Vaclav Nelhybel is a favorite composer among student musicians and is also a colorful guest conductor. He has written some of the most widely played instrumental works, such as Trittico, Sine Nomine, and Symphonic Movement for band. Players delight in his inventive rhythms and use of antiphonal choirs.
    Nelhybel (whose full name is pronounced VAHTS-clahv NELLY-bell) was born in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) and studied music in Prague, even though his parents tried to discourage him. His main instrument was organ, but he also studied many others (everything, he admits, except double reeds, saxophone, percussion, and string bass).
    He gained valuable orchestration experience when he was house composer for Radio Prague, and he later got to experiment with electronic music while writing film scores as musical director for Radio Free Europe. He came to the U.S. in the late 1950s and it wasn’t long before he "discovered" music education and began writing for school groups.
    A dynamic man with a great sense of humor and dozens of fascinating anecdotes, he continues to be "interested in anything and everything."

What kind of musical opportunities did you have in school?
    Absolutely none. Some students took private lessons, but there were no orchestras or any organized ensembles. I recruited my own group at the boarding school where I stayed so I could learn how to compose for an orchestra. At the same time I was devouring books about music, harmony, and counterpoint.

All on your own?
    Yes, because I had no teacher, and my parents did not want me to go to the conservatory. I went to the university first in about 1938 and studied musicology. My parents thought I was actually a philosophy student.
    But this was at the time of the Second World War, and Hitler soon closed the university. Then I was accepted as a student at the conservatory. It was an oppressive period musically, because Hitler wasn’t allowing performances of works by Jewish composers, American composers, Stravinsky, or even Debussy and Ravel.

When did you write your first professional composition?
    I was about 19 when I first heard the Czech Nonette, a woodwind quintet plus violin, viola, cello, and bass. I like the combination of instruments and so I wrote something for them; it was my first composition to be played by professionals.
    From then on things seemed to go very fast. I had many compositions performed, including a combination ballet-opera when I was 27 years old. Once you get public recognition, commissions start coming in and everything rolls along.

Why did you start writing for school groups? Well, in about 1962 when I’d been in the U.S. for five years, someone dragged me to my first music education convention. I was fascinated with what I heard, especially the bands, which were a new medium for me. In Europe bands are just functional marching units.
    The first band I heard played a piece by Persichetti, and it was so good I just caught fire. I was fascinated with the possibilities of what you can do with half an acre of clarinets, half an acre of flutes, and half an acre of percussion. So I said, why not try it? I did, and it seemed to open new creative channels in my mind. What really inspired me was the great enthusiasm of the students, and after I visited a few schools I tried writing one or two pieces for them.
    The first piece was Chorale, the second was Prelude and Fugue, the third was Trittico. By then I was hooked forever on writing for students. I was also hooked because of the enthusiastic reaction from band directors; I especially love the way they all refer to "my kids," never to themselves.

You never studied percussion yourself, and yet your writing shows such great insight into what it’s like to play the instruments. How did you learn that?
    When I was first starting to write for bands I experimented with a band at a school in New York City. I realized that when the percussion stops, the whole band stops. The percussion preserves the pulsation of the music. Very often composers use percussion as a kind of counterpoint against the rest of the band. What I did differently was to treat the percussion as a partner on the same level with the melody instruments. I never use percussion just to make noise or to cover something up – it is carefully chosen for structural reasons.
    Percussionists tell me they like my music because they feel they are doing something important in it. Many of them have said, "You know, when I start playing, I feel as though the whole band is turning around to listen to me." That’s happened often, with many different instruments. Music with interesting parts can make the players feel important.

Do you mean that everyone is a soloist at one time or another?
    Not necessarily an actual soloist, but one who feels like a soloist. Once a young boy came up to me at a rehearsal and said, "Thank you for writing that solo for me." I thought he was a horn player or something, but it turned out that he was an alto clarinet player. Just because his part was slightly different from the third clarinets, he thought he had a solo part.

How do you begin writing a composition?
    I am a composer 24 hours a day. I don’t have certain hours when I sit down and say, "Now I will compose." I am always collecting ideas, and I keep them in about 300 folders according to instruments, structure, rhythm, and so on.
    How do I start a composition? There are two ways. First, if someone comes to me requesting a piece for string quartet and orchestra, certain channels in my brain are activated. Practically speaking, I will go home and take out my string quartet and orchestra idea folders, and see what happens. When I look over the ideas I immediately tune into something. That’s why I’m a composer and not a bricklayer.
    It is different every time. Sometimes the melody comes first, other times the harmonic structure, orchestration, or rhythmic pattern. I just start putting it all down on paper. Finally I sketch it out somehow, and then I put it away for awhile.
    At first I have created a chunk of music. Then I begin to think about the musicians. I go back to make sure I didn’t neglect the tenor saxophone or something. I think to myself, this player is sitting here and he hasn’t played for 25 measures. Should his entrance be here or there? Loud or soft?

