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The post News Flashes from the Podium appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    Looking more like a college professor than a jazz musician, Dave Brubeck greeted me warmly at the gate of his pastoral Connecticut estate. After more than 35 years of an illustrious career, he now finds respite and refuge here from his still active touring life. Brubeck’s massive stone-walled living room has floor-to-ceiling views of sylvan hills and a pond that he says remind him of the northern California landscape where he grew up. A lovely painting of his childhood ranch seems as incongruous among his African artifacts as the various elements of his background, but it all comes together in the highly complex but cohesive and unmistakable Brubeck style.
    Dave Brubeck may be 65, but the word heyday doesn’t apply to any one period of his life; he now feels more fertile and productive than ever. “Many times when I was young I had the time to write, but I couldn’t do it. Now it’s a problem to find enough time. I used to have to grope for ideas and tear up a lot of stuff. Now when I work on a new piece I seem to need less sleep; I have all the vitality I need from the excitement of the new work. A few days ago I started a new choral piece based on the idea of my garden, using the nursery rhyme ‘Mary, Mary, quite contrary, How does your garden grow?’
     “Writing music is like recharging my system. I get up early and really get going. In five weeks I wrote Beloved Son, an Easter cantata about 35-40 minutes in length. That’s really fast for me. My most recent oratorio, The Voice of the Holy Spirit, is about an hour and 15 minutes long. To avoid the problem of its being too long for the choir that rehearses only once a week, I divided it into two parts, so that each part can be performed separately if necessary.
    “Some days I write as long as eight to twelve hours; the constant gripping of the pencil ruins my piano technique. We’ve just bought a computer and I swear it’s a difficult thing for us to understand, but I like its ability to print out music; it will make writing a lot easier for me. Oftentimes I’m under a deadline to finish a piece for an upcoming concert. Then I have to spend the last few weeks writing instead of playing. The more I write, the less I play. I have to try to keep a balance.”
     Brubeck is philosophical, articulate, direct, and hospitable, and although he seems busier than ever, there is an aura of peace and tranquility that surrounds him. Life hasn’t always been so smooth for him, though. Although it is difficult to imagine, many listeners and critics found the complex meters and rhythms in Brubeck’s 50s recordings, “Take Five” in 54 and “Blue Rondo a la Turk” in 98 controversial and difficult to accept; they complained that he went “outside of the accepted jazz rhythms.” While polyrhythms had already become common in 20th-century so-called classical music, Brubeck faced an uphill struggle when he introduced them to the jazz idiom. Now, other jazz composers such as Claude Bolling have emulated and further popularized these rhythms and meters. “Take Five” and “Blue Rondo a la Turk” are played and understood in almost every country in the world including India and Africa, not a surprising fact when you consider that the polyrhythms of these and other musical cultures have been fertile sources for Brubeck’s musical ideas.
    Although in terms of popularity Brubeck is unsurpassed, as an innovator he has had his share of criticism. Some detractors labeled him “too modern,” others “old hat.” Brubeck explained his view of these contradictory opinions.
    “Usually, they just didn’t understand what I was trying to do. If I wanted no criticism, I could have become a critic-pleaser, but who would want that?
    “The best example was a Carnegie Hall performance that left me entirely elated; everything had gone great. Paul Desmond and I had really pulled it off. We were entirely free, with the drums in one tempo and the bass in another. The audience loved it, we loved it; but the critic said, ‘They couldn’t even keep time together.’ Sometime I might take a clue from such criticism and give a lecture to the next audience: ‘In case there are some who might not understand what we’re doing, some of us will be in three, some in five, some in four, but we all have to come out together on one, so pray for us!’  If the traditional critic had to have jazz in 44 like the New Orleans marches, that was too bad.”
    Up until recently, jazz has been defined as American with a capital A. Now, with international influences such as Brazilian and Japanese shaping the course of jazz, Brubeck agrees that Americans no longer have a corner on the idiom. He explains, “From the beginning, jazz has been, roughly speaking, a fusion of African and European cultures. The African elements were the reason jazz came about. When you take away the identity of a cultural group, they have a tremendous need to survive and to express themselves as a people. There is need for freedom in all mankind, and when repressed, this spirit is bound to come out in art.
     “When I studied with Darius Milhaud, he told us to travel, to keep our ears open, and to use whatever we could. I was one of the few who listened to an African recording, Dennis Roosevelt’s Expedition into the Belgian Congo, in the 1940s, and I asked myself, ‘If jazz is supposed to be African, what are we doing playing in 44 like European marches?’ That’s one of the things that started my interest in African music. That’s why ‘Blue Rondo a la Turk’ and ‘Take Five’ are still big hits in Africa, while some folks here stumble around with it, wondering how jazz can be in 54. We had a tremendous battle for acceptance, harmonically and rhythmically; so did Stan Kenton, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, as well as anyone who today tries to change anything from tradition.
    “The European influences become apparent when you talk about musical devices. First there’s the instrumentation: the marching band with the clarinet obbligato, trumpet lead, trombone, and tuba bass line with some counterpoint and percussion. What is a New Orleans band? It’s very similar. (They couldn’t march down the street with a piano, but eventually it found its way into the jazz band.) Jazz scales and harmonies, though basically European, were bent towards African influences. Even the jazz forms show a mixture. For example, ‘Tiger Rag’ is based on a Belgian march with added syncopation; it even keeps the trio in the middle in the subdominant key. Jelly Roll Morton and other early jazz musicians like him were strongly influenced by the French Opera House in New Orleans. Of course, Bach himself is never far removed from jazz, and most jazz musicians feel the debt to him.”
    Brubeck’s teacher, the great French composer Darius Milhaud, was so special to Brubeck that he named his first son Darius. “Milhaud was one of the greatest human beings I’ve ever met and certainly one of my greatest influences. Milhaud never spoke of hating anyone, even though the Nazis would have killed him if he had not fled from France. He never saw his parents again. He died in 1974, but we see and write to Madeleine Milhaud who still lives in Paris.
    “His acceptance of us in those early years, indeed, his insistence that we embrace the jazz idiom ‘or we’d never truly represent this country as American composers’ was essential to us. He’d say, in the early 1940s, ‘The best American composers are Duke Ellington and George Gershwin. The composers who survive will be those who use the jazz idiom.’ Well, he was right. Copland, Bernstein, and Ives are very much alive.
    “It’s strange how long it took the music educators to allow jazz musicians into the conservatories. In the 1930s and 40s it would have been very difficult to name a school where you didn’t have to sneak around if you played jazz, and I would say that there is still a little of this attitude floating around. Milhaud asked us the first day in class (largely a group of G.I.s on the G.I. bill) who the jazz musicians were. He realized that many of the performance majors were not really interested in harmony, ear training, and composition. The people really interested were the ones who developed into studio musicians, arrangers, composers, and jazz musicians. It is absolutely stupid how long it has taken educators to realize that improvisation should be a must in a classical conservatory if the training is going to be traditional and follow Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, and all those composers and performers for whom improvising was first nature.
    “Milhaud was a stickler on Bach and Mendelssohn, and we had to study fugues and follow all the rules. When we started to write, though, Milhaud gave us complete freedom. Schoenberg was as different from Milhaud as he could be. He imposed complete discipline on his students and their compositions. Schoenberg and I barely got along, and I worked with him very little. He was in Los Angeles when I was stationed in an army camp near Death Valley. He wanted a reason for every note, whereas Milhaud felt there should never be a system for composition, that it should not be done with a slide rule, but should come from the deepest part of your mind. If a student used an analytical system such as Schillinger, Milhaud would ask, ‘Why don’t you become a mathematician?’”
    Though he doesn’t teach, Brubeck is open and willing to conjecture about teaching jazz — what elements can and cannot be taught (technique, part-writing, harmony, form, and so on). In the end, though, he asks back, “How do you teach a composer? You give them the tools. It’s the same way with jazz. Maybe the closest thing in the classical world to jazz performers are the great organists who are called upon to improvise fugues. We have our Tatums and our Shearings who can do almost everything, but there’s no way to teach a composer except to open his mind to many areas and disciplines.
    “Almost any composer is related to the improviser. My favorite Stravinsky quote appears in The Poetics of Music: ‘Composition is selective improvisation.’ That little sentence should be hung over the door of every conservatory.”
     Strangely, Dave Brubeck cannot really analyze what it is that has made his quartet one of the longest-lived jazz combos in history. “We formed our first octet, which you can still hear on the Fantasy label, in Milhaud’s class. Five of the eight were in his class: Bill Smith, Dave Van Kriedt, Dick Collins, Jack Weeks, and myself. Clarinetist Bill Smith is still with me today, we’ve worked together since 1947, a long association. Paul Desmond and Cal Tjader (both have passed away) and Bob Collins (Dick’s brother) were the other three.
     “Our attraction was not only to each other, but to Milhaud, who set up our first concert at Mills College; from there, we went to my alma mater, the College of the Pacific at Stockton, and gave another. Our octet was so musical and adventurous that anyone interested in what was going on in that era from a historical point of view ought to listen to our record The Dave Brubeck Octet. The only reason the group bore my name was that I was better known in the San Francisco area and the promoter wanted to use my name. The group was actually a workshop where we all brought our compositions.
    Our ‘book’ for performance was straight out of Milhaud’s class. The octet didn’t get much work, so I took the rhythm section from the octet — bass, drums, and piano — and formed the trio, which won all sort of polls, prizes, and international attention as Combo of the Year. That was around 1950. My plan was to add each member back, until we got back up to the octet.
    “Then I had my swimming accident that almost caused complete paralysis. It left me with residual effects that I can still feel 35 years later, affecting the way I play, write, and practice, and whether I can sit long hours. In my studio I have two electric keyboards so that I can stand while I write. I’d love to get a grand piano that would allow me to stand and play.”
    Finances weren’t easy in those early days, either. Brubeck used to pray that he’d get union scale (“which would keep us alive”) in the days when he was playing for half union scale. “Bill Smith and I used to have to turn in our checks, which read union scale, at the bar, and the owner would give us back half in cash, for which we’d have to sign that we received the full scale. We all lived near each other, and I bought our food at the farmers’ market on Saturday night, when they gave us great bargains. I’d fill up the trunk. Once we bought a footlocker full of baby food that had been in a fire and took it with us all the way to Honolulu. That’s how poor we were. We’d sleep in the car or camp out. I feel that my wife deserves whatever we have now.” Brubeck’s wife is with her husband, whether at their beautiful home, or on his frequent trips (about 100 one-nighters per year). Their six grown children come back to visit often.
    Brubeck’s professional music-making with his own sons is, by now, history. He admits that the success or failure of those associations had everything to do with the hardships of being on the road. “It was the best for us when we were on stage. Then we could abandon the father and son roles. Traveling created a lot of the tensions — airports, hotels, car rentals, how they dressed; and rehearsals — forget it! On stage the rapport was fantastic, though. I only thought of them as musicians, not as sons. Critics who are insensitive to the fragile situation can louse it up by picking on one son, comparing one to another, or to me. As a father I had to read one review that said my sons didn’t even belong on the same stage with me, and yet I knew that they were performing at as high a level as most of our contemporaries, while expressing and extending the musical values we believed in. Of course, we received wonderful reviews, too, about our family carrying on the jazz tradition. It takes fine musicians to go into a studio and record four sides of an LP direct to disk without editing, as we did on A Cut Above. That recording is lasting proof of why I was so proud of the family group.
    “Two of my sons didn’t remain in my group and are out there proving to themselves and to their peers what they don’t have to prove to me. You have to be really happy at what you do, independent of criticism; in fact, if the happiest moments don’t come when you’re playing at home alone and if you need that applause to keep you going, you’re in trouble.”
    One of Brubeck’s contributions to the history of jazz piano has been his development of the piano’s chamber music-like role as a member of a jazz group. As fine a soloist as Brubeck has been, he prefers the inner voicing, the communication, and the give and take of ensemble playing. Although Art Tatum heads the list of his most admired artists which includes Duke Ellington, George Shearing, and Oscar Peterson (“I’d rather hear Tatum improvise than any contemporary composer today”), he believes Tatum felt freer as a soloist and restricted in a group; Brubeck, however, feels freer in a group.
    Just how free is jazz? “You can play jazz that’s memorized like classical music, but why call it jazz? Or, you can use a bag of tricks, runs, patterns, playing until you begin to feel you’re falling short of material. Then you pull out of the bag a cadence you’ve used successfully before, whether 20 years or two months ago, and you start improvising again. Third, you play things you’ve never played before and you’ll never play again, but all within a form, just as a room has form, but you are free within its walls to redesign it.
    “More recently, so-called ‘free jazz’ has brought forth a fourth approach that is initially formless; the musicians create the form as they go along. I don’t create well in this formless approach, but there are some who do. Maybe that’s the highest level, but I personally believe in the discipline of form and finding freedom within that discipline. That, to me, represents in a larger sense the spirit of our constitution, art in general, and creation; of course, who knows what form the world or the universe were in before they were created?”
    As in classical music, concentration is one of the most important ingredients in jazz performance, leading ultimately to a rapport between artist and audience. Brubeck describes himself as “the happiest guy in the world” when everything goes right with him and his audience. Unfortunately real jazz aficionados often have difficulty hearing everything they came to hear in jazz clubs because of casual listeners who chat away during the performance. At the famous jazz club Birdland the caged finches that were part of the original decor died from the noise and smoke. With dense smoke and clinking glasses, how do jazz performers concentrate, not to mention breathe, in such an atmosphere?
    “There were some exceptional clubs such as Boston’s Storyville, run by George Wein, the international jazz impresario and jazz pianist. He had a good piano (rare in a bar!), and he ran the club with the musician in mind. In most places a cash register will ring at just the wrong times, and you’ll lose your concentration. Waitresses can make a difference, too, by serving between tunes and taking orders softly. A club needs a specific clientele that knows why it came; this doesn’t happen overnight. Only during the last set, after the curiosity-seekers have gone home, do the real jazz-lovers come and expect the best playing. Sometimes we’ll play until 4 a.m. As far as the smoke goes, it rises, and up on the bandstand, especially without air conditioning and with a big crowd, you can suffocate.  In one club where I worked they purposely shut the doors and windows to make it close so that folks would leave, causing a bigger turnover and more cover charges. It was all calculated to make money to pay the musicians and other expenses, but we had to try to breathe in an atmosphere where the average customer couldn’t last a full set!
    “If you really want to know my favorite place to play it’s not a club, but a dance hall. If I can get an atmosphere where I am not imposing myself on an audience, I can be the most creative and really play my best. I don’t do as well in a concert hall. The dance hall is ideal because you’re in this environment with a wonderful quality of acceptance. The audience is in three groups: the dancers who have a great time while they communicate with you in their own way; the people who are there without any inkling of why (they come to the Philharmonic as well, but there they just loiter around the outer fringe); and the serious listeners who flock around the bandstand to really listen. As the performer, you have to make a unity out of all of these people. The best dance hall I can think of was one in Salt Lake City.
    “I recently found another great place to play: New York’s South Street Seaport at the Fulton Fish Market. This concert was one of my most successful, even though the piano went out of tune. That bad piano really freed me, though. Sometimes a great instrument can intimidate you; you think, ‘Here’s this great piano, the best anywhere. Now make something wonderful happen — no excuses!’ and already you have a strike against you before you start playing. I had read once that no matter how bad a piano was, Mozart always enjoyed it, and I thought if Mozart could, so could I. After intermission I modified my style towards honky-tonk.
    “There are times when I have felt intimidated by a certain concert hall. I try to tell myself that the people who are there are really there to hear me. If I sometimes see someone falling asleep in the first row, rather than think negatively, I try to block it out of my mind, knowing that this individual could be my most ardent fan who has driven all day to come to the concert. I remind myself of how I fell asleep listening to Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony after I had hitchhiked all day through the desert in California to hear it because I loved the Fifth and Sixth so much.”
    The conversation ended on a tender note with reminiscences of Brubeck’s parents. His mother had studied piano with Dame Myra Hess and Tobias Matthay before she married Peter Brubeck, a California cattle rancher. “I was raised on a 45,000-acre ranch, and my dad was like the father on ‘Bonanza.’ He was a champion rodeo-roper, and even when he was 65 (after he couldn’t chase and tie the calf himself), his roping arm and his horse were still the fastest around. He was extremely musical, but he never played anything but the harmonica. In fact, Schirmer published a piece, ‘Dad Plays the Harmonica,’ in my collection of little piano pieces, Reminiscences of the Cattle Country, written in Milhaud’s class in 1946.”
    From the Saturday night dance halls in rough and ready towns like Sutter Creek and Mokelumne Hill, the scene of Brubeck’s earliest gigs, to the great concert halls and jazz clubs he plays today, Dave Brubeck has never lost his sense of adventure. 

