Practicing can be a source of great frustration, particularly for developing musicians. To help young players reach their highest performance potential, it is important to establish high-quality, consistent practice habits early on in their playing careers. To help develop these habits, it is critical that directors offer young musicians focused guidance throughout the practice process.

Demonstrating Effective Practice
    Students sometimes have difficulty figuring out exactly how to spend their time during practice sessions.  Students  may assume they have practiced simply by virtue of having their instrument in-hand for fifteen minutes. To demonstrate what effective practice looks and sounds like, it can be helpful to record a video of a 20-30 minute practice session, so that students have a reference point for improving the quality of their practicing.
    You can record the video and talk through the decisions you make. This will help students to understand the rationale behind certain warm-ups or for deciding when to repeat or break down a difficult passage. In the video, discuss what musical elements you might focus in on if you had more time. To make the experience even more relatable to younger musicians, consider having a local high school student help develop the video. You might also want to create several different videos to address the needs of each instrument.
   By posting these videos on your class website, students will have easy access to this useful reference tool. At the beginning of the year, you might require students to answer a set of questions about the practice video, to ensure that students are making strong use of the resource. For example, you can ask students to respond to the question, “Why did the musician choose to focus on the Ab concert scale during the warm-up?” Encouraging students to consider the rationale behind various decisions made during the practice process can help them make more informed choices when crafting their own practice experience.

Developing Practice Strategies
   Directors may sometimes assume the error correction techniques we use in class are automatically remembered by students when they are practicing alone. However, in conversations with some of my younger players, I discovered many students were at a loss when it came to determining exactly how they might improve a certain exercise or excerpt. Directors may consider introducing a different practice strategy each week, and deliberately emphasize that strategy in full ensemble rehearsal or small group lessons in order for your students to incorporate a similar approach at home.
    For example, you may break down a sixteenth note run by having students play the first note of each group of four sixteenth notes, then adding the second and so on until you are able to play through the entire run. Or, perhaps you rehearse through a particularly tricky section under tempo to emphasize overall accuracy. While these are common strategies employed by ensemble directors, we often implement such correction techniques without explaining why that strategy might be helpful for the group or how it translates to at-home practice. Embrace these opportunities to give your students the tools to apply similar strategies during their at-home practice. To emphasize the notion of practice strategies throughout the year, consider including periodic exit slips that survey students on which practice strategies were used in rehearsal that day.

Determining Progress
    One of the most difficult challenges for young musicians is recognizing when something is fixed – be it partially, temporarily, or permanently. It is important to encourage students to self-assess by asking themselves questions such as, “Did the strategies I employed improve upon or correct the problem?” or, “Can I consistently replicate an accurate performance of this piece?” Asking these questions (and considering the honest answers) can help young musicians gain a more realistic perspective on their progress. When creating an example video of an effective practice session, it is useful to point out whether something has improved and what indicators demonstrate that improvement.
    Create a system through which they can label pieces or excerpts that need further attention. For example, using numbers 1, 2, and 3, students can label various excerpts according to how accurately and consistently they can perform them. Labeling a piece with a number 1 might signify that, even with some practice, the student is still struggling with a fair portion of the material. A number 2 could indicate that progress is being made, but perhaps the student is still performing the excerpt under tempo or without musicality. A number 3 might signify that the student feels confident about performing the excerpt accurately, consistently, and musically every time.
    Making these indications helps students make discernments about their progress on a given piece. Additional-ly, these categories can establish priorities for the next practice session.  To check in with your students regarding the accuracy of their self-ratings, you might ask them to perform one of their 3s for you during a performance assessment, enabling you to give feedback about why you agree (or disagree) with that self-rating.

Backwards Design
    Many times, students learn best using a backwards design approach. For example, you might begin by having students identify two or three components of an etude or repertoire that need work. Using the 1-2-3 labeling approach mentioned previously can be a great starting point for this. Working backwards, the students might then zero in on what specifically causes the challenge in the section of music they identified, so they can ask the question, “Why is this particular section tricky for me?”
    Next, students can pick one or two strategies for addressing those challenges (including those you might implement in full ensemble rehearsals), such as manipulating the articulations prior to performing those prescribed. Students can also tailor their warm-up to address the end goals they have established. For example, if a student wants to focus on adding shape to a musical phrase, the warm-up might include focused breathing exercises or extended long tones emphasizing dynamic change. Approaching practice sessions with a clear end goal in mind helps students use their time more efficiently and effectively.

Take Inventory
    Many directors encourage students to submit logs of the time and dates they practice, signed by a parent or guardian. While the amount of practice time is certainly important, the content of that practice time (and the quality of the effort) is critical. One alternative is to offer the option of completing a practice journal. To complete a practice journal, students must reflect upon a particular practice session that was at least thirty consecutive minutes in length. These journals allow for deeper reflection about the practice process, and they can help directors give students more specific feedback about how they might improve their performance. Some items my students respond to include:

•  What exercises, rhythms, and scales did you incorporate in your warmup today? Why did you choose those particular exercises, rhythms, and scales?
•  Which etudes do you feel you performed well today and why? Which needed work and why? What strategies do you plan to use to help with areas that need improvement?
•  List three specific performance goals that you would like to achieve over the next week of practice.