Do you compose at the piano?
    No, I compose completely without piano, so when I write down something, it’s always specifically for xylophone, trombone, clarinet, or tuba. Whenever I conceive a musical idea, I think of it in terms of the tonal color of a specific instrument.
    As for musical material, I have always liked to incorporate modal scales, going back to Gregorian chant. My music also has always had enormous fluency with rhythm and meter; even in a simple piece the time signatures may constantly be changing between five, four, six, three, two, or four beats per measure.
 
Have you had any "magic" moments of discovering something about music?
    I remember one, when I was rehearsing a band in a lousy little bandroom where the students didn’t know me, they weren’t playing my music, and I could hardly speak English. But I suddenly realized that I could actually move them with the music. It was a shake-up for me, a major revelation. I felt that I was really accomplishing something.
    Students have sent me thousands of letters, and I never will be blasé about them. Those letters mean so much to me. I’m close to 60 years old, but I don’t think of the students as 12 or 16. They are people who want something bigger than life. I love to turn them on, to excite them. I want to addict them to music.

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Warren G. Harding once said, “I played every instrument but the slide trombone and the E-flat cornet.”

    The earliest yearbook in which I appear is my 5th grade Floyd Elementary School 1972-73 Aerie. (Our school mascot was the falcon, thus the name Aerie for a nest of a falcon.) Unless a good haircut is a presidential requirement, I am fairly safe; recent events suggest bad hair is not an impediment. Comments from my peers like “To a boy with a funny mind” and “To a very nice boy who likes to talk a lot” should cause little political fall-out.
    In the 1973-74 Aerie, it is readily obvious that I joined band when one reads comments from already competitive trumpet players: “From one trumpet player to another I hope you get moved down to last chair the last day of school” and “To a guy who plays the Carnival of Venice solo lousy. I’m just kiddin’.” The beginning band did not merit a picture so the only photo of me is a benign school picture.
    From Montgomery, Alabama, I moved down the road to Auburn where I was included in Auburn Junior High’s 1975 yearbook, The Eagle. As usual, trumpet rivalry is evident with comments like, “I’m sure you’ll beat Kathleen next year.” In the 1976 Eagle there is a picture of me as a chorus officer and one of me sitting with the band, my trusty cornet in hand, at a football game. Moving back to Montgomery in 1977, my Wildcat Memories from Georgia  Washington Junior High has two written references by friends to a C I got in conduct in band. It is a long story, but my presidential quest can continue unabated.
    My high school yearbooks also do nothing to harm my political aspirations. Despite my exclusion from the high school’s parade of Who’s Who winners, I can say with a bit of vindictive bitterness that I had an impressive ten photos in the 1980 Jefferson Davis Cavalier, none of which could stir any controversy from the bitterest of political rivals.
    My college yearbook, the Petit Jean, has me in some club photos, band pictures, and Senior Who’s Who, and about all I can be accused of is being boring; that can hurt my ratings in a presidential debate but should not cause any problems I could not overcome with some help from a personality consultant or a few appropriate self-help YouTube videos.
    A glance through yearbooks early in my teaching career have photos of me riding a tricycle across the stage to the strains of Leader of the Pack and performing a terrible Buddy Holly impersonation with one lens missing from my sunglasses. Fortunately, there is no record of the Life of Elvis tribute that concluded with me climbing out of a coffin and proceeding to sing All Shook Up. (What can I say? I had a trombone player whose father was a mortician, and I have always prided myself on using parental resources.)

    Later in my career there are several yearbook entries depicting me in ways that opponents could use to show a man who cannot be taken seriously – poking myself in the eye, a list of my jokes of the day, and a picture of me with a purple wig on – but that’s a political battle I think I could win if I don’t smile for the first few months of the campaign.
    I am still uncertain about what I will do, but it is nice to know that I should be safe as far as a yearbook background check is concerned. I do know that I will have to make a decision pretty soon so I can get my fundraising going. It will take a few immensely profitable car washes and cheesecake sales to get a campaign up and running. I’ll keep you posted.

