercise is extremely effective in improving finger coordination in three difficult areas of the instrument: the low register spatula, the break between C5 and D5, and the palm keys. The exercise is played at a moderate tempo and begins by playing four beats of sixteenth notes between the first and second scale degrees of a key, which would be low Bb and C in the case of the first exercise in the pattern. On the fifth beat the student should change to an ascending and descending five note scale in the same key. After four beats of this, the student then modulates one half step, in time, to B major by playing sixteenth notes alternating from low A# (Bb) to B, and continuing the pattern as before, only the five note scale now ascending to the fourth scale degree, E, as the starting pitch of the five note scale is now the seventh scale degree, A#. The exercise can be ended with a descending, melodic pattern of scale degrees four, two, one, seven, one.

    When this is played starting on the low spatula keys, it increases the student’s left hand pinky coordination. When started on a C5, it allows students to focus on keeping the tone quality consistent while moving between C and D. Furthermore, the exercise can be played starting on any of the high palm key notes and will increase coordination between right and left hands in that register as well.
     Structured daily warmups for saxophonists, consisting of work on tone quality, intonation, and technique, are just as essential as those brass players do. Be sure to keep the focus on sound quality even when working on technique; in the words of saxophone pedagogue Larry Teal, every study is a tone study.                   

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Swinging
    Students who have studied for only a couple of years can have a difficult time learning the complicated feel of swing music, so some directors simply program a majority of rock tunes. Because the roots of jazz come from swing, it is important to work on this music. The difficulty lies in playing a swing tune differently from just another rock number.
    In swing feel the drums should keep it simple and not play a heavy bass-snare-bass-snare backbeat. There is a lot more taste and feel in swing music than in rock. The hi-hat and ride cymbals play an essential role in swing, while the bass drum should be felt and not heard. There are plenty of jazz drummers who rarely use the bass drum except to really kick a fill. The same is true with the snare drum, which should be present but used tastefully.
    In a typical Basie chart there might be just a few measures that are marked staccato. Swing lines should be smooth and connected, and composers will often place a slur over a phrase to show this. Ron Carter, jazz director at Northern Illinois University, taught me that swing comes from the fingers. You can tell if a group is swinging even if they are merely fingering the lines and not playing. By listening to the clicking of the saxophone or trumpet pads, you can hear if the notes will be placed at the right part of the beat. I might ask the saxophones to play the line without any tongue at all, making sure the swing is happening in the fingers.
    Young saxophonists are especially prone to excess tonguing. When I work with a young sax section, I will often ask them to not tongue anything. When they play a line this way, then they are swinging with their fingers. It is a little more difficult to tell by the fingering if the trumpets are swinging, so I’ll have everybody listen quietly as the trumpets finger their parts. After students can finger with a swing style, have them put their horns to their faces and play. It should sound considerably smoother.

Starting to Improvise
    Good jazz solos tell a story and build intensity. There is no need to start with a stream of 16 notes; it is better for a beginner to take simple ideas and expand on them. Giving the band parameters to work from at first, such as “play a solo on only the first three notes of the scale,” can give them manageable ways to start their solos. Having beginners write out and play solos, rooted in the chord changes, is another great way to get them thinking about what they are doing.

Comping
    A less-is-more approach is appropriate when teaching players to comp. Students can start with one little hit, one chord per measure, and progress from one chord to simple rhythms. Maybe in some measures students don’t play at all. The more advanced groups get, the less you will hear piano and guitar behind the soloists. A more skilled pianist will listen carefully to the soloist and feel comfortable comping less. Then when they hear the soloist leave a little rest or a pause, they will fill that gap appropriately.
    A great way to practice comping is with the 12-bar blues. Every student, no matter how young, can learn three chords, and memorizing the blues form should not be a problem. Horn players can practice solos and rhythm section can start listening closely and playing to accent or complement solos.
    If I have multiple rhythm section players, I might assign them different charts, but also different sections in a chart. I might have piano comp the first chorus of a solo, and then have the vibes finish it out. If I have multiple guitarists, they can share a solo section the same way. This gives these students the opportunity to play off of each other’s ideas.
    In some lower-grade jazz works, rhythm section parts have both chords and a suggested comping rhythm. Although this rhythm is simply a suggestion to get students started, some might play the suggested rhythm over and over. This is vamping, which is different from comping. Comping is best thought of as filling a little bit of space in a melody or solo.