The post Taking Five with Dave Brubeck appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Getting a Full Section Sound
    In all cases, at all dynamics, in nearly all compositional situations, the second, third, and fourth voices must play with greater volume during tutti passages because higher frequencies, which are almost always found in upper parts, sound more intense to the audience than lower frequencies do. This necessitates a reverse balance etiquette whereby all section players must play increasingly stronger as their parts descend in register.
    The simplest example of this is when two players of any instrument are playing an octave, which is an important way to develop fullness in orchestration. This orchestration effort is wasted unless the lower octave is played at a much stronger volume than the upper. Often, principal players in orchestras request that the person with the lower octave play with twice the volume of the upper players. This sometimes is still not enough; in certain thick textures, the lower octave’s sound can be covered by other voices in the ensemble.
    Jessica Valeri, 4th horn player with the San Francisco Symphony describes it another way. “In section playing at fuller volumes, dynamic balance is incredibly important. Often, when I see p, I play mf; similarly, when I see mf, I play ff.”
    Michael Tiscione, second trumpet player in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, has this to say about section balance: “Good section balance relies on thoughtful interpretation of dynamics depending on genre, textural priority, and the interpretive decisions of the principal. That said, in many instances my job as second trumpet requires me to play lower octaves with great strength to balance the upper octave.”
    When balanced correctly, sections will sound broad, full, and three-dimensional at all dynamics. In fact, if upper voices sound strident, asking for more from second and third players almost always fixes the problem.