    Each grading quarter, I require my students to submit both practice logs (minutes-based) and journals (written reflections). Which one they decide to submit is up to them, but they need to submit at least three of each throughout the grading period. Knowing this ahead of time, students are able to learn the skill of budgeting their time. For example, if students know they have a busy week ahead, and that making the minimum amount of required practice minutes may not be realistic for them that week, they can plan to spend a longer, more focused practice session that enables them to reflect via written journal.  Structuring the practice assignments in this way gives students more ownership over the process and can, in turn, increase their investment in practicing.
    Written journals also can provide directors with valuable information, including which practice strategies students prefer, which aspects of the repertoire students find most enjoyable, and what musical objectives students identify for themselves based upon focused self-reflection. This information can in turn help directors make more efficient use of rehearsal time, develop new considerations regarding repertoire selection, and establish more appropriate long-term goals for the ensemble.
    By demystifying the art of practice, directors can help young musicians develop habits that will greatly benefit their musical progress over time. Providing examples of effective practice, highlighting various types of practice strategies, and encouraging students to reflect upon their practice are just a few ways directors can improve practice habits.   

Photos courtesy of Interlochen Center for the Arts

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    It has been nearly fifty years since Eugene Rousseau opened his saxophone studio at the Indiana University School of Music in 1964. The renowned wind faculty, which included Rousseau, William Bell, Keith Brown, Philip Farkas, Leonard Sharrow, and was led by Wilfred Bain, built a legacy of education that has flourished to this day. Rousseau joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota School of Music in fall 2000 and continues to instruct doctoral, masters, and undergraduate saxophonists, as well as ensembles including the award-winning University of Minnesota Saxophone Quartet.
   Matt Muraski is the director of bands in the Cashton School District, located in west-central Wisconsin, about 45 minutes east of La Crosse. With approximately 300 students enrolled at the high school level, 40% of whom are categorized as economically disadvantaged, Muraski teaches 32 in the high school band, along with 57 in the middle school band. He also coaches some smaller groups, including a saxophone quintet.
    Rousseau and Muraski have a great deal in common. Muraski plays saxophone and studied at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with David Milne, a student of Rousseau’s. “I was always excited when he told stories of Rousseau’s philosophies of the saxophone and playing. I have many techniques, fingerings, and interpretations handed down that I’ve passed on to my students.
“We sometimes forget that college and professional players have to get their start somewhere,” said Matt. “When I started at Cashton, the band program was rough around the edges. Students weren’t invested and most of them just played on whatever instrument they could find. Over the past couple of years I’ve cultivated some good players and wanted to provide them a step in the direction of a more characteristic sound.”
Rousseau: “Developing a good saxophone section, whether in concert band or big band, requires a good tone, which is the most vital part of playing the saxophone. The tone is created by the air column, which is controlled and refined by the amount of air used and the formation of the embouchure during this use. The fact that wind instruments use air is obvious, but we sometimes forget that the air column of each instrument differs in size and shape, as well as in quantity. For saxophones, the amount of air differs throughout its range; and from one size of saxophone to another.
    Players can improve their tone by inhaling quickly and deeply through the corners of their mouths. This will keep the basic embouchure position intact so that the player can resume a good tone immediately after inhaling.
    There are five elements of a proper saxophone embouchure. The lower lip is curved over teeth, drawn toward center for cushion. The teeth must rest on top of the mouthpiece. The chin should be normal, not pointed. The corners of the mouth should be brought in, toward the center so that the embouchure feels round. The shape should feel solid, but not tense.
    A simple test to determine the correct balance between air and embouchure is to play a note using only the mouthpiece. The goal is to achieve the following untransposed pitches:

    Take a quick, deep breath and sustain these notes at fortissimo. Keep the embouchure round. If the pitch is too high, think of a larger circle. If it is too low, think of a smaller circle. The air flow is controlled by the position of the tongue, so you may have to experiment by thinking of a different syllable from ee to ah.
Muraski: In my saxophone section, I have six alto players currently who all play Class A level solo/ensemble music, four of whom went to state last year. Most students play on second-hand instruments found in Cashton, rent from a store, or borrow from the school if they can’t afford either. In most cases, having students purchase a new or upgraded instrument is extremely difficult, especially in the earlier grades.
Rousseau: In these types of situations, it is important to understand that not all saxophone makes and models respond the same way. At times, we might blame the player when, in reality, this complex instrument can fail mechanically in many small ways that affect performance. As well, some instruments may have flawed or obsolete designs which make blending more difficult. However, having a section that performs on similar makes and models of mouthpieces can have a great effect on the overall sound.
Of course, young players can have all sorts of difficulties as well, regardless of the equipment. If private lessons are unavailable, occasional clinics by a qualified saxophone instructor will help to at least avoid bad habits from spreading throughout the section.
Muraski: When I began student teaching I started thinking for the first time about the real scenarios that band directors face. I understand the importance of having high-quality equipment, but neither the school nor the students were able to afford making these investments. As a saxophonist, I thought that it would be best to play on something that students might have a snowball’s chance of being able to afford. Also, regardless of price, the equipment must perform well. Rousseau’s recommendations accomplished both.
Rousseau: The areas of the mouthpiece critical to influencing tone quality are the opening and length of the facing, balanced side rails, a chamber of appropriate size, and a well-designed baffle. There should be a good balance in these design features so that the tone quality is desirable but allows the player to have flexibility and control in all registers, and at all dynamic levels. My main concern has always been to find what I believe to be the best balance among tone quality, response, projection, and dynamic control.
Muraski: Over the past two years, two of my students bought upgraded mouthpieces. After this, I used some of my leftover repair budget (from doing most repairs myself) to purchase three more. Having all players on the same mouthpiece design really helped to bring the section together. Before, tuning and intonation were just so-so. The scale of the instruments – and of the section – is now more in tune. The second greatest improvement was in the section’s cohesiveness of sound. The models we use, along with a combination of specific instruction and practice, provide for a characteristic and much improved saxophone sound.
Rousseau: In testing a mouthpiece, I recommend four factors to consider. First, use several reeds of slightly different strengths; your favorite reed may be fine for your current mouthpiece but not for a different one. Be certain that the reed is placed correctly on the mouthpiece, that its tip is even with the tip of the mouthpiece, and that it is centered from side to side. Be certain that the reed is sealing. To test this, keep the end of the mouthpiece covered with one hand, draw the air out of the mouthpiece (keeping the end covered), then take the mouthpiece from your mouth. A popping sound ensures that the reed is sealing. Finally, before playing anything, use a tuning note so that the mouthpiece can be at the correct position on the bocal (neck). If not, distortion can occur.
   If it is impossible to upgrade an instrument, upgrading the mouthpiece will still enhance performance. Upgrading an entire section’s mouthpieces can also provide excellent results, especially if the mouthpieces are of similar make and design. 