Dynamics
    Concert band directors do not hesitate to make changes to the parts to emphasize the melody. If a saxophone player had the melody in a concert band work, and trombones were burying it, the director might tell the trombones to write mezzo piano in to remind this section to play quieter. With jazz there is more of a temptation to let students play as loud as they can without close attention to dynamics and phrasing, which produces a cacophonous mess. When working with a group, it is important to talk through which sections have important parts. A group can sound much better if each section thinks about how it fits into the whole.
    Often junior high jazz bands have way too many players. Directors understandably do not want to cut players from the band but may not have enough players for two groups.  This can result in large horn sections, and the sound can easily become muddled. Even with a large ensemble it is still important to pay attention to dynamics. Students can learn about dynamics by listening to the Ellington band, the Basie band, or great college groups such as North Texas or Northern Illinois. In all of those ensembles, the various sections know when to emphasize their parts and when to play support roles. If the saxophones have an important soli part, the trumpets have to pull it back for their accompanying figures. The melody doesn’t sound as good without the accompanying lines, but the lead part should not sound muddled or overwhelmed.

Playing the Style
    A jazz ensemble should play every piece with authentic style. Even if notes and rhythms are correct, the music can still sound like garbage. Every jazz director has to have a clear mental concept of how the music should sound. Directors and students both develop this concept by regularly listening to recordings. It doesn’t have to be a recording of the song you are rehearsing but something in a similar style.
    I try to guide listening in class by telling students to listen for certain characteristics of the music, perhaps the use of ride cymbal or the absence of bass
drum. Guitarist Freddie Green plays with just a little bit of accent on two and four, and while that type of nuance is barely audible, if you took it away, the feel of the music would change.
It can be difficult to get junior high students to listen outside of rehearsal, so I frequently start rehearsals with listening and will have a song playing as students enter the rehearsal room. I identify the tune and make suggestions on certain things to listen for in the music. I might mention how the drummer backed up the soloists. Younger students need those specific cues to learn the most from recordings.
    Over the years I have had good luck planning out the songs we are going to play in advance and giving students a CD of different jazz styles represented. I try to balance out the discs with helpful music for each section of the band and identify key elements of style for them to study, particularly with the rhythm section. I tell students that our performance might not sound exactly like the recording, but I want them to be able to approximate what they heard.
    Once the first student buys into listening at home, the others will follow. I gave a trombonist a J.J. Johnson solo to listen to, and next week in rehearsal he sounded much better on his solo. I commented on his improvement and asked if he listened to the solo. When he said he had listened to it a few times, the other students got the message.
    Some directors may argue that they have limited rehearsal time and cannot spend it on listening, but this is necessary if you want a group to be good and sound authentic. Even if a group only rehearses once a week, listening can work well at the beginning of class or as a break.
    My high school group has one 21/2-hour rehearsal and then sectionals during the rest of the week. By the middle of the long rehearsal, the brass players are exhausted and rubbing their lips. I break up the rehearsal by taking ten minutes to show YouTube clips that illustrate how certain jazz musicians looked and sounded. Each week, the focus is on a different instrument, and I try to find clips that can teach everybody something. Students learn a great deal from watching and listening to famous players.         