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    Grade three students should have mastered the basics of counting rhythms using whole through eighth notes in any combinations, understanding and using the concepts of subdivision. They should understand what intonation is, what inherent intonation problems their instruments have, and such elementary solutions as alternate fingerings, slight embouchure adjustments, and slide adjustments. Students should have developed a characteristic tone by this level, applying the basic factors that aid in tone production: good posture, breathing habits, and embouchure flexibility.
    When students can do each of these things adequately, they are ready for grade three music and the challenges of group intonation. Chorales and ballads are excellent for this because they entail long notes and slow tempos that give students time to hear and correct intonation problems. These pieces also teach students to play long phrases with proper breath support. Directors should emphasize phrase endings, balance, harmonic phrasing, and blend. Deir In De by Warren Barker (Barnhouse) is excellent for this purpose because of its long phrases.

Deir In De

    A piece I wrote, In Praise of Autumn (Barnhouse), has challenges in harmonic phrasing, breath control, and tone quality. The opening chord progression moves to measure seven before it is resolved, and this harmonic phrase should be treated as though it were a melodic phrase. Emphasize breathing and tone control.

In Praise of Autumn

    The limited sales of ballad-style works probably reflects that directors shy away from slow pieces because they accentuate deficiencies in the ensemble. Choose a piece that is a grade level below the ensemble’s ability to use as a warm-up exercise. Rather than playing the entire piece at every rehearsal, select a small portion for concentrated work on breathing or balance. When the band can do this well, move on to a more difficult composition. Gradually both the director and ensemble will gain confidence with slow works. Although ballads and chorales were not written as technical exercises, they work well for developing tone quality, blend, and balance. In adjudicating grade three bands, I have found that these are the areas in which most ensembles have difficulties.
    Woodwind sections, particularly flutes, clarinets, and saxophones, usually have the most difficulty with intonation, blend, and balance. Flutes and clarinets usually play sharp in the upper register, and saxophones tend to overplay the woodwind sections, causing intonation and balance problems. Woodwind sections cannot blend if they are out of tune, directly affecting the entire ensemble’s intonation, balance, and blend. Select literature that features, the woodwind or brass sections separately so students can work in smaller groups and listen for pitch, textures, and blend. Works that have several musical ideas going simultaneously cause students to lose sight of the basics of good sound and blending. The opening of Somerset by Gary White (Boosey and Hawkes) focuses on sectional balance, blend, and intonation, and by practicing the thinly scored passages in sectionals students will play better in band.

Somerset

    Becoming acquainted with a variety of musical styles is also important during this stage of development. Students and directors gain a greater vocabulary of articulations, tempos, dynamics, phrasing, and other musical elements by performing different types of music. Furthermore, programs of diverse repertoire appeal to larger groups of people, stimulating better attendance at concerts. Examples of the many styles available include American and British marches, ballads, classical transcriptions, compositions with mixed styles such as a chorale and dance, overtures, suites, folksongs, and programmatic works.
    Three Folk Miniatures by Andre Jutras (C.L. Barnhouse) is a Canadian folksong that exhibits different settings while teaching phrasing, style, and multiculturalism. Praises by Francis McBeth (Southern Music) is an aggressive contemporary work that introduces students to twentieth-century harmonies, dynamic contrasts, and articulations. My Firecreek Legacy (Carl Fischer) is a programmatic work using melodic themes to denote specific characters; thus, the programmatic ideas create descriptive mental images that help students learn and perform a piece. New World Symphony by Dvo˘rák (arranged by James Curnow, published by Hal Leonard) is an orchestral arrangement ideally adapted for band. Curnow kept the original work’s romantic style, making the piece appropriate for teaching the interpretation of romantic tempos, accelerandos, ritards, phrasing, and articulations.
    Level three ensembles should be proficient at articulating the following notations correctly:

    Assigning each articulation a syllable and teaching everyone the same syllables improves precision and cleanliness within a group. There are many different syllables to select from, and directors have to experiment to find those that work best and then be consistent in teaching them. Variation Overture by Clifton Williams (Ludwig) and Toccata for Band by Frank Erickson (Bourne) focus on articulation; by selecting works such as these students learn how articulation relates to style.

Toccata for Band

    Being able to play fortissimo and pianissimo with good tone allows a band to perform more expressively. Brass and woodwind players tend to overplay fortissimos with a bright, harsh tone quality and underplay pianissimos with weak breath support and an airy tone. The primary cause of these problems is lack of breath support. By practicing crescendos, diminuendos, and sforzandos with precise articulation and characteristic tone quality, students can learn to control their breath support. Directors can vary scale exercises to accomplish this: begin each note of the scale at pp, gradually crescendo to ff, and then decrescendo to pp; begin each pitch ff, gradually decrescendo to pp, and then crescendo to ff; lastly, begin each pitch with a fp, making a gradual crescendo to f or ff.
    Upon Wings of the Wind by Jared Spears (Counterpoint Music) illustrates the role of dynamics in expressing the composer’s intent. The sforzandos, crescendos, and decrescendos express the emotional and musical intent of the melodic line; without these nuances, the melody loses its spirit.