Tuning the Saxophone Section

By Eugene Rousseau

    Many student musicians take the time to tune to one note, which is fine for a start, but it is necessary to relate to different notes when working with a saxophone section. In tuning each saxophone individually and the saxophone section as a whole, it is best to start with two notes:

    When tuning the saxophone section I recommend that all play B4, because this allows us to hear each instrument on a note that is in the same position acoustically. B may seem a trifle flat, but this is fine for the moment. However, if B is sharp the mouthpiece should be pulled out slightly. Then, play F# to confirm the mouthpiece position.
    In tuning the saxophone section, after the alto has tuned, the tenor should also play B. This will produce an interval of a perfect fourth, an interval for which it is easy to hear if it is out of tune. After the tenor has tuned with the alto using this perfect fourth, the baritone should now play B with the tenor. This will produce a perfect fifth, another interval for which it is easy to determine tuning.
    Then, when tuning the section further, note the five examples below. These chords are in concert keys, followed by the steps for tuning. In tuning chords it is important to begin with unisons and octaves, then fourths and fifths, as these comprise the foundation for good intonation, and they are the easiest to hear. Only five examples are provided here, but teachers could create many more.

For more information about Eugene Rousseau and a wide range of advice and discussions concerning saxophone performance and mouthpieces, visit .

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Early Teaching Lessons
    One of my strongest memories from these early years is the necessity of trying anything that might help students. (My colleague Wayne Becker and I) often experimented with new approaches and materials and even made a big chart that compared the characteristics of different method books. The chart noted when clarinets played over the break or when each book introduced eighth notes. When another publisher released a new method that might be better, we tried it with one of the elementary bands as a trial run and sometimes used it at all schools in the district…. We also spent time helping each other learn the fine points of different instruments. Wayne was stronger with brass instruments and I played clarinet, saxophone, and flute professionally, so we worked on our weaker instruments. During our first year together he worked on flute after school and I practiced tuba. The next year he moved on to clarinet while I learned the trombone. Some of my dedication to hard work resulted from early hurdles when I was a young player. I clearly recall that as a 4th grader I felt really discouraged after playing a solo, and I vowed never to play that badly again. That realization and commitment to music changed my life.
    I learned from experience that students blossom at different speeds, and there is no benefit to rushing through a lesson book. It is more important to learn basic concepts and move forward slowly than to cover a large amount of material quickly.

Concert Programming
    A good program is everything ­– music should be challenging, meaningful, and entertaining to both audience and players. Sometimes we’d read a piece in rehearsal and afterward I would ask, “Why would anyone want to come hear us play this? We just aren’t doing this as well as we could.” They would agree, and then I would ask whether we could play it. If they said they could, I knew I was home free, but if they hemmed and hawed I knew it was unlikely to be a good experience. We played a lot of great literature, but sometimes there were some works that were too difficult for my players. Be discriminating and understand what you can do in the amount of time you have.
    The beauty of music lies in contrast, loud or soft, fast or slow, high or low, staccato or legato, duple or triple meter. The program should bring the audience up and down and entertain them. People like melodies. I programmed George Washington Bridge once but knew I would not get away a similar piece of the same concert. I want people to walk out singing the music, not white knuckled or complaining about what an ordeal it was. Sousa didn’t teach people – he entertained them. That’s why they kept coming. (Aug. 2007)

Coming out of Retirement
   When I retired from teaching at Marquette University in 2007, I thought it would be great fun to travel with my wife, play gigs, write music, read some books, and play with old cars. This plan worked for a year, but something was missing, and it was something I really loved: teaching band students. I did not want a full time position, but hoped to use my skills in helping young children to enjoy music and be part of a band.
    After much futile thinking I finally realized that the Catholic middle school in my parish did not have a band program. When a new principal was hired in 2009, I introduced myself and asked if she would like to have a band program. She was enthusiastic about the idea so we chatted further about it. She asked for a plan by late June with the thought of starting in the fall. The school enrollment was just 125 students, and half of these were third graders or younger. There also was no money for a band program, but we decided to go ahead. I asked a friend, John Szcygiel, who was also a just-retired band director if he would care to join me in this endeavor, and he quickly signed on. He had taught at every level and felt the plan was solid. We decided that he would be the director and I his assistant. My wife would organize the project, and the team was anxious to start.
    Each year has been a great improvement, and by the end of the fourth year the band travelled two hours to perform at the National Circus Museum in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Both John and I have enjoyed every year and are truly grateful for the continued outpouring of instrument donations. We hope to end the current year with 60 students participating. Between the two directors we have 80 years of teaching experience, and we learned long ago to disdain all gimmicks and tricks. We simply use the old fashioned techniques that helped us to build band programs and can report that these work just fine. Louis Armstrong once said, “The horn doesn’t lie.” This has been a great experience for me and an opportunity to give something back for all I have received in life, and I cannot imagine a better way to enjoy my retirement. (November 2011)