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Warmups
    In my early years as a director I used the old Paul Yoder concert band clinic warmups, but if I taught at a middle or high school today I would focus more on scales, articulations, and rhythmic exercises. I would turn to a chorale at the end of the warmup because these will develop better blend and balance.
    Chorales have the advantage of clear harmonies that see what students can hear and know where they fit in. Some bands will use the same two or three chorales all year as a way to give students a frame of reference, but my view is that this will improve the blend and balance only on these chorales. Instead I would use a variety of chorales to expand the musical horizons of the ensemble. I might speed up the tempo of a chorale or add a tenuto or fermata where none is written. I want students to become more elastic and responsive to my baton.

Beyond the Printed Page
    As a young teacher I faithfully adhered to the music exactly as it was written. In my experience many directors do this with a group at a state or regional contest. They will simply play what is written on the printed page. The problem with this is that the printed page has only notes and a few crude clues, not musical phrases with nuances and variety. Only a director can add these by applying what they know about the composer, the piece, and the available instrumentation.

Progress, Not Perfection
    Today I would not merely seek perfection, but in every rehearsal my goal is to make students feel that they have made progress and were successful. This entails actually praising student progress during the session, not just a perfunctory word at the end. I might comment that the music is still a little rough, but they are making great progress, and I heard some good things. Almost every student wants to please the teacher and do what’s right; nobody comes into a rehearsal wanting to make mistakes. A director has to be able to articulate the baby steps necessary to make some improvement. Playing a musical instrument is a complex physical and mental task. With young students, it helps if they believe that they are getting better.

Be Specific
    It is important for directors to understand that most progress is made only by giving specific information. It is unreasonable to state that a rhythm should be played with greater precision. It is far better to ask for a lighter staccato or a longer tenuto. Always explain exactly what you want students to do.

Sightreading
    Sightreading is important, but is self-defeating if the music is difficult. A piece that might take weeks of preparation for a concert or anything close to that level is not a good sightreading choice. I recommend choosing music that is two grades lower than the group’s playing level and often just play through it once and put it away. With the wealth of good music out there, it is better to move on to another piece. I might even sightread a piece during a concert after explaining to the audience that students have never seen the music before and this is just a demonstration of what they can do. I would talk through the piece in two or three minutes and start right in. Obviously the music should be something I know students can handle. Indeed this should be the goal of every sightreading experience. Sightreading should be fun and a treat for students, not an experience they dread.

Preparing for Competitions
    Remember that no judge can read your mind or your intentions. If an accelerando or a ritardando seems musically appropriate but is not written on the score, go ahead and add it; but be sure to note this on the score the judges have. The rating a judge gives, in my view, is partly an evaluation of the musical product and partly a reflection of decisions the director did or didn’t make. If the changes you make are indicated on the score a judge will know some thought went into the choice. This may not be what the judge would do, but he will know it was not just a whim during this performance. If the part calls for straight mute but I prefer a cup mute, I mark it on the score. Some directors view scores as a Holy Grail, but they are not. Use your judgment and bring the music to life.

Soft Playing
    Some young bands play everything at a fortissimo, but even beginners can learn to play softly and follow the director’s lead. I use a larger pattern for loud passages and smaller one for soft sections. A good exercise on a simple warmup piece is to veer between loud, soft, and moderate dynamic levels to train students to watch closely. Use exaggerated motions at first and change dynamics frequently. An unexpected grand pause will catch those who aren’t watching and can be a fun exercise.

Music Stands Move
    It seems simple, but some students ignore the fact that music stands can be raised or lowered. They just sit down and play. If the stand is too low, they can’t see the director without looking up. The right level is where they can read the music and follow the baton with their peripheral vision.

Programming
    Let a student introduce each piece at concerts. I view program planning much like a meal. I often start off with something light to get the audience’s palates awake, move on to the main course, and end up with something pleasing for dessert. I always include one piece just for me, one piece for the students, and one or more I know the audience will love. I want everyone at a concert to be eager for the next one.