Upon Wings of the Wind

    Directors should also use drills to expand students’ range in the extreme low and high registers because grade three repertoire includes more pitches. Scales, arpeggios, and lip flexibility exercises are good materials for drilling these new notes.
    Solos can build confidence, pride, and self-esteem in students, but avoid works that feature instruments and players the ensemble lacks in good supply or quality. If you have limited horns, avoid pieces with four separate horn parts because these parts often add flavor to a composition. When ensembles have to omit parts, the composition suffers. Directors who select a work with four parts and have a small horn section could rescore the remaining parts for alto sax. If your ensemble lacks an oboe, bassoon, alto clarinet, or bass clarinet, double these parts in another instrument. It is also wise to check all third parts for technical demands because third players are usually the least experienced and can destroy an ensemble’s precision.
    Percussion parts should add a measure of spice to a composition. Students lose interest if the parts are boring, and this can cause problems for a director. Choose pieces that include many parts that interact with the ensemble and evoke special effects and textural colors. Students at this level should be able to play all non-pitched percussion, xylophone, bells, chimes, and timpani. Jared Spears composed the percussion parts in Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon (Wingert Jones) to interact with the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic structure of the piece; he gives percussionists an active role in the overall structure of the work.
    Directors should perform compositions that encourage students to develop listening and interpretive skills. It is not enough to play notes; students should be aware of what the rest of the ensemble is playing. Grade three students should understand how the part fits into the ensemble as melody, countermelody, harmony, or rhythm; how to adjust for proper balance, blend, and intonation; proper fingerings and articulation techniques; and how to play with emotion and intellect instead of just making noise.

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Preparation
    Preparation is critical for determining whether the district is a good fit for you, as well as for the interview itself. Consider the type of school system you prefer (urban, suburban, or rural) and the type of program in which you want to work: well-established, high powered, or smaller with growth potential.
    These considerations are particularly important for those just entering the job market. The match between your aspirations and the first school systems in which you work may very well determine whether you survive in the profession. Your first job needn’t necessarily be your dream job, but it should be something that will get you on the route to what you want to be doing 20 years from now.
    Do a brutally honest self-assessment of skills, weaknesses, and which subjects and areas you especially do and do not want to teach. If you dislike marching band, perhaps applying for high school jobs is a poor decision. If you have always aspired to be a Bands of America Grand Nationals director, chances are that applying for an elementary school general music position isn’t going to do it for you.
    At one point I was a cooperating teacher for a music education student who played great classical clarinet but had no interest in jazz. Despite my strong recommendations, she never attended a jazz rehearsal at our school while she was student teaching. After several years of teaching elementary school, she got her first high school band job – at a school best known for its jazz program. She was hopelessly in over her head, and didn’t make it past her probationary period. You do not want to fall into that trap.
    Once you have set your parameters and decided on the type of job you want to apply for, research individual schools. For students out of music school, your contacts – university faculty and your cooperating teacher – can be useful in steering you toward or away from situations. Here is where your student teaching experience (and insisting that your school places you in a good venue) is important. The most important thing you have going into your first interviews is the recommendation of your cooperating teacher.
    My college’s music education coordinator strongly recommended several less-than-stellar schools that were convenient for the university’s student teacher supervisors. I found a venue that wasn’t convenient for the supervisors but was well respected. The first call my prospective employer made was to my cooperating teacher. I got the job.
    Once you apply, carefully research each position. Beyond asking questions from those who know the situation, examine the school’s website and, in particular, the band website. This often will give you concert schedules, listings of ensembles, an idea of how active and successful groups are in adjudicated venues, and a general sense of the health of and support for the program.
    Before you enter an interview, try to determine why the previous person left. This will give you a valuable perspective. It is also helpful to determine what the recent history of the program is. If they have had five band directors in the last six years, there is a problem. If the last band director was there 25 years, that is a more stable opportunity but also a pitfall in trying to replace a legend. It might have great potential but be incredibly difficult for the first few years. Try to go in with eyes open.
    If you cannot determine the recent history before your interview, do not be afraid to ask – and then carefully observe your interviewer’s reaction. If there has been frequent turnover, they might squirm a bit, or you might discover a principal ready to throw full support behind the right candidate. No principal wants to be on a band director search every other year. Band parents are often active and vocal, so it is in the principal’s best interest to get it right. Also, be on the lookout for signs a principal isn’t firmly convinced of the value of music education. Be non-confrontational, but ask the difficult questions.