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Preparation
    Preparation is probably the most important part of the negotiation process, but it is often neglected because of a crushing time schedule or because it seems like drudgework. However, if you want something badly enough, you should make time for it. As for it feeling like drudgework, the preparation phase can actually be exciting when you see how it increases confidence and your odds of success.
    When preparing, you must first identify your interests. Try to identify what it is that you want to accomplish. Don’t think of your options as rigid objectives; consider them more as concrete illustrations of the kind of outcomes that would satisfy your interests. It is also important during the preparation phase to develop what Fisher and Ury in their book Getting to Yes call a BATNA (that is, a “Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement”). This should be the standard against which any proposed agreement is measured. It protects you from accepting terms that are too unfavorable and from rejecting terms that would be in your interest to accept. It is also more flexible than taking a bottom-line approach and permits the exploration of imaginative solutions. To generate a BATNA, devise a list of actions you might take if no agreement is reached, improve on some of the more promising ideas, convert them into alternatives, and then list them in order of preference.
    Three years ago, I wanted to add an assistant band director because the band’s numbers had grown to the point where one was justified (and I was about to go crazy doing it all by myself). My preference was for a full-time teacher, but my position was to ask for a part-time assistant. A second alternative was to see if the district would give me more funds to hire lesson teachers who could come in throughout the day.
    I researched the staffing of similar bands across the state and found that they usually had one or two directors. I shared this information with the superintendent and opted to ask for a part-time assistant. This position seemed fair and also took into acount staffing decisions that he had to make for other departments.
   It is a good idea to try to learn as much as you can about the other side of the negotation. The most common mistake in the preparation phase is not learning enough about the people with whom you will negotiate. Try to find out when the best time to talk to them is, what makes them tick, and how they think. A few years ago I worked with a principal who was useless to talk to when he was in a mood that could best be described as ornery. Once or twice I made the mistake of butting heads with him when he was in this disagreeable state and accomplished nothing. I found it was much more effective to cut off any negotiations with him as quickly as I could whenever he showed even mild signs of orneriness, and then I would try to catch him on a better day.
    Learning about the other person’s ideas is just as important as knowing their temperament. Several years ago, when block scheduling was all the rage, I may have been the only teacher who read any of the books that our principal recommended on scheduling. This enabled me to see where he was coming from philosophically, and it had the added bonus of getting me on his good side when it came time to place band on the master schedule.
    One of the best ways of preparing to negotiate is to nurture a great working relationship with everyone you encounter on a daily basis. Strong relationships are like a bank account you can draw on in times of trouble. Genuine interest about topics such as personal background, family, and hobbies can pay big dividends. Principals and superintendents are probably relieved when they can talk to an employee who is not griping or asking for something. As for parents and students, they are more likely to respond to your ideas when you have a strong reputation for doing what is best for the students. Keep in mind that maintaining ongoing relationships may be more important than solving any particular issue or problem.
    The next step is to consider the interests of the other side. You usually cannot come to an agreement without satisfying at least some of both sides’ interests. It is important to avoid what Fisher and Ury call positional bargaining. That is when one side takes a position and sticks to it at all costs. Success is much more likely when you focus on reconciling interests, rather than taking positions. Reconciling interests works because for every interest there usually are several possible outcomes that satisfy it. In addition, behind opposing positions, there usually lie many more common interests than conflicting ones. It is helpful to consider and list, as best you can, the other side’s BATNA, so that you can anticipate what resolutions the other side might find acceptable.
    Determine what is the best environment for the negotiation. Several years ago, I was determined to get a better budget because the instruments were aging terribly. I asked to have the meeting with my principal and superintendent in the band room. I set up the meeting table in the middle of the room and surrounded it with all the decrepit instruments we were using. What I had been saying for a long time became concrete once they could see the problem with their own eyes.
    It is helpful to set a written agenda for the meeting. This makes it more difficult for the other side to avoids addressing a touchy subject. It helps keep the meeting on track and avoid the problem of forgetting something under pressure. It also allows you to set the order of topics. Try to put matters you are most likely to agree on first to get off to a good start. You can present an agenda for a negotiation even if you are not the higher authority in the meeting.
    Finally, consider the best time for a negotiation. I made the mistake one year of bringing up a serious matter with my principal in an empty hallway on a Friday after school. It was a terrible way to end the week for both of us, and the matter could have waited. Fortunately, we both learned from this, and it became a running joke between us. I vowed never to bring up anything serious on a Friday again.

Keeping Emotional Distance
    The most natural response when confronted with a difficult situation is to react emotionally, often without thinking. There are three common natural reactions: striking back, giving in, or breaking off. These are not ideal ways to react. You may win a battle by striking back, but you probably will lose the war. When facing a difficult negotiation, it is often best to step back, collect your wits, and look at the situation objectively. Sometimes this step is referred to as pressing the pause button. The pause may either be for a short period of time, such as excusing yourself to the restroom, or for a longer time, as with giving yourself a night to sleep on it. Depending on the length of the pause, you may also have the opportunity to acquire additional pieces of information, contemplate what you have heard, determine what you might have said more clearly, or consider a final solution before accepting it. However, when you take a pause, be sure to set the next meeting time; some opponents may use the delay to avoid you.
    Considering that the position of band director is somewhat dictatorial in nature (“what I say goes!”), it may seem like a poor idea to negotiate with students, but really directors do it all the time. In a small band program good instrumentation is a constant concern, and instrument switches are often necessary. Asking students to play a new instrument may call for some slick negotiating. I have sometimes come to an agreement with students that if they agree to play an instrument for a semester I would never ask them to switch again for any reason. (Fortunately, they often like the switch and want to stay on the new instrument.) Demanding a decision from students on the spot can seem like coercion, so often I press the pause button for them. I tell them, “Think about what we talked about and whatever you tell me tomorrow, I expect you to stick with.” Some students still renege on their decision over time, but it is less likely. The more involved students are in the decision, the more likely they are to follow it.

