Every jazz ensemble director wants his group to produce the rich, vibrant sound that professional jazz bands achieve. Hearing that sound in your mind but not from your ensemble can be a frustrating experience. What follows are proven techniques that can be used to create that elusive big-band sound.
   Establish the desired sound in every player’s ears. Many young players have never even heard a jazz ensemble when they sit down for their first rehearsal, so take some time to play recordings of ensembles that demonstrate the way you want your group to sound. Much of the music published today has professionally recorded demonstration albums available that you can play for students.
   The time ensemble spends listening may have a more lasting benefit than the same amount of time used to work out wrong notes that students could fix on their own outside of class. Of course, there will be no time to listen to recordings if you plan too many concerts too close together or schedule an overabundance of music to learn.
   Sponsoring in-school performances by high school, college, or professional bands that produce the sound you wish your group to emulate can serve two purposes: the students can hear a sound quality not often present in recordings, and everyone will have the chance to listen to how more experienced players sound in your concert hall or rehearsal room. If possible, have the guest ensemble use your group’s sound system, drumset, or guitar amplifiers. This will demonstrate to everyone whether the acoustics of the room actually are a factor in creating an undesirable ensemble sound.
   Be realistic in your musical choices and your expectations of the ensemble. All too often directors make the mistake of selecting literature that is manageable only by older, more seasoned performers, then find fault with the less-than-mature sound of the tape made at the final concert. An eighth-grade trumpet player does not sound like a junior in high school, and a senior in high school does not sound the same as a college graduate student. Many young players have the technical facility to play the notes, but the sound of a high school jazz ensemble will not likely have the characteristics of a college or professional group. Carefully select arrangements that will highlight an ensemble’s assets, not its weaknesses.
   Use visual aids to demonstrate your goals. To show the internal balance within the ensemble, draw three pyramids on the blackboard representing each of the wind sections. Each section needs to maintain the internal balance shown in these pyramids with the overall blend and balance of the rhythm section acting as the base. When a section performs independently in non-unison passages, the players have to produce that pyramid by supporting the lead player, even for only a few beats. When the entire ensemble performs, however, each section has to contribute to the pyramid, with the lead trumpet as the apex.

   This format gives everyone in the ensemble the same focal point and relieves the lead trumpet player from playing beyond his dynamic capacity. Such a concept is especially important when the lead player is concerned with endurance.
   Begin by establishing balance in the rhythm section. A recording engineer works first to achieve balance and tonal equalization in the rhythm section before adding the other instruments. As you listen to the balance of your rhythm section, consider the questions that go through the mind of an engineer:

• Is the bass drum too loud (or soft)? the snare? the ride cymbal?
• Is the drummer exerting enough pressure with the foot on the hi-hat cymbals to produce a tight, clean chick sound?
• Are the drums tuned like those on the recordings you are trying to emulate? Many school drummers use drumsets that are tuned more for rock than jazz. Consider hiring a professional jazz drummer to tune the school’s drumset if you are unsure how to create the sound you desire.
• Can you hear specific notes out of the bass amp, or is the sound one low rumble? Experiment with different settings of the tone controls and require bassists and guitarists to write down those settings for that piece of music. Also, ask them to try playing the strings at different locations in relation to the pickups. Small guitar equalizers are rather inexpensive and can make any bass or amplifier sound cleaner.
• Are the guitarist and pianist both playing the same type of comp patterns, with the same type of chord voicings, in the same range, at the same time? This homogeneity creates a bland, muddy texture.