Put Students on The Podium
    Whenever you put a student on the podium, realize that this can be almost a religious experience. My high school director, Wally Swanson, let students conduct regularly, and I always raised my hand to volunteer. When my chance came, it was one of the coolest things I had ever done and became one of the reasons I wanted to become a band director. I didn’t know what I was doing, but it was wonderful.

Respect Fermatas
    When a note has a fermata, that means note value plus fermata. A fermata does not negate the length of the note. If a piece ends with a whole note and a fermata, then we have to play full duration of the whole note and then put a fermata on top of it. Many groups play three of four beats and then stop.

Wide-Ranging Dynamics
    Dynamic markings should be thought of as ranges and not levels. Mezzo forte is not a dynamic level, it’s a range. It’s the range of space between mezzo piano and forte. That means there is space for gradation in there. Students should increase and decrease the volume within that range as opposed to thinking it has a static level.

The Science of Fortepiano
    A fortepiano is not one dynamic marking, it’s two dynamic markings. A fortepiano means that we have to create a good sound at forte and then immediately get down to piano. It does not indicate that we make an explosion and try to cram the note into a soft sound. If you watch a timpanist play a fortepiano roll, he uses one stroke to hit the timpani and get it resonating and then begins a soft roll.

Counting Rhythms
    The best counting system I ever came across was called Studies in Time Division; Harry Begian helped write it with Larry Teal. It’s out of print now, but it was a great counting system. This system is based on addition, which is easier to teach than division. Students would start by tapping sixteenth notes at a slow tempo. When they were comfortable playing 1-e-&-a, 2-e-&-a we would change to eighth notes and then quarter notes. It makes students hold notes for the full duration and sustain the air. Students who learn to count this way have a good understanding of note length and can do an amazing job of counting.

Never Say But
    Craig Kirchhoff was scheduled to work with the band as we were getting ready for the Midwest. There was an exposed piccolo part in the piece we were playing. She was a wonderful player but was having difficulty with the part. I was extremely impatient with her, and my negative comments made the situation worse. Compliments are negated by the word but: “Rebecca, you’re a good player, but you can’t play that part.”
    When Craig came in she didn’t play any better. He asked, “What’s your name?” She said, “Rebecca.” He said, “Rebecca, that is a beautiful piccolo sound that you have, and as soon as you get comfortable with those notes it’s going to be glorious.” He used the word and instead of but. When talking to students, don’t follow an opening of “Saxophones, you did a really great job with the notes,” with “but we need more dynamic contrast;” instead, say, “Saxophones, you did a really great job with the notes, and when we get more dynamic contrast from you it’s going to be fantastic.”

Praise with Specifics, Criticize with Platitudes
    Jim Middleton was a master at using the word good. When we played for him in methods classes, if someone played poorly he would say “good,” or “okay.” If the next students did a good job, he would say, “That was very nice, I really liked your articulation.” Then he’d look at the next student and say, “That was very good dynamic contrast.” If the next student didn’t play well he’d say “good,” and go on. I always used to think, “Why didn’t he say something nice to me?” Now I realize that his faint praise was his form of criticism. No one got angry, and we did get his message.

These are some of my quick tips for whatever they are worth. In all likelihood you will be able to compile your own list in 20 years.            

The post Tips for Directors appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

What are the contours of the band program at Lake Central?
    We have approximately 275 students in the band program in three concert bands, a marching band, two jazz ensembles, a winter drum line, a percussion ensemble, usually two if not more winter color guards, pep bands, and chamber ensembles. I have an assistant director and the two of us are assisted by a part-time color guard director. Other than that the two directors manage everything else. The top band of the three concert bands is the wind ensemble (50-60 students) and the second group is the concert band (80-100 students). Freshmen are not eligible for wind ensemble, but anyone else in the marching band can audition. The symphonic band of about 90 is comprised of students who choose not to or cannot march. We have a percussion class comprised of students in the marching band, either in the drum line or the pit, and the percussion class eventually turns into the winter drumline and the winter percussion ensemble.