Vision
    Often job candidates fail because they do not voice a strong vision. You cannot be afraid to sell yourself. After all, if you cannot inspire an interview committee they might conclude you will not be able to inspire the band. There is a fine line between a confident presence and being overpowering. To portray a confident presence, you must have a plan. This is where your research comes in.
    When I was interviewing for what became my dream job, I was asked “What’s your vision for this band program?” “Glad you asked,” I replied, handing out copies of my proposed first year programs for every concert and festival of every ensemble. Years later, one of the committee members told me, “The moment you did that, the job was yours.”
    Part of preparation is having the best possible background in literature. For those just out of school, do your homework before your first interview. A softball question on literature for a veteran teacher can be vexing for someone new to the profession. Ask every teacher you meet to name three pieces for band that they recommend highly. Collect and study every concert program you can find. Think of how one of your programs for these groups would look. Examine a year’s programs for a major symphony orchestra or college ensemble and see if you can follow the music director’s thought process.
    At one point I was on an interview committee for a middle school position. One of the candidates dazzled the committee. It looked like she had the job until the committee started to ask her about literature. To the query about three great pieces for middle school band, she gave three Gershwin pieces for which there were no middle school arrangements. To the question about who has written great marches suitable for middle school band, she made up names. The non-musicians on the panel thought she sounded great, but she knew next to nothing about music curriculum. She was a great salesperson who would have been making it up on the job as she went along.
    In the same interview cycle, another teacher was asked to name three great pieces for middle school jazz ensemble. He responded with three Stan Kenton Grade 5 charts. Putting either of those two teachers in front of those groups would have been a disaster. The person who won the job answered both questions with literature perfectly suited for the bands,and was a great success.
    If you prepare the right way, interviews are not a harrowing process. These are an opportunity to have an enjoyable give and take with kindred educational spirits. When you find this, you have found a home.

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Trumpet
    The trumpet is perhaps the trickiest instrument to work with when it comes to using air, and it is the most in need of individualized pedagogy. We have all seen trumpet students who continue to struggle with flow and resonance, despite efforts to get them to relax and play more efficiently. Because it is the most resistant instrument in the brass family, overblowing can quickly lead young students astray. Such common band room instructions as “breathe down low” or “use more air” will often lead trumpet students to attempt to push too much energy into such a small mouthpiece.
    There are pedagogical solutions that will keep your trumpeters on the right path. When discussing inhalation with your trumpet students, it is advantageous to instruct them to breathe higher – up to the collarbone. A higher breath does not imply that they will automatically become tense in areas around the neck and throat. Rather, the students will be prepared to release air in a healthier manner that is more conducive to resonance on such a highly resistant instrument. A great way to learn how this feels is to try to suck air into the lungs – a technique that was taught by Arnold Jacobs. To try this, start by placing your hand on your lips where a mouthpiece would be, and try sucking air until the lungs are full to the top. At this point, the lungs are full and the air is instantly ready for fast release. 
    When discussing exhalation, or flow of air, it is critical to avoid encouraging trumpet students to blow. A healthier approach for trumpeters would be to think of merely releasing air. Trumpet virtuoso Rafael Mendez repeatedly claimed that the trumpet requires conversational air. When a person is speaking, air is leaving the body so slowly that it is very hard to detect. Allowing trumpeters to explore operating the instrument with less air while breathing in a higher and more relaxed manner can lead them to increased resonance and allow them to pursue a much more efficient level of play.

Horn
    The horn can be a daunting instrument to address from the podium. Because the instrument has such a wide range, a one-dimensional approach to breathing instruction can lead to diminished results. For this instrument, it is highly recommended that different approaches for high and low range be explored.
    When horn players need to perform in the higher range of the instrument (around written G5), overblowing and overexertion are likely problems. A style of breathing and support that allows resonance and resistance to co-exist is essential. Therefore, an approach that is similar to breathing for the trumpet is best.
    The lower range of the horn (approximately written G3) offers quite a bit of a departure from what has been discussed so far. Because of the more open feel and lack of resistance, a relatively traditional pedagogy might prove effective. Concepts such as breathing from the bottom up, thinking the syllable ahh or ohh, and the idea of fogging the mirror with warm air can help students add relaxation and resonance within this range. However, one element that should not be overlooked is the inhalation speed for notes within this range. A slower breath that allows the throat to relax is more likely to lead the student to success with an attack in this register as opposed to one that’s fast and high.