   Teach rhythmic stability. Members of professional big bands have a keen sense of keeping time. To teach young players how to play in a steady tempo, regularly use a metronome or drum machine during rehearsals. Small, inexpensive electronic metronomes made with output jacks that connect to an amplifier or headphones can be worn by members of the rhythm section during portions of a rehearsal. While at first the headphones may interfere with the rehearsal, eventually students take them for granted. It is not at all uncommon for professional musicians to perform with a click track in recording studios. These players know how to ignore the click so it doesn’t get in the way of their playing. Schools might be wise to purchase a drum machine for members of the rhythm section to use during home practice or to have available on that unfortunate day when the drummer is absent.
   Tune first. It is not a waste of time to tune, both before and during rehearsals. What’s more, a chord played in tune sounds fuller and more resonant than an out-of-tune chord played loudly. Ensembles will never produce that elusive, professional sound unless everyone plays in tune.
   Make sure guitarists have enough time to tune as carefully as the wind instruments. Electronic tuning devices are great for these string instruments, but only if they are properly calibrated and powered at full strength. Small electronic tuners are so inexpensive today that directors would be wise to purchase one or two for students to check out to use at home, as they would a library book. Tuners can be a boon to brass players who need to learn the degree to which a mute placed in the bell affects intonation.
   Short of electronic sound reinforcement, there is little that young saxophonists can do to compete with the brass section without playing out of tune. The major contribution of the sax section should be to add color and texture to the ensemble’s blend, not volume. The mental attitude of the saxophonists needs to be one of control at all times, with special thought directed toward playing in tune.
   Be wary of doubling parts. Do not double parts and expect the result to sound like one player. It may be uncomfortable to tell an extra player to sit out for one composition, but if two players share a part it is impractical to expect perfect intonation and balance from them.
   Direct the brass bells toward the audience. Every marching band director knows that brass instruments produce a directional sound, Achieving proper direction of the bells over the music stands and toward the audience for brass players is perhaps the easiest way to produce an immediate improvement in a jazz ensemble’s overall sound. If this is not done, the tonguing, which creates the clean, precise sound associated with professional ensembles, is lost to the floor or the backs of the saxophonists.
   Be resourceful during problem years. There are certain times in every ensemble when incomplete instrumentation creates problems. Many times there are other students in the department who are willing to help out. Before omitting a fourth trombone part due to a shortage of players, consider using a second baritone saxophone, a tuba, or even a bassoon. Certain compositions lend themselves to the addition of a French horn to double unison saxophone lines or assist a weak lead trombonist. A vibraphonist can be an asset when the lead trumpet needs help.
   Assess the instruments used by ensemble members. Often, students struggle with poor-quality instruments, mouthpieces, and reeds that would make a good performance impossible even for a consummate professional. Take time to evaluate the equipment of each student, especially those who do not study privately. If you do not feel confident in certain areas, consider bringing in a clinician for a day to help.
   A notable aspect of the Stan Kenton Band was the consistency in the drum sound over the years, despite personnel changes. This was partly because Kenton owned the cymbals and required each of the drummers to use them. If you are serious about your jazz programs, consider purchasing a hand-picked ride cymbal and a pair of precise sounding hi-hat cymbals.
   Avoid the overuse of sound amplification equipment. Too often a jazz ensemble sounds completely different on stage than it does to the audience because the sound system is used incorrectly. The use of too many microphones creates more variables and increases the potential for problems with balance. In most cases, less amplification is better. The Woody Herman Thundering Herd performs using only three microphones.
   Treat sound engineering as an art; it should not be the hobby of a poorly trained student. Require the sound reinforcement engineer to listen to professional recordings of the music already performed by the group being amplified, or at least to excellent recordings of professional big bands. It is critical that the engineer realize the primary sound source should be produced by the acoustic instruments on stage, not the public address speakers. He should use the sound system to fill in only the sections or individuals that cannot otherwise be heard. It is absurd to take the beautiful natural overtones and harmonics created on thousands of dollars of fine musical instruments performed by young people who have spent thousands of hours working on the art of performance and have the music crushed, condensed, and amplified through an improperly equalized public address system with its inherent distortion qualities using inexpensive amplifiers, microphones, and speakers.
   Develop soloists. Regardless of how good a jazz ensemble sounds, it needs strong soloists to earn attention. While some directors inherit soloists who have developed naturally, most have to train students to improvise. Two axioms exist regarding improvisation: Axiom one – there is no alternative to learning the theory associated with chords and scales. (Students who rely only on their ears without learning chord and scale construction have a limited existence as jazz improvisers.) Axiom two – there is no alternative to listening to recordings of proficient jazz soloists to develop a jazz language. (Too many young players are expected to stand up and solo with little or no exposure to the musicians who have gone before them.)
   Special activities can help generate extra enthusiasm. Consider hiring a local college or professional jazz ensemble director to work with an ensemble for one or two rehearsals. Someone listening with a fresh perspective will be able to point out problem areas to which the ensemble has become accustomed. Even if a guest repeats what you have been telling the students, they will listen to him as an expert and give his statements more credence.
   Another change of perspective can be gained by taking the ensemble to perform in a jazz festival. The established jazz educators who judge these festivals know how to communicate positively with young players. Students can evaluate themselves, too, so take the time to make recordings of your ensemble and to have students listen to these recordings in an environment just as intense as your most important rehearsal.
   Finally, do not be afraid to ask students what they think about the music you give them to perform. If you find you are on a completely different wavelength, it may be time to buy a few more albums, attend a few more jazz concerts, and request demo albums from a few more publishing companies.
   Nowhere else in the world do young people perform jazz music at as high a standard as in America’s schools. Likewise, nowhere else do music educators have the resources available to them to cultivate even higher quality musical performances. As audiences grow more demanding, so should the desire of the ensemble director to have a group that sounds like the pros.