Do percussion classes meet during concert band or separately?
    They meet separately at a different time of the day, but as concerts or contests draw near we hold after-school rehearsals to glue everything together with the full ensemble plus percussion.

What are wind ensemble auditions like?
    In February or March we pick several excerpts and everybody except seniors has to reaudition. This is a sort of mid-term playing test, and I choose a few underclassmen to move into the wind ensemble for the following year. Those who don’t make the wind ensemble remain in the concert band. All incoming freshmen in the marching band hornline automatically go right into the concert band.

Why do you keep freshmen out of the top ensemble?
    I inherited this tradition when I arrived at Lake Central, and it seems to work. A few freshmen might be qualified, but after they get a year under their belts and are indoctrinated into the program, they are more prepared to handle the rigors of the wind ensemble as well as their academic demands.

What music does the top group play?
    We play a great variety of music. We play music from a grade 3 level up to grade 6 and anything in between. In the fall after we finish with the Bands of America competition, we give a concert just two weeks later. To pull together a concert this quickly, the music is certainly not at the most challenging level, but I try to make it appealing for the winter concert. Once we get to contest time in spring, we dive in and work on very difficult music. I want to play a good cross section of literature with a mix of new and old pieces to educate students and our audiences.

How much sightreading do they do?
   We sightread a lot in all three bands. We have a block schedule with eight periods over two days. The symphonic band works on concert literature throughout the year because they do not march. By mid-October the two top groups really get cranking on concert literature.
    In Indiana sightreading is a component of spring contests. We prepare three pieces and then sightread whatever the Indiana State School Music Association chooses. Overall we sightread quite a bit at this school.
We have sightread the Holst Suite, Lincolnshire Posy, and the Vaughan Williams suite. Every year or two, I pull them out for sight reading and explain that these are pieces you need to know.

What is your background to coordinate all of this activity?
    I spent most of my formative years just west of Wichita in Hutchinson, Kansas and graduated from high school there. My undergrad work was at Wichita State and I earned master’s degrees at the University of Illinois and also at Northwestern University.
    I spent six years marching with the Sky Ryders and three years with the Madison Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps. In 1989 when I grew too old to be in the Madison Corps, I started teaching there on the visual staff. I spent a year on the music staff in 1995, but all the other years I was part of the visual staff. For some reason marching always came easily to me, and I felt comfortable with all the maneuvers. After years as a performer, it seemed to be a good fit to join the staff. I had the good fortune to learn from some outstanding musical and visual people over the years. I learned even more as a teacher than as a performer. As a visual instructor I had the opportunity to hone my skills while teaching the talented guys in the corps.

Where do the finances come from to pay for all this?
    We only march at the home games and are fortunate to have a great organization of parents. Students pay a fee of $325 to be in the marching band, which covers the uniform, cleaning, and some money to pay the supplemental staff. Other portions of the fee are spent on fixing props for the show, pit equipment, and maintenence on the both the big and small trailers. One unusual component of this organization is that the band owns a large truck semi-trailer (but not the cab) and a smaller truck to transport the gear. These were purchased with the help of the band booster group. The school provides six buses for events away from campus but little else to keep this marching band going.
    Last year band parents built a shed near the trailer to store gear in during the off-season. In the fall some parents use the shed as a workshop. We have used the current uniforms since 2004, and the practical lifespan of a uniform is 7-10 years, depending on material. Before too long these will have to be replaced.
    The overall instrumental music budget set by the directors and band boosters executive board for this year was $114,000 for the entire program, not just the marching band. The $325 fee from each student pays about half of the costs. The booster organization raises money throughout the year, and one source of funds is local business contributors who sponsor the band. We raffle a Mustang car annually. The band pays for the car, but at a very good rate, and all profits go to the band. The winner has a choice between taking the car or $10,000 in cash. We’ve had winners do both over the years. Another good fundraiser is a discount card that is good at about 40 local businesses. For example, a $5 card may cover a $19.95 oil change at Jiffy Lube. We raised almost $7,500 last year.