The Key to Section Unity
    Many young musicians are unaware that in professional orchestras, a section player’s job is to play each tutti passage with the same articulation, phrasing, duration, volume, and inflection as the first-chair player. This means second, third, and fourth players must be actively leading as much as the first part in each section, but in a different way. As Tiscione mentions above, this imitation is especially critical when it comes to achieving good section balance. Every nuance and musical effort of the first player has to be faithfully duplicated in the section parts, and the key to success with this technique is listening attentively to the first player.
     This technique results in a unified musical sound from each section, similar to the sound produced by choral vocal sections. The sound is more intimate, even at the most extreme dynamics, and each section operates as a single team that is well prepared to musically interact with other sections. This results in more agile and flexible phrasing in the whole ensemble.

Sustain
    If a composer indicates a half note, the section must sustain that note until the last possible moment. Wind section playing sounds best when the human voice is imitated, and one way students can match this is to keep notes singing through the end of the written duration as a rule. Great orchestra players do not allow the tone to change or falter before changing to the next note, regardless of the register.
    Sustaining appropriately is essential regardless of printed dynamic. If even one player in a section cheats a note of its written duration, the entire section sound loses resonance and fullness. To achieve the same sostenuto effects of the strings, each member of a section in a band must sustain to the absolute fullest extent possible in every situation.