Good Listening Skills
   Listening is key to any good negotiation. Almost everyone considers being a good listener a fine personal quality, but few really work at it. I find it particularly hard to listen to students when I have a practiced speech all ready to go and feel they need my guidance. Even after all these years, I have to remind myself not to do all the talking.
    There are three fundamental tips that can make anyone a better listener. First, assume the most attentive position that you can: uncross your arms and legs, sit up straight, face the speaker, and make as much eye contact as you can. Second, restate word-for-word a short statement that the other person has just said to you, or rephrase in your own words a longer idea. This acknowledges the other person’s thoughts and feelings. Good listening falls by the wayside when you are defensive or thinking about what you want to say next. Try to stay relaxed and focused.
    The best tool of a good listener is a good question. Try to plan some in advance and ask simple, to-the-point questions that are more likely to elicit clear responses. It may also help to rephrase as questions the statements of the person you are talking to with responses like, “So what you are saying is …?”

Clarity of Communication
    Clear communication is the other side of good listening. If you are clear, the listener understands your intended message. This may sound simple, but often it is not. I have talked to others about meetings we have been in, and sometimes there was so much disagreement about what was said that I wondered if we were in the same meeting. Always check to see if you are understood, and don’t ever assume that everyone understands you.
    A good outline of the key points you want to make can be useful. An example of a clear, concise outline you could use might go like this:

My point is: You must store your tuba correctly.
The reason is: The outer edges of the bell will bend if you keep placing it on end.
My example is: Look at your tuba now. See how the bell is bent back a little already?
So, my point is: Place the instrument on its side, back in the case, or on the wall mounts when not in use.

    After presenting your ideas, be willing to accept any objections or questions before you move on to close the deal.
    Another key to clear communication is to avoid raising your voice, even when the other person does. If you are negotiating with screamers, do not sink to their level. Sidestep any attacks and get back to the problem at hand, so you do not get caught up in a personality clash. If someone is yelling, responding with such phrases as, “I hear from your voice that you are upset” and “let me be sure that I understand you,” can have a calming effect. Years ago I had a superintendent known for his bullying tactics who began yelling at me, but I remained calm and simply asked, “Why are you yelling at me?” He immediately settled down, and was maybe a little embarrassed.

Knowing How to Close the Deal
    A deal closes when both sides agree on enough terms that they can move forward with the performance of the deal. During every aspect of the negotiation, a little piece of your mind should be focused on reaching a mutually acceptable solution. Practice how you want to close the negotiation before the meeting so your final push is more effective. Find a way to make the final result seem like the work of both parties, not just something you have come up with yourself. Change the you and me to a we. Work toward mutual satisfaction for both sides, not just victory for yourself.
    At the end of a negotiation, review the process and say something like, “let’s make sure we have the same understanding of what we have agreed on,” and then restate the agreement that has been reached. Do everything you can to ensure that the agreement is carried out in a timely manner, particularly by fulfilling your end of any agreement. In many situations a written version of the solution may be helpful.
    Any method of negotiation may be fairly judged by two criteria. First, it should result in an agreement that meets the interests of each side and resolves conflicting interests fairly and durably. Second, it should improve or at least not damage the relationship between the two sides. If you use the ideas discussed above in your negotiations, you should be able to fulfill both criteria.            

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    As we finalize the contest preparation process in March, it is important to look at the performance from a perspective that identifies the critical areas where work is needed. A critical analysis of the performance usually will focus on two main areas, both of which always appear near the top of adjudication sheets: tone and technique. As the date of our contest or festival approaches, it can be easy to become end-focused, thinking about results instead of the process and rehearsal efforts that yield good results. Careful work on tone and technique should be the key areas of a director’s focus in the final rehearsals leading up to a contest.