How do you begin the marching season?
    The marching show is generally the same throughout the season, but if needed we will make changes to some of the elements. The music is custom-written for the group by our composer-arranger. The theme this fall was the number seven, so there were seven sections to the show and one was an arrangement of Frank Loesser’s “Luck Be A Lady,” but the other six parts were original music by the arranger.
    In May we have some early marching rehearsals to get the ball rolling before the summer and work on posture and the basic mechanics of marching and playing. We practice mark time, keeping the tempo with the feet, and during the first few days we literally take only one step forward and one back. From there we move on to two, then three and four until we get it right.
    Every day we spend approximately ten minutes on stretching and conditioning: neck and body rolls, stretching the upper torso, standing with feet apart and bending the torso at the waist, and similar exercises. We bend forward to stretch the backs of the legs, roll the ankles, and with arms outstretched we roll the wrists.
    After the warmup each day we go back and work on the basics, including the one-step, then two-steps, and so on every day of the season. An exercise that is very popular with students is what we call eights and eights: we alternate mark time for eight beats, then march for eight, the mark time for eight and march for eight until we run out of field. Then we go backwards for eight, mark time for eight, and so on. Next we work on direction-change exercises, such as marching for eight, sliding left for eight, going forward eight, then sliding to the right for eight. Some routines we work on every day, such as parade rest, the one step, and two step. I tell the students that work on the basic steps is like eating Wheaties every morning. Depending on what we need to work on or where we are developmentally throughout the year, once we’re through those initial few minutes we address a particular weakness in the show. For example, maybe our turns to the right are weak, so we’ll devise an exercise that isolates and works on that.

What advanced things need attention once posture is correct?
    We work hard on foot timing or phasing. If everyone does not hit the ground at the exact same time as the person next to them, they call that phasing. Another example is changing directions and finding the precise path to get to the next spot on the 30 yard line and two steps behind the hash. There is a precise way to get to that spot. For a direction change it is necessary to kick the heels around and flip the feet to face in the new direction (I call this the initiation and completion of a move). We start working on this the first day, but only at the band camp does it begin to take shape. This is an aspect that we never stop working on but it is never perfect.
    During a performance it is rare for the upper and lower body to point in the same direction. The feet may point to the end zone while the horn faces to the box. With younger students this is a difficult concept to understand. They have to learn to twist the shoulders and chest around to the front. Less experienced students often don’t twist enough, and even if they are on the right spot and the horn points in the right direction, the chest and torso don’t twist around enough. This can make the form look dirty. I tell young students that if they twist and contort in the wrong way it becomes difficult to get a good breath.
    One big reason we spend so much time on the basics is to develop the right foundation for body movements. If these are not correct, it will be impossible to march the drill cleanly. We could work the music until we’re blue in the face, but until the band can move from one point to another smoothly, the drill and music will not be successful. If a student struggles with a few difficult measures, it is easy for them to skip these but no one can just stand there for 16 counts and jump in later. I don’t advocate this, but many directors around the country will admit that this is the last-ditch recourse. You can take someone out of a musical phrase, but you can’t take someone out of a visual phrase.

When do you begin to combine moving and playing?
    The band regroups during the second week of June and for a few rehearsals before the Fourth of July parades. We put music and marching together
then. This is just simple marching to get toe height and timing down. We play a low Bb and practice moving in tandem, and by the fourth or fifth rehearsal we will work on the eights and eights exercise while playing two whole notes tied together or other rhythmic exercises. Each year the top layer of the cake graduates, and it is up to the younger students to take over. Whenever the upper classmen complain that I work too slowly, I remind them that once they were freshmen and didn’t get it. The payoff is that everyone understands the terms and techniques. As we add advanced steps, the solid foundation makes it seem easy.

What are your goals for this year?
I came to Lake Central High School at a good time and our goal is simply to get better every year.  

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