Accent the Smallest Notes
    The most common example of this principle is the dotted eighth-sixteenth rhythm. The sixteenth note should always be accented, even if an accent is not indicated. The reason for this is that the fastest notes are the most difficult to hear at the back of a concert hall. The amount of accent needed will be surprising to young players. I myself was always taken aback at the amount of accent that my teachers would ask for, even on simple passages. The passage below shows unaccented sixteenth note examples that must be accented to be clearly and evenly heard at a fast tempo.

    Unlike orchestral playing, in which melodies are frequently assigned to string parts, wind ensemble parts call for regular melodic playing by all instruments. Habitually accenting fast notes in all passages greatly helps to give wind and brass instruments the same lively agility possessed by strings.

Increase Volume in Lower Registers
    As a part’s range decreases in register, a player should always increase the volume, especially until the melody rises in register again. This prevents the lower parts’ melodies from being swallowed by thick texture while lending a confident sound to the part.
    This increase in intensity as parts descend in register also applies to dynamics. Tiscione describes it this way: “Each section player must use increasingly clearer articulation as the parts descend through middle and lower registers; the notes in those registers require much greater presence to produce a cohesive section sound on a given articulated passage.”

    Successful orchestra players perform these techniques reflexively when they encounter appropriate instances in the music. It takes some time to incorporate these techniques into an ensemble section’s performance vocabulary. However, students will eventually react instinctively when they see examples that call for these techniques. When this happens, ensembles take on a more professional and mature sound. This unified effort from the players frees the conductor to communicate gesturally more often in rehearsal, which leads to students listening more across the ensemble and ultimately, to more confident and inspired music-making.   

The post Strengthening Second Chair: How Professional Players Balance the Section Sound appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

•  Collapsing the wrist in both hands to balance the clarinet.
•  Trying to support the clarinet by placing the right index finger under the Eb side key.
•  The left thumb parallel or perpendicular to the clarinet and not covering the tone hole.
•  Keeping the right thumb too far under the thumb rest and not pushing enough to wedge the mouthpiece firmly beneath the top teeth.
•  Holding onto the thumb rest with the thumb and right index finger.
•  Fingers not covering the tone holes, which produces squeaks.
•  Keeping the fingers too far away from the instrument.
•  The left index finger lifted and placed too high on the A key.
•  Fingers too flat and pressing against the keys.

    Although this tool is often overlooked, clarinetists should use a neck strap, which alleviates the problem of a collapsing wrist trying to balance the clarinet. The strap takes the weight of the instrument off the hands and right thumb and permits the fingers to relax. A firmer embouchure is suddenly possible, and with it, tone that is immediately better.
    If a student has the right thumb too far under the thumb rest, give him a quarter to hold vertically between the right thumb and index finger.
    Holding two tennis balls imprints the correct shape of both hands for holding the clarinet in a C formation without collapsing the wrists. It may help to remind students that this formation is similar to holding a tall hamburger. This tennis ball trick is also a good remedy for teaching how to roll the left index finger when moving to the A key. While holding the ball, keeping the left index finger in contact with the surface of the ball and gently roll the index finger back and forth without losing contact.
    To teach the concept of left thumb placement over the F hole, again have a student grasp the tennis ball, then pull it out of the student’s hand and ask him to quickly touch his left finger to his left thumb. This will be the correct placement, which should be neither parallel nor perpendicular to the clarinet body, but should point at a 30-degree angle to the clarinet. I suggest that students think of the thumb as pointing to one o’clock.
    To make sure fingers cover the tone holes, use the Daniel Bonade technique of gently squeezing down on the keys with the finger pads before raising them. The best way to practice this is by silently covering the holes without playing. Begin with the right hand starting on low F and slowly go all the way up to Bb4, then back down to low F. Students should practice this at q = 60 repeatedly with their eyes closed. The speed should not increase until the fingers can move in sequence to the click of the metronome. To have fast fingers, it is first necessary to have even fingers.
   The following exercise will help students develop an even finger technique in the chalumeau register.

    Concentrate on keeping the fingers close to the clarinet and strive for beauty of tone. Students should pay attention to pitch on the crescendos and decrescendos. When the clarinet becomes louder it will go flat; this can be corrected by firming up the corners of the lips. The clarinet will also go sharp when becoming softer. This can be corrected by loosening the corners of the lips and not pushing with the right thumb. In both cases, students should keep airflow constant. A good analogy is to think of a fan at the end of the bell that must be kept spinning.
    While students play the exercise, the teacher should put his hand over each student’s clarinet to check for air escaping from the tone holes that should be covered. Make sure that students’ fingers are arched and pointed downward rather than perpendicular to the clarinet. Another area to watch for is the skips from D4 to A4 and E4 to Bb4. If students are not rolling the left index finger, extra notes will sound. Only the tip of the left thumb should be used to touch the register key when playing Bb4.
    For variation, start the exercise on E4 and work backwards to low F. Other, more advanced options include transposing the exercise to F minor, E major, or E minor. For additional articulation practice, consider the following patterns for the first measure.

    When students can easily cover all the notes in the exercise without squeaks, and with the air column producing a full and rich tone in the chalumeau range, they will sound much better and be able to perform music that includes the above technical concepts more easily.  

The post Clarinet Hand Position appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

The Daily Maintenance Routine
    When developing this maintenance routine with trumpet students, converse openly with them about the weak areas in their playing of which they might not be aware. Once these techniques have been pointed out and explained, work with them on establishing a regular practice time in the morning.
    Although this session is the initial warm-up each day, its primary role is to take students daily through the fundamentals of trumpet playing technique. Another by-product of the daily routine is that if a student misses a core practice session, the daily maintenance routine has still been a good practice session for that day. By no means should this be a standard occurrence, but if needed from time to time it can stand by itself as a productive practice session.
    Benefits of a daily maintenance routine are increased endurance, lip flexibility, sound development, intonation, clarity of articulation, rhythm practice, and increased self-awareness as a performer. Also, the session should train students to actively listen and make improvements from day to day. By doing this, it creates a daily checkpoint as a way of measuring conditioning and progress. Students should be reminded not to practice bad habits; this session is designed for students to erase all bad habits.
    Keeping in mind that the daily maintenance routine is a warmup and not a practice session, students should only choose to play one-half to two-thirds of the materials suggested, evaluating as they go along their degree of readiness for the practice day. Young high school students unaccustomed to warming up with a thorough routine can cut the daily maintenance session to 10-15 minutes at first, adding a couple of extra exercises each week to build the endurance and flexibility needed for the core practice session.
    While the daily maintenance routine will become easier over time, it still forms an important foundation for a student’s advancement. Most students’ fundamentals are in a state of fluctuation and should be continually refreshed and polished. The best professionals are the ones who maintain a consistent daily maintenance routine, paying detailed attention even though the material is familiar.