Tone
    Playing with the best sound in every phrase of  the concert repertoire is critical to the ensemble’s success. Tone often operates as a sort of musical handshake with adjudicators and audiences. The way the group sounds on the first few notes may ultimately determine the nature of the dialogue between the ensemble and the judges.
Individual tone quality should be addressed before any meaningful work on ensemble tone quality can occur. In the January article “Begin with the End in Mind,” we discussed the process of working on long-tone exercises like Bb Remington and F Descending, as well as flow studies, Clark Studies, and chorales.
    In addressing the tone quality of the full ensemble, each phrase of the work should be considered individually. Once all of the individual players can perform their assigned parts on a given phrase with a proper tone, correct notes, and clear rhythm, then we can begin the process of balancing the phrase. In the vast majority of band literature, multiple-line phrases can be divided into two main categories for purposes of analyzing balance: two-part and three-part writing. Examples of two-part writing include a basic melody line, either in unison or in octaves, performed with a simple accompaniment figure of whole notes and half notes. Another common example of two-part writing is a simple harmonized melody played with a rhythmic accompaniment, like the oom-pah-oom-pah of a march.
    When working on balance with two-part phrases, begin with the volume of the melody and compare it to the accompaniment. Remember that composers vary in how they choose to indicate volumes. Some composers will indicate that the melody instruments should play forte, while setting the accompaniment instruments to mezzo-piano. Other composers will decide on an overall volume of the phrase (mezzo-forte, for example) and set that dynamic for all performers, without regard to which parts have the melody or are the accompaniment.
    As conductors and educators, our goal is to find a clear way to reach the right balance. Often it is best to begin with the melody. With two-part phrases, the objective may be to have 70% of the ensemble sound comprised of melody, while 30% of the ensemble sound is accompaniment. While working on this balance, a decibel meter can be a useful device (a stand-alone decibel meter will do, or there are many available apps that can be used). When the melody is played, the performers may rate on the decibel meter at 88.6 dB, as measured from the podium. Because decibels are a logarithmic unit of measure, to find a volume that is about half the sound of the melody, you will need to subtract only around 4-5 dB and set the accompaniment at around 83-84 dB (±2 dB).
    With three-part writing, it is generally best to strive for a balance of 50% melody against 30% countermelody/obligato and 20% accompaniment/bass line. There are no hard-and-fast rules for balance, but I find that these distributions usually work well and may be useful as a guiding principle. Once the volumes are set correctly for each individual part, we then ask students, “what volume does that feel like to you?” Where a composer may have indicated forte for the full ensemble on a given phrase, the students may feel that they are actually playing mezzo-piano to attain a 30% balance under the melody, based on varied instrumentation and individual strengths. Even within sections, we sometimes find variations from part to part and player to player, depending on the tessitura of the line.
    Intonation is also an important part of the tone category, and the key starting point is to assess whether students are performing with their best tone. To play in tune, students must first play in tone. Once characteristic individual tones are achieved, the ensemble can begin to work on intonation in phrases using the Yamaha Harmony Director. To do this, choose the key center that most closely matches the given phrase the ensemble is working on, and then sustain the root-fifth-root-third-fifth while performing the phrase slowly. Separate the parts as much as needed and change octaves accordingly. Ultimately, the long chords will need to have adjusted thirds or sevenths, and students can indicate this with small up arrows and down arrows in their music. The adjustments that need to be made with intonation are slight, and the students can use a tuner to best set themselves up for success.
    Dynamic contrast seems to be a point that many judges focus on in their dialogues with ensembles. When working on dynamics, all performers should understand their role inside of crescendos and decrescendos. The pyramid scheme for dynamic contrast advocated by W. Francis McBeth is the best guide for achieving dynamic changes. In this scheme, the soprano and alto voices do the least to create contrast, while the tenor and bass voices try to play with the most contrast. What often occurs when a group tries to tackle dynamic contrast is that the strongest players in each section do the most while the weakest players do the least. As a result, the ends of decrescendos are marred with less mature sounds and an abundance of lower-part splits, while the most mature performers find their sounds being buried. Again, working with a decibel meter can be a useful strategy. If the first clarinets shift from 76 dB to 70 dB on a decrescendo from forte to mezzo-piano, then try to make sure that every clarinetist fits within this range. Often, with less advanced players, the decibel meter will show they are beginning at 74 dB (which will be too soft for good balance) and then tapering down to only 73 dB (which will unfortunately be louder the firsts). As a result, the dynamic contrast will be unfocused or fuzzy. For the clearest approach, it is helpful to work through each section on a few given crescendos and decrescendos to set a norm within the ensemble. From there, the same practice can be extrapolated to the remainder of the piece and the entire repertoire.

Technique
    The struggle to attain clean technique should begin with a simple quest for clarity. The ensemble should practice simply moving from note to note at the same exact speed without any noticeable flaws.
    Work on technique will depend on the style of technical passages. For fast-moving, slurred passages, especially those that span several measures, it is best to articulate each downbeat when working on cleaning and refining the excerpt. Articulation markers on the downbeats can be removed later in the season, once the technique is cleaner.
    Another key approach when working on technical passages is to have the performers match volumes across the ensemble. This requires setting balance points down to the lowest voice performing the technique. Again, in many ensembles, the most confident and loudest performances on technical excerpts tend to be played by the strongest students. To counter this tendency, encourage less experienced 2nd and 3rd trumpets, for example, to match the air of the 1st trumpets. The fingers and embouchures of these other players may not be flawless, but obtaining a consistent volume from all players will help tremendously as the ensemble works on the last steps of cleaning up technique.
    With technical passages that consist of short separated notes across a range of octaves, it is best to set the length of notes for the bass voice first. For example, if the passage contains unison, accented quarter-notes to be played in a separated style, the bass voice should play the notes at 7⁄8 value so that there is just a sliver of silence between each quarter note. The tenor voice then should perform the same accented quarter-notes at 3⁄4 value, and the alto voice should perform the notes at 5⁄8 value. The sopranos will offer the shortest interpretation, perhaps at 1⁄2 value. This approach, also advocated by W. Francis McBeth, will most closely emulate the light-lifted nature of orchestral accents. A similar paradigm should be used for staccato notes and marcato notes.
    To develop clear ensemble technique, it is also useful to address the weight of the front of the note, as well as the length, strength, and shape of the middle of the note, and the silence (or lack thereof) behind the note. Work on dissecting the anatomy of a note, while time-consuming, will result in clear technique that can be heard from any listening point between the podium and the back of the auditorium.
    Clarity of articulation is another important aspect of technique. Encourage students to try performing articulations using one taste bud. Seldom do students need any more than just a speck of tongue as the catalyst for starting a note. Explain to students that the strength of air may change, but the strength of the tongue against the reed on the top of the teeth should not vary, regardless of the accent used or the dynamic level requested.
    After beginning the note with one taste bud, talk about where the tongue should travel next. With the exception of the clarinet teeeh syllable (and a few extremely high parts for upper woodwinds, trumpets, and horn), the tongue should always return to a low, relaxed position following the start of the note. Students should also be taught to keep the tongue low in the mouth for as long as possible before moving it back up to re-articulate the next note. Challenge students to wait until they feel like they can’t stand it before moving the tongue up. While this point will vary from player to player in the beginning, good habits across the ensemble will develop so quickly that any variances will go unnoticed in the framework of great tone quality and clear technical displays.
    It is also vitally important to focus on breathing when working on technique. Before technical passages, students tend to use rapid breaths; tension and bad habits often will prevent good breathing. Conductors should make a conscious effort to watch students breathe before technical passages. Watch for the brass players to leave the top lip in or near the mouthpiece cup as the bottom jaw drops away slightly to inhale. For the woodwinds, the bottom lip should remain anchored to the reed or lip plate and the top of the head should lift up slightly to allow air to come into the mouth, forming what feels like a cold spot on the back of the throat. Often students will engage in tense side breathing just before technical passages, pulling back only the corners of the mouth to take in air. This bad habit results in a tense, frantic note-start as well as a lack of focused embouchure.
    Students’ hand position should also be continually assessed across the ensemble. When students started on their instruments years ago, most of them were probably much shorter and smaller than they are today. As a result, students may have developed bad hand positions, and consequently, wrist angles and elbow-to-body distances may need to be reset. One tendency for students as they grow taller is that they will bring their elbows in toward their sides and supinate their wrists, which will cause obstructed technical facility and a lack of comfort.
    Resetting hand positions every few weeks or so, perhaps during warm-ups as the director roams around the ensemble, may help tremendously in achieving flawless technique that sounds effortless.
    Lastly, I have found that encouraging performers to remain very still when they perform is essential to developing quality tone and technique. When performing up-beats, watch out for dancing trumpets and bouncing horns. When long sustained lines occur, notice whether there are any students who are shuffling their feet without any sense of rhythm or pulse (imagine one who’s had too much coffee). All of these non-essential motions create little bubbles in the sound and will cause the quality of individual tone and technique to suffer.