Low Brass
    The larger nature of low brass instruments requires a somewhat different pedagogy compared to high brass. With these instruments any methodology should be more concerned with flow and connectivity than with resistance. In general, the low brass family is where most of the common breathing and air concepts that have been taught for years can still prove effective.
    For inhalation, I prefer the concept that Arnold Jacobs advocated: the huge yawn. If you imagine an inhalation that is similar to a huge yawn, your body relaxes and opens in a way that is perfect for the high-flow, low-resistance style needed to play a low brass instrument. The sensation of filling the lungs from the bottom sets up students to play with a good attack. For a fast breath, trying to suck in air quickly as mentioned above works wonderfully.
    Air flowing through the instrument should move faster than a conversational rate and in higher volume. In other words, the player should detect the air leaving the body. This is a much more active sense of flow than used for high brass, and blowing the air across the embouchure should be encouraged. As with the higher brass instruments, watch out for students overblowing, but it is less likely in low brass instruments.

Tuba
    Tuba pedagogy represents a substantial departure from the high brass and is moderately different even from the other low brass instruments. Sub­stan­tial­ly more air volume is moving through the instrument relative to other brass instruments. Therefore, a more individualized approach towards the tuba should be cultivated.
    The concept of sucking in air still brings tremendous benefit, but students should use the syllable oh for inhalation and exhalation. Have students try this without the tuba; the sound of the inhalation and exhalation should be the same. When done correctly, the student’s body should naturally expand as the lungs fill to capacity. In comparison to trombone and euphonium, everything is bigger, slower, and wider.

Conclusion
    The above techniques can be customized as needed for all ranges of all instruments. Generalized pedagogies, as helpful as they intend to be, will always have limitations. The most ideal situation is that each educator explores and develops individualized wind pedagogy that meets the needs for each brass instrument.   

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What type of warm-up strategies do you employ with your ensembles?
    We begin every rehearsal with breathing. Very young musicians are not used to inhaling the capacity of air required to produce a rich, robust tone on their instrument. I used to think that they weren’t putting enough air into the horn, and then I realized that they weren’t putting enough air into their lungs. We begin with a two-count breath. I have them put a hand in front of their mouths with the large knuckle centered between their lips, and they inhale for two counts with the metronome. We do it generally between 96-104 beats per minute.
    We get a full tank of air during those two counts and then exhale, blowing air on the palm of the hand for 12 counts. After another two-count inhale, students will cup their hand and sing an F on the syllable dah for 12 counts. To insure that they focus on taking a two-count breath, I say, “out two, in two.” The reason I say “out two” is so they expel what I call stale air in two counts. They exhale so that they can really take a nice, deep breath, then exhale for 12 counts.
    After we sing, I have the woodwinds do the same thing, in for two, out for 12, playing a concert F on their instruments, while the brass players buzz a concert F on their mouthpieces. I am a big believer in buzzing. There are different schools of thought, but I have found that when a student can buzz with a clear quality, the instrument’s tone becomes clearer and there is a better response at the beginning of the note. Lips vibrating is equivalent to the reeds vibrating. If the reed is too stiff, you will not get that vibration right away.
    I teach breathing with half-inch coupling PVC pipe. I have them put the PVC pipe between their teeth, inhale for four counts, and exhale for four counts, then inhale for three counts, and exhale for four counts, and so on. This is also done at 96-104 bpm. The pipe helps them feel that deep breath. To be honest, I’m not sure why it works, but it definitely opens them up and gets more air into their lungs.
    After the PVC pipe exercise, I use 12" diameter balloons. Before we inflate them, I tell the students to give them a little stretch because they are usually stiff at first. We once again inhale for two, exhale for 12, filling the balloon up over those 12 counts. I have students put their right hand on their stomach just over the belly button, holding the balloon with their left hand so that they can feel with their right hand the expansion below the lungs. As the lungs expand and the lungs push the diaphragm, they feel that sensation. The most difficult part of blowing up the balloon is the beginning. I tell the students to add a little burst of air right at the start, so the balloon inflates evenly for 12 counts. We use the breathing tubes and balloons for about a month.