Maintenance Techniques
    Lip flapping in the morning is a great technique to get rid of lactic acid buildup. To flap the lips, blow through them, letting all of both lips vibrate without forming an embouchure. As a student sleeps after a long day of practice and rehearsals, the embouchure muscles that have been worked hard all day will build lactic acid in them from that exercise. Before the student gently buzzes the mouthpiece as the first warmup exercise of the day, have him gently lip flap for about 30 seconds. Next, have the student buzz the mouthpiece for 20-30 seconds and then lip flap again for about 20 seconds. This trade off should take place back and forth for 8-10 minutes.
    Stretching is often overlooked as a warmup. For every athlete, stretching is a part of everyday life, and it makes little sense for it not to be routine for musicians. Before ever touching the mouthpiece or instrument for the day, students should start by stretching the upper torso and hands. Stretching the upper torso is important because it houses the lungs. Students should stand up straight with feet shoulder width apart and breathe in until they reach their fullest lung capacity. Once this is established have them hold upward their right hand and bend at the torso to the left. After they have reached their most flexible point, have them hold that position for 10 seconds. As they regress back to the previous position, have them slowly release the air through a formed embouchure. Now, have them do the same technique to the right with the left arm extended upward. Students should feel a stretch in their muscles, targeting their obliques and intercostals. This stretching technique stretches these muscles for better, more relaxed breathing. In addition to this stretch, students will learn to better control air speed and steadiness of the air stream.

Materials
    Suggested materials for the daily maintenance routine include Schlossberg’s Daily Drills, J. B. Arban’s Complete Conservatory Method for Trumpet, and Hebert L. Clarke’s Technical Studies for Trumpet. The first several pages of the Arban book are useful for basic articulation, slurring and rhythm. Pages 13-37 cover various key signatures, rhythms, and time signatures. Although many educators believe that the Clarke book is designed for finger dexterity, the book’s actual intent is to build breathing and aperture flexibility and embouchure strength. Recommended Schlossberg exercises include 2, 16, 17, 20, 59-61, 97-99, 118-119, and 120-130. The expectation is that a student will cover all of the etudes listed over a two- to three-day period, covering between one quarter and half of the etudes on any given day. In addition to these studies, mouthpiece buzzing is essential to starting off the day. A wonderful book for this would be Jack Stamp’s Warm-Ups & Studies. His preliminary warm-ups on the mouthpiece alone makes a great daily start to playing for any brass player. Last, but not least, students should play scales. Unless scales are assigned to students, they spend very little time practicing or understanding their construction. For best results, a different scale should be practiced each day along with different variations of the chromatic scale with varying articulations. For added difficulty, daily scales can be practiced in thirds and fourths.
    Students should typically rest 15-20 seconds or more between exercises in the daily maintenance routine, including plenty of lip flapping. However, strength training sessions may be done a few times each week, in which students play each etude without releasing the corners of the mouth. By releasing the corners to breathe, the muscles in the corners of the embouchure are allowed to slightly recover. This is called breaking the embouchure. Typically, this is how brass musicians play, but to gain greater endurance, keep the corners firm and breathe through the nose so as to not break the embouchure through several etudes until the corners of the embouchure begin to burn and tire. The longer a student can go without breaking the embouchure the greater strength they have in their corners. At that point the student should rest, then continue in the same vein for two more spurts. This strength-training practice should occur only a few times a week; daily strength training tends to decrease endurance because the muscles are unable to recover.

The Core Practice Session
    A core practice session is the center practice session of each day, considered to be the meat and potatoes of a student’s daily practice. It is this session that covers lesson materials, audition music, and solos. In addition, core sessions should address the student’s weaknesses, improving on them from day to day and week to week. Students should also set short- and long-term goals in their core practice sessions.
    The core practice session addresses different techniques in the daily maintenance routine. If a student’s multiple tonguing seemed rough in the daily maintenance routine, the core practice session is there for the student to practice multiple tonguing more specifically. Any basic or advanced fundamental, if weak, should be practiced during this session. Also, students should practice what needs the most attention first in their fundamentals practice. If they wait until later in the session when they may be fatigued, the work will be less effective. The students should be fresh so they can physically and mentally improve those techniques.
    The idea of setting short- and long-term goals in practice is a wonderful way for students to measure their progress. Anything from getting better at lip trills to preparing a solo for contest can be a goals. Ask students what they want to accomplish and hold them to it, checking in with them occasionally to see if they are holding themselves to that standard and goal. As a student inches closer to long-term goals by progressing through the stated short-term goals, confidence is built in the belief that whatever goals have been set can be reached.
    Many teachers neglect to give students a solid practice model, leaving it up to them to figure it out. The core practice sessions in the table below are divided into seven days with each day’s practice material being practiced in a different order. This adds variety to the practice session, keeping it from getting stale as well as keeping the embouchure from getting used to doing any set of practicing in a certain order. The table entries in bold should happen each day at the same point in the practice routine. Everything else can be rearranged as desired. The schedule does not specify how long to spend on each area; students should evaluate their playing and devote the most time to the areas that need the most work.

    Remind students that it is okay to fail in the practice room. If they always sound good on everything they practice, chances are they are not working on things they cannot do yet. They need to know that it is acceptable to make mistakes as long as they know and how to hear their mistakes and begin a path to fix them.
The materials in these practice sessions will vary from student to student, but the overall idea of what to practice should stay the same. For example, a student should never have a practice session without playing a lyrical etude or reading a solo work. Even though the etudes will vary, the sessions should always contain these themes along with all the others if possible.
    To re-warmup is to take a few minutes at the beginning of their practice session to buzz a few notes or lip flap to get the embouchure ready to play. A fully extended warmup is unnecessary because students will most likely have done the daily maintenance routine earlier in the day and played in their ensembles during school hours. If none of this has taken place then a fully efficient warmup is needed before the student starts the core practice session. Such a warmup should last anywhere from 20-25 minutes covering the ideas of lip vibrations, air flow, flexibility, sound development, articulation and intonation. After this extended warm-up, a resting session of 30-60 minutes will allow the embouchure to recover from the warm-up and be fresh to practice through all the materials in the core practice session.
    Many people have suggested the pedagogical idea of resting as much as you play. The idea of practicing in two sessions, daily maintenance and core practice, is a logical way to achieve maximum benefit from that dictum.   