The post The Elusive Big Band Sound appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Jeff Coffin
   The lower (and higher) extremes of the saxophone present a number of difficulties, articulation not withstanding. I find that having the correct setup between the reed and mouthpiece is extremely important in getting the quickness of response in the low end. I take special care to make sure the reed is balanced side to side.
   I use the entire range when I am playing and practicing patterns, scales, or just improvising freely. One technique I have found that works really well in the low register is playing scales in five-note groupings.

This should be continued throughout the whole range of the instrument and in every key.
   Another good exercise is something I call stair stepping, which is going up and coming down the same five-note sequence.

   These exercises can also be used with the harmonic minor scale as well as the ascending melodic minor scale, both of which produce cool results and interesting-sounding lines. I recommend articulating the second and fourth notes, especially in the low register. I like this exercise because it not only covers the whole instrument but also forces me to articulate in a way that is not in 44. It changes the way I phrase, and that’s a good thing. For more information or to ask questions, please visit . Jeff Coffin is a saxophonist, composer, educator, and Grammy Award winner who plays with the Dave Matthews Band, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, and the Jeff Coffin Mu’tet.

Branford Marsalis
   My concepts on low note articulation are gleaned from my teacher, Harvey Pittel, and some time spent with Dale Underwood. On notes below low E moving the mouthpiece slightly outward decreases the amount of reed vibration, thus creating less sound. In addition, I try to feel the air glancing slightly above the tip of the reed, and toward the top of the mouthpiece. Also, I crane my neck slightly forward so as to really feel the air column flowing upward towards the tip of the mouthpiece. Additionally, it helps to lower the jaw slightly, which creates a larger chamber for the air to circulate in. This combination works well for me.
Branford Marsalis is a Grammy Award-winning jazz and classical recording artist, performer, and educator.

Jason Kush
   First and foremost, it is important to remember the basic principles of saxophone tone production, which include air (speed, amount, and direction), voicing, and embouchure. Each of these includes several internal variables with which players should experiment to achieve the goal of clarity and control.
   A primary issue that comes to mind with regard to low register articulation is pressure around the mouthpiece. The term pressure does not imply a tight embouchure, I am simply drawing attention to the degree of grip onto the mouthpiece. The bottom lip should be supportive against the reed, but free enough for the reed to vibrate at the given frequency. To keep this support and maintain freedom, release the top lip from the mouthpiece, as though snarling. An old Joe Allard technique, releasing the pressure on top, will, in turn, release the bottom pressure as well as free the side rails of the reed to maximize vibration.
   To play low, it is necessary to think low but still move air quickly into the saxophone with a moderate ee tongue position. An oo position is the most open, as to match the lowness of the note, but will not provide the air speed and direction necessary to have the note speak. Having the tongue in a very low position is useless in saxophone playing.
   At this point, I suggest that saxophonists practice articulating low Cs, Bs, and B flats with a snarled upper lip, a medium amount of fast air, and a moderate ee tongue position. If players can make a clear articulation using these elements, the addition of proper tongue technique will make this much easier. As saxophonists begin to practice this, they will likely have a bobble to the note and then the note will become full. This is evidence that students can automatically make an adjustment to allow the pitch to vibrate in its most efficient manner. What saxophonists must do is try to figure out how they are making that adjustment, then anticipate having to do that when articulating.
   As for tonguing, a minute adjustment must be made in comparison to tonguing in the other registers. As a general principle, players should tongue with the tongue touching slightly more of the reed in the low register and less of the reed in the high register. This could also be conceived as tonguing further away from the tip of the tongue. In any case, the reed is to be released in a non-percussive manner as not to produce a slap tongue. A d tonguing position combined with an ee tongue position will help in production of a clear articulation. The word “deep” is an excellent memory device for this.
Jason Kush is professor of saxophone at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.