Final Ideas on Developing Tone and Technique
    To promote the continuing development of tone and technique, we use sectional lists (see for some examples). For each sectional (most of our sections meet once per week for 60 minutes before or after school), we design a grid with practice assignments for our performers. The vertical column of the grid lists all of the students’ first names and the horizontal row lists all of the pieces currently in the repertoire. When particular sections require attention, we write on the grid which excerpts must be learned by which date. We use Google Drive to make this large spreadsheet publically available so that students and parents can see what practice assignments need to be worked on during home practice sessions. (This tends to solve the common problem of parents not knowing what parts their children are supposed to practice.)
    A related benefit is that if it becomes necessary to cut students from a part just before a concert, the sectional list will help identify which performers can and cannot perform the excerpts at a high level, as the excerpts that have occupied the list for the last four or five weeks remain. This may eliminate the need for parent phone calls about cutting players from parts, and it also does away with the need to spend rehearsal time investigating which parts need work or cannot be played.
    While there are many more details to work on in March and April, such as a focus on musicality, a start toward the finish that emphasizes tone and technique will usually give students the best chance at reaching their peak performances with as little last-minute cramming as possible.   

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    New directors usually develop a set of clear objectives when they begin working with a music program. A director may seek to improve the quality of the ensemble’s performance, to strengthen morale and discipline, or to develop greater involvement from the parents. For a director who is new to the program, it can take a lot of time to achieve objectives like these. Sometimes a quick fix is necessary, especially if, for example, you are a high school band director with a first performance scheduled soon after the start of school.
    One path toward quick success is to find a way to connect with the culture of the population. If the music program can make a connection with the community, the support that follows will eliminate complications for the director and pave the way to success for the program. It may sometimes be difficult to make meaningful connections with people through the music program, but with the right kind of effort, a connection can be made that will pay huge dividends in the long run.

Learning from the Past
   When I first started in my current position, I talked to the former director of bands who had worked here for 25 years. While everything he told me was helpful, there was one piece of advice he gave to me that eventually became a cornerstone of my plan to build a successful music program. That advice was this: “You have to find a way to get people in the local area to the Fine Arts Center. People are just afraid to come.” The importance of this comment did not strike me until much later, after I had grown to understand the community and the culture.
    Geographically, my institution is situated in a challenging spot. We are an hour and a half from the outskirts of a major metropolitan area, and within thirty minutes in all other directions there is only a town of less than 1,000 people. The community surrounding my school has taken on the self-proclaimed status as the Cowboy Capital of the World. This cowboy community, far removed from the rest of the world, somehow seems distant from the music created by composers such as Grainger, Hindemith, Ticheli, and Persichetti. But the students here deserve the opportunity to learn the music of these composers, and to choose not to perform works by these composers would be a huge disservice to the students in the ensemble, especially those who are music education majors. In choosing literature, it is critical to find a balance so that the great literature remains a key part of the music program.

Knowing the History of the Program
    In preparation for my first concert, I looked at my institution’s history and its past performances. From the very beginning in 1919, there was a very strong ROTC band presence. Further research showed that the band used to perform throughout the state and had a strong following. Most likely its concert programming was similar to that of the traveling band of John Philip Sousa. Although the band program had moved away from its foundation as a military band, I thought that bringing back this element would create some connection to the history of the university and, perhaps also, to the surrounding community.
    Another part of my approach to concert programming was to embrace the area’s view of itself as Cowboy Capital of the World. I have tried to program works that have a western flavor, but that still are part of the acceptable repertoire for wind band. This limited my choices somewhat, but finding suitable pieces was not very difficult. Some of the western-style works that we have performed include Frank Ticheli’s San Antonio Dances and John Mackey’s Sasparilla, among others. For our Carnegie Hall debut in April, I commissioned film composer Charles Fernandez to compose a work in the style of Aaron Copland and Elmer Bernstein but using the theme of the institution’s Alma Mater. Programming music that connects with the local population is not only a good way to attract new concertgoers, but it also is a way to get the ensemble to perform more diverse literature overall.