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Tuning during the Warm-up
    No ensemble will play in tune without a warm-up. The best ensembles are warming up thoroughly and checking each other’s sounds and pitches constantly. The director should select a pitch that creates a dark sound and teaches balance. Half of the time, bad pitch occurs because ensemble has not been taught to play with a characteristic tone quality or listen for balance. Balance and tone quality are the root of the problem of intonation in many ensembles.
    To fix these, we usually break the band into four groups. Group one consists of tubas, bassoons, bass clarinets, and baritone saxophones; group two includes trombones, baritones, horns, and tenor saxophones; group three is trumpets, alto saxophones, and second and third clarinets; and the final group has first clarinets, oboes, flutes, and piccolo. When all students in the first group are in tune, we add the next group and continue tuning and adding more until the whole band is playing. The students, when trained, will remedy many problems by exposing pitch discrepancies in this way. It is amazing the multitude of sins this process will cure without your having to say a word. A band can also be balanced to chord structures. Tune roots, add the fifth, then the third and finally the seventh, if there is one. Chords should also be balanced according to the groups above. This goes a long way in making a band sound good.

Know Pitch Tendencies
    Pitch tendencies for every instrument should be taken into consideration. Tuning to concert Bb fails to take into consideration that the flute hand position will keep the pitch unstable and clarinet Cs and saxophone Gs are built sharp. It is better to tune to concert F. This puts the brass in the middle of their most frequently used range and is a comfortable note that all ages can tune without straining, pinching, or altering a good embouchure and steady airflow. Tuning brass instruments to the second partial (concert F) also allows for manageable compromise on the first and third partials.  Clarinets should tune to an open G to check their reed, air stream, and mouth placement. If all this is good, then the instrument will be in tune as it came from the factory, and a student who knows the tendency of each note can adjust accordingly. A clarinetist can be moving plenty of air and play with an excellent embouchure and still have bad pitch because of an old reed. Similarly, when saxophones tune to an F#, then the instrument is pitched correctly and students can be confident about which notes are sharp or flat. Saxophonists who are consistently flat were almost certainly tuned to a concert Bb.
    Look for places where woodwinds might need to use alternate fingerings and check each student and each instrument to discover if the note sounds the same with both fingerings. Be especially sure to check the oboe to see if forked and chromatic F sound the same. Make sure flute players can hear and adjust the pitch, especially in the upper register. This can be done by rolling the flute or altering the jaw.
    Tune every valve slide on every brass instrument. The trumpet notes D4 and C#4 will be sharp unless the third valve slide is extended. It is not enough to simply move the slide out. Students should discover how much of the slide to use, then practice extending the valve slide that distance until the motion is habitual. Help trumpet players to figure out if they need to adjust the first valve slide on F5 or A5. Not every trumpet requires this. Similarly, tuba players with three-valve instruments should practice when and how much to adjust valve slides for C2 and B2. Trombone players who have an F attachment should check the pitch of notes that require the trigger. Horn players should use the hand to adjust every note as needed. Students with double horns will need instruction on when to switch to the Bb side of the instrument. Attentive brass players are aware of the tessitura for each line and can adjust accordingly. If they cannot play a line slowly in tune, then they will never play it quickly in tune. Mouthpiece buzzing helps the muscles in their face to know the line; the horn is only an amplifier. It is best to avoid playing at full tempo on the first reading of a piece. This will only frustrate students and cause them to practice mistakes. Give brass players adequate time to find spot-on pitches.
    If clarinets have a G6 in unison with flutes on F6, clarinetists should adjust to the flutes. There are more than 10 fingerings for G6; clarinetists should be able to find one that matches the flutes.
Clarinets are sharp on written C4, and alto saxophones are extremely sharp and bright on written B4, which sounds a major third higher than clarinets playing the C4. This orchestration can be wildly out of tune. Check saxophone reeds; if they are too thin, the B will come out shrill and bright. Clarinetists can stick their bell in the chair to bring down the pitch. Do not ask them to change their mouth placement. If these notes are doubled in other instruments, encourage clarinets and saxophones to listen carefully.

Score Study
    Check the score for places within each part where the flaws of an instrument would cause concerns. Mark your score and listen for those places in the composition to make sure all musicians are matching pitch where you anticipate those problems might occur.
    Score study should include analysis. Knowing where the suspensions, moving tones, leading tones, accompaniment, the bass line, harmonies, countermelodies, and melodies are will make it easy to hear something lacking. Decide what chord member you want to be dominate and when. If your personnel cannot achieve the blend and balance you want, consider re-writing some parts to make the piece work for the players available and the desired sound. If the director fails to make decisions about intonation, the students will make decisions that will usually be wrong and inconsistent across the ensemble.

Experience and the Ear
    The more you stop to make sure students match, the better and quicker your ear, diagnoses, and prescriptions will be. It is important to talk about the pitch while students are playing because they must learn to correct the pitch while playing. At first, students will want to stop playing, listen to your advice, and then try again, but trying again is a poor strategy for fixing pitch because students do not experience adjusting on the fly.
    Matching pitch includes the entrance, the pitch center, and the release. Some students may scoop into a note; others might loosen the mouth upon the release. I tell the players that upon the release, the mouth must be in pretend play position. Flutes should still be pouting, reed players’ mouths should remain the same, and the brass players should still have the embouchure set at the tension level of the last note played. Students should also keep their bellies tight upon the release.
    Students may not know whom to match. If the saxophone and horn parts are the same or similar, point this out in rehearsal and make sure musicians are matching. If the third trumpets and third clarinets are supposed to match, then take the time to make sure they do. Have matching parts play together while the rest of the band listens.
    Good intonation and balance are easier to get with good chair placement. Bodies absorb sound, so I recommend spreading students out so each student has a sphere of sound. This makes it easier for directors to find intonation problems, too.

Gestures
    Many times in rehearsals and performance conductors can remedy pitch concerns. While conducting, we can show a flutist which way to roll with a finger. A gesture can be used to remind students of the desired amount of vibrato, trumpets of their third slide, or young trombone players to reach for low C. If I believe a brass player is most likely about to miss a fingering or a position, I have used fingers as a reminder. If an oboe is flat, if the conductor can use a gesture to request the player to simply raise the oboe, and the pitch will most likely go up. This strategy has the added benefit of training students to be more responsive to the conductor. Do anything and everything possible from the podium to help students succeed, with the aim of teaching students to notice and fix problems on their own without a reminder from the podium.

Tone Versus Pitch
    One common debate is whether good intonation makes a good tone or  a good tone results in good intonation. In response to this, a good friend of ours often quotes Carl Topilow, orchestra director with the Cleveland Institute of Music, who said, “Fifty percent of good intonation is good tone and fifty percent of good tone is good intonation.”  