Because sound is our raw material, what strategies do you use to develop characteristic tone?
    I always tell ensembles that tone is how we communicate with listeners. If the tone isn’t great, then we aren’t communicating effectively with our audience and the listener. The first step in producing a characteristic tone is the breathing. When we sing, we audiate the tone that we’re going to play. You have to hear the tone and pitch before you play it. To play in the center of the pitch, I always liken finding the center of the pitch to archery. You aim the arrow and try to hit the bullseye. Sometimes we hit above or below the bullseye, but you always know where the target is. There’s a place for brass and woodwind players where the embouchure is set appropriately and correctly that you find the premium tone that you are seeking.
    When we sing, it opens our oral cavity. I talk about using very warm air on the exhale when they produce a tone. We want the air to be free-flowing and shoulders to stay relaxed because tension hurts the tone. I always talk about playing full instead of saying “play forte.” Often, tension comes from not using enough air. In fact, at Stoneman Douglas the year after the tragedy took place, there was an optional session for teachers to learn how to help students cope with trauma. I was a little bit skeptical because I have my own way of dealing with things.
    The first thing that those physicians said was take a deep breath and teach students how to do the same. This is something I was already teaching every day in rehearsal. I learned that a deep breath activates the vagus nerve, which signals the entire body to relax and also reduces anxiety. That deep breath is essential when there is tension in the sound. When there is not enough air, the embouchure attempts to meet the demand, so there is going to be tension that creeps into the embouchure. For brass players, lack of air leads to pinching rather than using the air in high ranges. When woodwind players run out of air, they start tightening up, and for reed players, the pitch rises.

What is your approach to tuning?
    We never try to tune before the instrument temperatures have warmed up. Once we are warmed up, we play the concert F around the band. Every section plays a whole note and releases on count five, and that note is passed off to the next section. We start off with tubas and then euphoniums, trombones, horns, and trumpets, then the low reeds, alto saxophones, clarinets, oboes, and flutes. Then I have the woodwinds join the flutes on a sustained note, and the brass join the woodwinds. We’re all sustaining that F at the end. This method allows sections to hear themselves and how their tone and pitch relates to everyone else. Not everybody needs to be tuned. I only tune when there is a discrepancy in the intonation with an individual or section.
    The most important aspect of playing a tone is putting enough air into the horn. I don’t even talk about tone quality initially; I talk about volume. I use the acronym BBI – Balance, Blend, Intonation. Balance refers to volume. I tell them that balance is merely playing louder or softer, like an equalizer. Blend reflects the quality of the tone. A warm, resonant tone will blend. We talk about the volume and tone, and then intonation should be pretty close if the instrument is set correctly.
    I remind the students not to have a tuner in sight during rehearsal. If they want to warm up a bit and check pitch using a phone app, that’s fine, but once rehearsal starts, the tuner goes away. I’m tuning their ears, not their eyes. It’s all about listening to and matching each other. I tell students that the key to intonation is eliminating the waves. If you don’t hear waves you’re probably in tune.
    The human ear can hear beyond three cents in either direction, but when you get within three cents flat or sharp, it becomes a bit more difficult to discern those slow waves. Just because you don’t hear waves doesn’t mean you have found the perfect match. That tells you that you’re really close. Your ears help you lock in and find the best match. If the clarinets have a tuning discrepancy, I’ll have the principal player play the problem note, and then I’ll play the same note on the Harmony Director to get them to find the perfect match. I always have the student play first, rather than play the note for them first, so they have greater pitch awareness before they try to adjust.

How do you decide how much time to spend on various aspects of a rehearsal? How do you balance development versus concert preparation?
    At the beginning of the year, I will take nearly the entire rehearsal to establish these concepts. We will work on lips slurs and the chromatic scale. When I taught high school, all my bands ran through their twelve major scales in the Florida All-State pattern, which is the scale followed by an arpeggio, then up the circle of fourths to the next key. I frequently use the three sections of Tonality Shifting Warm-Up by Chris Sharp and culminate with a chorale from Mayhew Lake’s 16 Chorales by J.S. Bach.
    At the start of my new job at VanderCook, I have focused on establishing that warm-up routine to prepare for rehearsals. I tried not to go too quickly at the beginning because many students are playing secondary instruments. For example, I have violin players on horn and vocal majors playing clarinet. Once the routine was established, we moved into the music. I have found that by focusing on basics at the start of the process, you move much more quickly through the music. Students approach new music with concepts we worked playing the Bach chorales. They include everything we work on: breathing, intonation, tone quality, blend, balance, and phrasing. Few people want to take that kind of time at the beginning. I have learned over my career that it is a mistake to move into the music before students are ready.

What type of rehearsal atmosphere do you try to establish?
    It is collaborative. I teach in rehearsal as if it was a masterclass. Whether I’m working with a clarinet player, a trumpet player, or a flute player, every student in the ensemble is to be dialed in because concepts used with individual students usually apply to all the other instruments. As part of the collaboration, I ask students: What did you hear? What is something you would like to improve? If someone raises a hand and suggests taking a deeper breath to produce a deeper clarinet tone, we try it. This approach lets students feel like a part of the process instead of me telling them what to do every minute.