Connie Frigo
   Articulating low notes requires the same technique as articulating all other notes on the saxophone. As though saying the syllable dih or dah, the upper side of the tip of the tongue lightly flicks the tip of the reed, about 1⁄8" back from the actual tip of the reed. The tongue is forward and the tip moves in an up-and-down motion to strike the reed versus a front-and-back motion. Avoid striking the tip of the reed head on; you will know if you are doing this because the tongue will feel the opening between the tip of the mouthpiece and the reed. This articulation method should be applied across the board regardless of which saxophone is being played or which range of notes is being articulated.
   The less obvious culprit in poor low note response is often a lack of fast, focused air through the horn. Low notes need more air. When playing low notes, or any notes, for that matter, avoid any loosening of the embouchure, and be careful to avoid accidentally using more surface area of the tongue to articulate. Anxiety and physical tension can frequently cause players to decrease air support out of fear of honking the low notes. This worsens the problem. Lack of air, coupled with embouchure manipulation and improper tonguing technique, will cause poor low note response and control. The combination of proper tonguing technique with faster, focused air will allow a controlled sound that should be created as effortlessly as any note on the horn.
Connie Frigo is professor of saxophone at the University of Maryland and baritone saxophonist of the New Century Saxophone Quartet.

Arno Bornkamp
   With a normal embouchure it is important to have extremely strong air support, enough pressure on the reed of the lower jaw, and a good resonance. I like to work on these things with students by using mouthpiece exercises. I like to minimize the tongue action in articulations as much as possible to avoid interrupting the airflow. For a real pianissimo in the low register it is effective to use a double-lip embou-chure, however, the timbre of the sound will be a subtone.
Arno Bornkamp is saxophone professor at Conservatorium van Amsterdam and an international soloist.

Tim Ries
   When articulating in any register of the saxophone, it is important to remember that articulation does not come from hitting the reed with the tongue. Tonguing occurs when you release the tongue from the reed, especially at the beginning of the phrase. When you have sufficient breath support, with the tongue on the reed, release the tongue for the beginning of the note. This enables the player to produce the desired pitch, in any register, with less attack on the note.
Tim Ries plays with the Rolling Stones and is a jazz recording artist, arranger, composer, and producer.

Kenneth Tse
   Confidence is key when tonguing in the low register, regardless of the dynamic level. To be confident, one must learn to feel and imagine how the tongue is maneuvering. Imagination is the key word here. I suggest a brief study of articulatory phonetics (it is the study by phoneticians of how humans produce speech sounds through the interaction of different physiological structures). The knowledge of places or points of articulation inside the mouth is vital in the understanding of optimum tonal projection as well as effective tonguing.
   Confront the problem. Students should not use key pops or other tricks to help with low-note tonguing, at least in the beginning. Learn to tongue correctly and continue to practice until mastery is achieved. It is okay if the low notes sound loud or harsh at first. The objective is to get accustomed only using the tongue to obtain total control on low notes. Otherwise, the beginning of Alfred Descenclos’s Prelude, Cadence et Finale will always induce anxiety.
   To start low notes, avoid having the tongue flat on the reed and making the angle of attack vertical (up and down). Slap-tonguing technique can make it easy to fall into both of these habits. The tip of the tongue should not touch the reed and then release because a slap sound would most likely happen. Instead, imagine that the tongue is curved and positioned at a 45-degree angle and touch the reed in a forward-and-backward motion. It is unimportant whether the tongue is actually moving exactly that way; visualization simply helps students produce the action. This action is, however, actually quite drastic; students should feel that the whole tongue is pulling back when starting the note.
   When tonguing, instead of worrying about touching the reed, focus on touching the alveolar ridge (the raised area right behind the top front teeth) using the middle part of the tongue, which also raises the back of the tongue. Then think of saying taw and pull back the tongue. A part of the tongue will touch the reed to create the articulation, but it should be as light as possible. Most of the pressure should be on the alveolar ridge. Tonguing against the alveolar ridge is the sure way to avoid slap sounds and harsh attacks.
   If students consistently produce the note with an undesirable octave partial, have them focus on where the tongue is after tonguing and on the shape of the oral cavity; improper formation may cause too fast an air stream. In general, it should be quite open after starting the note with the tongue close to the floor.
   The dynamics are then controlled by the distance between the reed and the middle of the tongue. Do not aim at perfection in the beginning. The initial goal is to tongue, produce, and sustain a low note clearly and confidently without hesitation or unwanted noises. Good control in speed and at different dynamic levels will come with persistent and thoughtful practice sessions.
Kenneth Tse is professor of saxophone at the University of Iowa and an international soloist.