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What are the benefits for students of participating in an adjudicated event?
Frank Tracz, Kansas State University: Some of the benefits of an adjudicated event are immediate feedback and comparison. Students need to know what others think of them. Having another set of ears and eyes that are not prejudiced by hearing the ensemble daily is a wonderful way to find out more about your ensemble.

Robert Grechesky, Butler University: Obviously the comments students get from the adjudicators are an important part of the growth of the ensemble; if the event includes a clinic session with one of the adjudicators, that is also extremely valuable for the ensemble. One aspect of contests and festivals that is often neglected is having groups stay as audience members and listen to each other. With guided listening and commentary by the conductor, I think this can be a valuable experience for band members.

Larry Blocher, Troy University: Education implies growth, and educational growth requires ongoing challenge. Adjudicated events help music students to allow their work to be evaluated publicly; learn to analyze and evaluate the comments of professionals as a basis for self evaluation and reflection; hear, evaluate, and support the performances of other students; and, develop the discipline to do their best.

Catherine Rand, University of Southern Mississippi: One of the most important benefits to participating in an adjudicated event is the opportunity to listen to other performances throughout the day. This allows students to hear concerts by ensembles that they may not have heard in their county or state. With some guidance from their director, students learn how to listen critically and evaluate others players and themselves.

Daniel McCloud, Angelo State University: In my experience, students give more effort to developing their musicianship when they will play for adjudicators. There is also the opportunity to receive feedback from someone other than the band director, thus offering a perspective that the students may not have heard before.

In your experience do ensembles play better for a competitive event than a festival for comments only?
William Malambri, Director of Bands Emeritus, Winthrop University: The levels of quality are inextricably linked to the attitude and philosophy of the ensemble director. Luciano Pavarotti, one of the most respected artists of our time wrote, “The rivalry (competition) is with our self. I try to be better than is possible. I fight against myself, not against the other.” If ensemble directors embrace Pavarotti’s tenet, there is no difference in their preparation for and performance level in a festival, a competition, or a campus concert. Ensembles that espouse this philosophy will most certainly demonstrate a high level of musical expertise regardless of nomenclature.

Christian Zembower, East Tennessee State University: The quality of the performance, no matter whether it is a festival for ratings or a competition for trophies should be the best each performer and ensemble can give. However, I have noticed that students will tend to not take the festival for comments only quite as seriously as a competition. As for the comparison of a performance for comments only versus a rating system, students usually do not perform as well with comments only. Most of these students feel that if they are not getting some sort of material item in return, even if only a form showing a superior rating, then the effort will be lower. Society has changed, and everyone seems to want something in return for their time.
 
Gary Westbrook, Tarleton State University: Good bands are good bands. The venue just provides the lens through which I view the band. Some venues are more pressure packed or relaxed. In my experience, performers want to provide their best performance no matter the venue. Good preparation leads to good performance, even if they venue is the gym, and the audience is the physical education class on the other side of the curtain.

Tracz: There is more of a relaxed atmosphere in the festival format that brings out the best in students. The competition has the ever-present cloud of failure hanging over their heads.

Directors often tell their students that they are being judged from the moment they arrive at the performance location to the time they leave. Do you agree?
Lawrence Stoffel, California State University, Northridge: The learning objectives in an ensemble class extend beyond just musical outcomes. In addition to the primary musical objectives, students learn and develop many non-musical skills, including a work ethic, managerial skills, and professional behavior. So the students’ conduct and demeanor at a festival site will reflect some of these non-musical learning objectives that we have for our students.

Rand: I often told my students the same thing when I taught high school. I believe in focusing the students’ attention towards their performance and creating a climate within the program that was positive and respectful no matter where they were. As a judge, when you have a break in between ensembles you often see students at the concession stand and in the hallways. It is important that those students represent the school in the best light possible, but student behavior does not play a role in judging.

Joseph Hebert, Loyola University: I completely agree. Attitude and respect for the music and the event is evident from the moment they enter the stage.

McCloud: We are all human, and it is difficult to separate orderliness, uniformity, and appearance before and after the performance from the overall perception of quality. An assumption can be made that if a director takes the time to specify non-musical details, then he has already addressed style, pitch, and articulation. That assumption is usually correct.

Tracz: I look for the discipline, esprit de corps, and confidence as they enter the stage area. The way the students are organized, their demeanor, and their professionalism typically gives me a direct line in to their musical souls. I can usually predict what quality I will hear from their entrance presentation.

Zembower: I do observe how the student performers carry themselves when they begin to be seated and get adjusted. Is their demeanor respectful, serious, and mature? Can you tell if they are already concentrating on the upcoming performance and music to be played? Directors need to instruct their students about this area. I can easily identify the ensembles whose teacher has instructed them about this area with the judges, because they come in quietly, respectfully, and professionally.

Blocher: While I have never consciously allowed non-performance student behavior to influence my formal evaluation of student performance, I do think all of us are judged from start to finish. That may be a life lesson.

Should directors allow students to listen to recording made by judges?
Tracz: I do feel strongly that the students should listen to the recordings in class with their music out and mark things in their parts. It is a wonderful learning tool.

Malambri: I encourage directors to play recordings for students and be prepared to stop and explain the comments as they are heard. Students should be viewing their music as they listen to the comments. My commentary typically employs musical terminology that may need some explanation by the director, but is done so with the intent to enhance succinctness and emphasize the necessity to learn and use musical vocabulary.

Grechesky: I usually try to make comments that would be helpful not only to the conductor, but also to the group. If I need to address a specific concern for the conductor only, I would probably write a private note.

Rand: There are benefits to allowing students to listen directly to the recordings from the judges. Most often the students have heard the same comments from their director as those on the judges tape, but hearing it from someone else can make a difference. Sometimes the recorded comments are beneficial to both students and directors, by giving suggestions on how to solve musical problems that the ensemble is having or giving comments that can help develop a more musical performance.

What is the one comment you find yourself making almost every time you adjudicate a concert ensemble or a jazz ensemble?
Tracz: Students should put more air through their instruments.

Malambri: Balance. Without proper balance, the potential for myriad negative conditions exist. Good pitch relationships cannot be achieved if the players can’t hear how their part fits with the others. Use the B section of an ABA work as a portion of your warmup procedures and insist on proper balance and blend at the beginning of each rehearsal.

Grechesky: Articulations are not matched between sections. I frequently comment on horn right hand placement as well.

Zembower: There are two comments I find I make at every festival or competition: Every musician and ensemble should produce a dark, warm, round sound. Students should shape the musical phrase and show musical direction in the melodic line.