What are your objectives when you step on the podium with a new ensemble?
    I try to keep the ensemble engaged the entire time, so I rarely address classroom management. I tell them that there is only one person who has the floor at any given time. If someone asks a question, I listen. We respect each other, and we all listen to what each person has to contribute When somebody’s playing, you give them respect by listening.
    In addition, I tell them everyone must have a pencil because when we rehearse, we mark the music often. I always tell them the pencil is the eraser of mistakes. If you missed that E natural, the pencil keeps the mistake from repeating.

What is your approach to score study?
    When I open the score, I scan it through just to see the activity taking place throughout the composition. Then I go through again with highlighters. I highlight melodic or primary lines in yellow, and countermelodies or secondary lines in blue. You can do this pretty quickly at sight. If there is a rhythmic accompaniment, I highlight that in green. Then, I mark the bass line and perhaps a more involved unison in orange. I primarily use yellow, blue, and orange, saving the green for anything harmonically notable I need to address. Dynamics and effects get marked in pink to grab my attention. This colorful approach expedites the rehearsal process because the colors draw my eyes to the instrument groups playing specific lines. I don’t have to scan the entire score to find out where the melody appears. If I want to work on the countermelody by itself, I just look at the lines in blue. That’s more or less how I prepare a score.
    I also complete a broad harmonic analysis, noting cadence points or other helpful information. With Percy Grainger or something more harmonically advanced, I will identify the chords so I can get them tuned and balanced. You can always go deeper on score study, but time is usually limited for school directors.

How did you get your students to practice?
    Because of the pride students took in their band program, they felt it was important to show up prepared for rehearsal. If there was something that needed more work, such as learning all 12 major scales, I would have students record a scale or play a scale test in class. I used playing tests more often with younger students. Sometimes the tests occurred in class, and others were recorded at home and emailed to me. This approach showed students that when we tell them to learn something in two weeks, we mean it. In the second band, I didn’t have to test as much because they understood the expectations. As they progressed through the program and became juniors and seniors, it wasn’t a problem at all because preparation was just part of the culture.

How have you balanced family life with the many demands of our professional life?
    Not as well as I wish I had. Quite frankly, to have a successful band program, there are just too many things that pull you from your family. I was fortunate that band was a family affair because my wife was a music teacher for many years, and both of my sons played in my high school band. Whenever we had a concert or a marching event, the family was there, including grandparents and everyone else. Aside from that, I would always have July off for the entire band program including for myself. July was a time for family and vacation without band events. Some kids went to summer music camps, but that would be the time we always traveled as a family.
    What advice would you offer students as they prepare for a career in instrumental music education?
    The most important aspect of preparing to teach is seeking out great teachers and learning from them. No matter where you study music, there are good band programs nearby. Take the time to visit for a day or attend an evening rehearsal. I encourage my VanderCook students, even during marching season, to observe at least two rehearsals during the semester. They take notes and report back on what they learned.
    One of the best ways to learn is to watch the best in action as much as possible. Go to the Midwest Clinic and state conventions to learn about rehearsal techniques. Always be seeking to learn how to do the craft. At VanderCook, the Symphonic Band is essentially a lab band. We discuss rehearsal techniques every time we meet. I am always explaining what I am doing and why. I think that’s probably the most important thing; just seek out the people who do it well and watch them work.

What type of balance did you try to achieve between your marching and concert band programs?
    The concert band was always the hub of the band program. If the concert bands were not functioning at the highest level they could, it affected every other part of the program. The jazz and marching bands will not play up to their potential if the concert band is not our focus. Many of the warm-ups and fundamental concepts I use with concert band apply equally to marching band. Basically, we never really had a transition between marching band and concert because the breathing and warm-up exercises were the same. In marching band, we incorporated even more lip slurs for the brass and scales for the woodwinds to develop flexibility and dexterity. That helped our concert program.
    I was always careful not to schedule students for too few or too many competitions. We competed in a couple of regional events and the state marching band championship, but we were never out every single weekend. I wanted kids to stay excited from seeing other great groups but also wanted to make sure that marching did not consume too much of our time. We rehearsed twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 5:00-8:00.

What is the best advice you can give to other directors?
    Be consistent and persistent with your teaching. Always demand the best from your students, whether producing a tone, playing a phrase, or showing character as a member of an ensemble. Be consistent so your standards become ingrained in the band culture, and be persistent because it does not happen overnight. Second, seek out those who are good at the craft and watch them work. The more I brought people in to work with my students and the more I sought out mentors, the better we all became.  

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