Claude Delangle
(Translated by Matt Taylor)
   The low register of the saxophone provides the instrument with its richness of sound but also causes many of the instrument’s acoustic problems. All of the sound potential of an instrument rests in its fundamental notes; it is in the low register that one can hear the richness of the harmonic spectrum. Saxophonists play with these fundamentals to play overtones and altissimo notes. We also know that the bell’s shape is extremely important to the sonority of low notes, and indeed to all the notes through the altissimo register.
   Ultimately, the manufacturing of the instrument affects not only the low register notes, but all of the notes. In an instrument, all registers are linked, so one cannot easily talk about a register without talking about the entire instrument. Nevertheless, the baritone saxophone should be distinguished from the others in the saxophone family. Its low register is proportional to its size, and low notes on this instrument are much more natural sounding and easy to produce compared with other members of the family.
   The richness of the low registers of the other members of the saxophone family is essentially a function of its large conical bore, which produces an extremely full harmonic spectrum. The difficulty associated with playing the lowest notes is therefore a genetic trait of the instrument’s acoustics. This difficulty is most evident when playing piano or softer, when the fundamental and the first and second partials are all equally likely to sound.
   To solve this problem, saxophonists, especially jazz saxophonists, tend to play in a subtone, which allows them to play the fundamental exclusively, and with beauty. Today, with the necessities of an increasingly demanding repertoire, classical saxophonists have developed a variety of subtone techniques that deliver the fundamental with ease, and can offer a range of sounds from totally subtone (détimbré) in which only the fundamental is heard, to a quality of sound with varying numbers of harmonics. These classical subtones are more refined than those used in jazz, and offer more flexibility and control.
   Still, playing in the low register remains a great difficulty for saxophonists and will take a great deal of time to master, especially while playing staccato. Saxophonists must not forget that the action of the tongue must adapt to each register. For playing a high or altissimo note, the contact between the tongue and the reed should be extremely light so that it does not interfere with the vibration and result in a cracked note, whereas for a low note it is the opposite. The attack of the tongue must be firm on the reed, and cover more of the reed’s surface. This is why the slap tongue is easier to produce in the low register.
Claude Delangle is saxophone professor at National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris, France, and an international soloist.

   It is evident that many concepts exist to teach this often difficult area of saxophone sound production.  Assisting students to develop a  method, drawn from these master teachers, will allow for a successful articulation and pure tone in this register of the instrument.              

The post Saxophone Low Notes, Tips from the Masters appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

   When we talked with our reviewers last month, the last question we asked each of them was about their ideal concert program. Their answers were so interesting and informative that we chose to run them as a separate article.

Elizabeth Peterson
   In a class I teach that covers this, I compare programming to the five-paragraph essay approach. When I learned how to write an essay in high school, you had to have an opening paragraph and a concluding paragraph. The opening paragraph had to capture the reader’s interest and say what the paper was going to be about. Then there were three supporting paragraphs followed by a concluding paragraph that summed it all up and left the reader with a good thought on the theme. I keep that idea for a good concert. The first piece should grab everyone’s attention, and then there should be three meaty, good pieces: perhaps something slow, something contemporary, or a multi-movement work. The closer should be fun and rousing closer, it could be a march, a dance, or anything that is going to make everyone stand up, cheer, and feel good about making music.
   Another way I think about programming is the idea of one piece for me, one for the group, and one for the audience. The one for me is something that will help me improve as a conductor. One for the students is something the whole group will enjoy, in which every section has an interesting part. One for the audience is something they would want to come back and hear the band play again.
   Theme concerts can be good occasionally. With my college students I performed the Ira Hearshen Symphony on Themes of John Philip Sousa which is a four-movement symphony with each movement based on a different Sousa march. On the first half of the program we played the four marches, then after a brief pause we performed the symphony, which is approximately 40 minutes long. It was fun and a good experience for music majors, but I think we were all glad when we were done. There should be moderation in everything for the sake of variety and including something for everyone on a program.