Finding a Way to Appeal to the Senses
    Now that almost everyone has a multimedia device or smart phone, it seems necessary to find new ways to capture young concertgoers’ interests. In December 2011, I programmed my first multimedia concert in which we integrated video and images to be part of the performance. The setup we used was fairly simple, but it proved highly effective. (See “” The Instrumentalist, volume 66, issue 11). After the concert we had a post-concert reception. Most of the comments were complimentary and encouraging toward having additional multimedia concerts. One parent of a student commented, “I really wish you could do this for every concert.” I do not use multimedia at every concert, but we now incorporate multimedia as an annual event for our late November concert. Audience attendance at this concert is usually higher than at most others.

Performing for All Audiences
    Concerts that celebrate special events typically draw highly appreciative audiences. In November 2012 our town elected a new mayor who is a retired Air Force officer. Knowing before the election that he had a good chance of winning, and with our concert scheduled for November 11, Veteran’s Day, I decided to invite our potential new mayor to attend and to guest-conduct at the concert, which was programmed to be a tribute to the armed forces. This concert was also our annual multimedia concert. As the director, I found that programming this concert was not only enjoyable, but also easy to do. 
    For the first part of this Veteran’s Day concert, I selected two serious works that would appeal to the performers on stage and move my ensemble forward by raising my expectations for them. We performed John Williams’s Liberty Fanfare (arr. Curnow) and Karel Husa’s Music for Prague, 1968. Both of these works were set to images and video. For the second part of the concert, I programmed music to replicate what audiences may experience during a municipal band concert. We performed classics such as “America, the Beautiful,” “Strategic Air Command,” “Amazing Grace,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” all of which were likely to be familiar to many in the community.
    In addition to these program choices, I decided to send personal invitations to our campus ROTC unit and to all Veterans of Foreign Wars and Knights of Columbus within a 100-mile radius of my institution. We offered this invitation so that we could recognize members from these organizations, since many of them would connect to the festivities presented at the concert. Knowing that a concert is open to the public may not be enough to encourage some people to attend. A special invitation can make a difference in making someone feel welcome to attend. The effort to send out personal invitations paid off very well at this concert, which was one of the best-attended events of my entire teaching career. It was such a success that the very next year I received a call from the mayor asking if we would host the event once again.
    Several days after this same concert, my dean called me to discuss an email she had received from a woman who attended the concert with her granddaughter. At first I was concerned about the content of the email, since it had bypassed my department chair and me, but I was soon relieved to learn that the message was one of thanks and praise. The grandmother who attended our concert wrote:

    “The images presented during the Music for Prague piece scared my granddaughter enough that she wanted to talk about them on our way home from the concert. We had a very good conversation about war and why people go to war. I remember many of those images running through my head as I listened to these events unfold on the radio and the news when it was happening. I am so thankful that you all presented such a difficult topic in the tasteful and educational manner that you did. Thank you.”

    When choosing pictures to go with a performance, I always try to keep in mind that the audience is likely to include young children. I have children who are ages seven and eight, and although I can explain scary pictures to them, I don’t want to force that conversation on someone else who may not be ready to have it with their young children. In some cases, especially when playing music about a war, a more graphic picture might enhance the performance, but I don’t want to cause an administrator to get angry emails. There is usually a way to get the idea across without resorting to graphic pictures. For concert programs where the images might cause concern, I usually include a statement like the following: “While the images are selected carefully, parental guidance is suggested.”

Creating Collaborative Concerts
    Many high school ensemble directors have found that there is great recruiting value to be gained from inviting their local middle school bands to participate in a joint effort. Whether this is done during marching or concert season, the positive publicity generated from involving the lower school bands can be a great way to win community support.
    Another great way to win support is to reach out to other parts of the academic community by programming a concert that highlights a particular school discipline, such as American history, biology, or visual art. This inter-disciplinary approach worked well for our concert this past November, which consisted of two parts. The first part featured the artwork of local elementary school students, and the second part was designed to honor the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s death.
    For the first part of the concert, I worked collaboratively with the elementary school art teacher. We decided to use Music from Abroad as our theme, so I presented the art teacher with the three works that my ensemble would play: Africa: Ceremony, Song, and Ritual (Smith), Variations on a Korean Folk Song (Chance), and Armenian Dances (Reed). The art teacher researched each of these areas with her students in order to identify themes and icons that would help support the music through drawn images. To support Chance’s Variations on a Korean Folk Song, for example, the art teacher and her students created art to portray birds, street festivals, and dancing. I scanned in each student’s art to convert it to a digital image.  This took quite a bit of time, since there were over 300 students in art class and each student created multiple images depicting different themes. Once a digital image was created for each piece of art, all that was left to do was to put a credit at the bottom of each slide with each student’s name. With so much art created by so many students, the enthusiasm generated for this project was tremendous, and it created a very positive feeling both within and outside of our music program.
    Programming concerts that connect with your audience can be a challenge, and trying to become a part of the local culture is never easy when you are new to it. Meaningful connections with the community can be made when you understand the people, speak the language, and give recognition to others. I have found that identifying the right literature is critical. You may want to perform a concert of familiar works that inspires your audience to sing or hum afterwards, or you may want to find literature that encapsulates the sense of the community at large. When the community feels engaged by the concerts you program and when you as a director become an accepted member of the community, the support that is given to the school, the music program, and the students can be tremendous.  

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