Westbrook: With concert ensembles I comment about releases. Most directors are extremely diligent about correcting attacks but less precise with note endings. The shaping of note endings should set up the next attack. For jazz ensembles, the most frequent comment is on style. So many groups do not seem to understand the style of the piece they are performing.
 
Stoffel: I hope that the comments that I have shared are useful not only to improving the performance level of the compositions that you have performed today, but the concepts and ideas that I have shared with you are also useful with other music that you will perform throughout the entire school year and in all of your musical endeavors – in concert band, orchestra, choir, chamber music, solos, etc. Try to find ways to apply these ideas and concepts in all of your music-making.

McCloud: Ensembles need more dynamic contrast.

Blocher: Jazz ensembles, like all ensembles, must work to sound good, play in tune, play together, play right notes, and play musically. Additionally, jazz ensembles must focus on style, the rhythm section, and improvisation. Students may not have much experience in these three areas. I encourage students to listen to professional recordings to get the appropriate jazz sounds in their heads. I remind them that guided listening is important in jazz. The judge’s comments can help the ensemble and individual students go beyond the notes written on the page. Directors should take the time to listen to each judge’s audio comments and decide if it would be appropriate for the ensemble to listen, too, or if they would need to summarize a few of the recorded comments.

Stoffel: The comments are for the students to hear. When giving audio comments I speak directly to the students. A significant benefit from participating in an adjudicated event is forfeited if the students do not listen to the comments. That being said, the director still has the obligation to listen to the audio comments before playing the recordings for students.

We have all judged groups where some instrumentation has been altered. How does this change your adjudication?
Rand: Instrumentation does not normally weigh in on the adjudication processes. Many ensembles may lack sufficient oboes, horns, or bassoons. However, when there are students within a particular section and a solo written for that instrument is given to a different instrument, it becomes questionable. There is a difference in playing a piece with full instrumentation and choosing to rewrite parts compared to those ensembles that do not have the necessary instruments. Directors of ensembles that do not have correct instrumentation need to be careful in choosing appropriate repertoire for their ensembles.
 
Grechesky: It doesn’t bother me much. I would rather have a part covered by another instrument than not have the part at all.

Hebert: I congratulate the director who gives students a chance to perform the literature regardless of the less than ideal instrumentation. Music should be first, not the idea of perfect instrumentation. Substitute instruments so that the selection can be played, and include a note to the judges.

Zembower: If a director’s ensemble doesn’t have the exact instrumentation of a piece they are performing at the festival, it doesn’t bother me. I judged an event several years ago where a band did not have an instrument that had a solo, and no other instrument played that solo. Unless this student was unexpectedly sick that day, and the director didn’t have time before the performance to transcribe the solo for another instrument, there is no excuse for this. On the other hand, I heard a band perform Daugherty’s Alligator Alley several years ago, and, because the band lacked a bassoon to play a solo part, it was rewritten for bass clarinet It worked, and they played it well. In this instance, I weighed my rating a little higher because of the director’s decision to choose and teach a certain piece to have their students be able to perform it.

Stoffel: This is a minor issue and one that ought to be negligible at most festival events. Our focus should be on the quality and the expressiveness of the performance.

Blocher: I do not have a problem with a director rewriting parts or even a section to make it fit a particular ensemble as long as the performance is not compromised. For example, intentionally choosing to program a musical selection with an extended oboe solo without having an oboe in the ensemble would be inappropriate. Music selection matters. The good news is that while directors are building up a more balanced instrumentation, there is lots of great music that may be more appropriate for now.

What advice do you give directors to prepare their groups for the sightreading part of a competition or festival?
Hebert: Sightread often. An ensemble that sightreads well can prepare a concert faster. The three biggest pitfalls are road maps, (including knowing where the repeats are, D.S. and D.C. with Coda), difficult rhythms, and looking ahead of the note being played.

Malambri: I recommend establishing a hierarchical order of sightreading procedures and rehearsing the protocols on a regular basis. The use of musical terms is an easy way to expedite rehearsals. Mentioning the term ostinato should resonate in a music class as clearly and concisely as the use of alliteration in a language class. Employment of musical terms allows clear, concise instructions to any ensemble without fear of misinterpretation, and should be planned for inclusion in each and every rehearsal commentary.

Westbrook: The number one rule of the sightreading room is to use all the time you are provided. If the piece is new, you can always find something to emphasize to improve the performance. More often than not, inexperienced directors jump right into the performance with time left on the clock.
   Second, have a method. No matter what it is, those who succeed at sightreading have a method they practice every time they read a new piece of music.
Hush and allow the band to experience the piece prior to the performance. Allow them time to finger through a practice performance. Some places allow them to sizzle or sing, and others do not. Either way, provide time for the students to practice performing the piece.
   Establish visual cues between you and your band. For example, at rehearsal markings (letter A, or box 49) I will give a downbeat with both hands to make sure we are there together. Many events will not allow the director to speak during the performance, but this allows the director and band to have checkpoints throughout the piece.
   Finally, teach music from the sightreading level on. In most places the sightreading selection is a lower grade than your prepared selections. Teach your band to play in the style of the work at sight and to use correct phrasing, shaping of notes, balance, and blend. One of the common pitfalls is to see easy music and play it as students did when they performed on that level instead of at their current higher level.

Blocher: The best sightreading experiences are with directors who were organized, prepared, and professional. Their students were attentive and knew what to do and when to do it. The director read through the score with a plan in mind, and then the director and students worked together systematically as though they had practiced and prepared for the sightreading experience.

Closing Thoughts
Malambri: Construct a blueprint for each work to be rehearsed. This outline should be based upon areas needing work that were identified in the previous rehearsal of any given composition. The blueprint should be written (don’t trust your memory), address specific concerns, and show the approximate amount of time to be allocated to each specified area. Again, be succinct in your rehearsal commentary and have several different remedies prepared that address the problems.

Hebert: In a performance we can always find fault. However, good comments to correct faults can help an ensemble and can encourage music education. Students do not respond to constant negative comments.

Zembower: Bruno Walter once said, “Bad conductors will accept the sound the ensemble gives them, but great conductors will give their sound to the ensemble.” I strongly agree with this statement because in my experience from hearing bands in rehearsals and adjudicating bands in festivals, an ensemble is a direct musical reflection of its conductor.

Blocher: Good music adjudicators are not out to flex chops or punish students or directors. Good music adjudicators do not have the answer. Good music adjudicators offer honest, constructive comments with specific suggestions for improvement based upon what they hear and see during that performance.  Good music adjudication – like good music teaching – is really hard work.

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