Charles Groeling
   I grew up with Glenn Cliffe Bainum, Dvorak from Wisconsin, Hindsley, and Begian. Their programs were difficult, but they were melodic and they communicated to the audience. I am not saying we should avoid avant garde music, and colleges, which train students to be professional players, program such works because that’s where the art is going, but I have talked to people who have been to concerts at which they didn’t hear anything they could identify with because the entire program was dissonant with unusual rhythms.
   I think it is ideal for a program to have at least some melody. I don’t mean simple, boring music, but something well scored that shows off the timbral capabilities of the band and artistry of the players. When I taught high school, my students preferred orchestral transcriptions and would check out the parts to play at home. We went through many transcriptions in rehearsals simply because students wanted to play them. From this experience I discovered that even most of the good high school players can play all the technical passages, but it is difficult for them to go from A to B smoothly and making it sound good. I think we need to stress a little more legato playing in our programming.

Jon James
   When I put together a program I try to make a mix of pieces that the students will enjoy, things the audience will enjoy, and educationally sound music. The program should have a mixture of marches, overtures, and slow and fast pieces. It is important to change the speed, style, genre, and key from one piece to the next. I once attended a concert consisting of two works by Wagner and two by Strauss. The group played well, but it was painful to sit through because it was four of the same style and an extremely dark concert.

Mark Hosler
   The best approach is to have something for everyone. If you want audience members to come to another concert there ought to be at least one thing on the program they knew or liked. It is best to develop your audience, not just be able to brag about the difficulty of the music you play.
   I always like to have a traditional march. When I first came to Clemson, I had an interview with the dean of the college. He was a big fan of Sousa marches and made it crystal clear at my interview  how disappointed he was when he attended a concert without hearing one. I programmed a march every time, and he always sent me a note thanking me for it. I always include a slower, expressive piece and like to feature a soloist, too.
   When I look at music I always try to see it from a student’s perspective. I want my students to feel a sense of accomplishment from a performance. Nobody wants to go into a performance with the feeling that they are in over their heads. Contest lists are dictated to the directors; the classification of a school determines which pieces you have to play, and sometimes there is little control over what is required. Some people would argue that challenging students will help them get better, but the difficult decision is whether it is better to challenge the top players with a piece of music and have half of the section unable to keep up or to have something where everyone can feel a sense of accomplishment. To stretch the better players, I look for selections that have difficult first parts or encourage these students to take on difficult works at solo and ensemble contests.

John Thomson
   I have very strong opinions about this. A concert should have an opener, either an overture or a fanfare. This first piece should be a call to attention that is inviting to the audience. I like to have a centerpiece of a concert; this is almost always a multiple-movement work and should be considered the meat and potatoes of the concert. With older players that could be a symphony, while intermediate players might play a suite, such as one of the Holst suites or Vaughan Williams’s Folk Song Suite. Every concert should have a change-of-pace moment, a work that is slow and cantabile. This will help young players learn to play legato and cantabile and also give the audience a chance to hear something different.
   I like to challenge both students and audience. If a band is essentially a grade 3 ensemble, I will include a grade 4 piece on the program. I challenge the audience with a work that is less tonal or stretches people’s understanding of what music is. It seems that too few band concerts have solo features for either guest artists or advanced players within the ensemble. Grade 2 and 3 works for solo instruments with band accompaniments are a rarity. The band tradition does not demand that every concert have a march, but I think most band concerts should have a march. Although they work well as closers, I sometimes like to start the second half of a concert with one. A closer is essential. Every concert ought to end in a way that is satisfying.

James Lambert
   Every high school concert band program should include a Sousa march. I also favor compositions with mixed meters and would like to see more Latin American rhythms. On the high school programs I also like to see something that the students will enjoy. For example, on a recent community band concert I conducted a medley of music from Glee. A concert should end with something semi-patriotic.

Julie Carr
   I always had three orchestras that played on the same program and they all followed the same format. I usually started with a piece that was on the easy side for the group. Something at a moderate tempo will ease students into the program, and the ideal choice was a Baroque or early Classical piece. I programmed in historical order because I thought it was easier for the audience to follow. The middle piece would be the most difficult, usually a standard piece or an arrangement of a standard piece from either the Classical or early Romantic era. The last piece was usually a shorter piece that was fast and flashy; I used these pieces to teach finger or bow articulation and how to play quickly and cleanly. Frequently I would use a fiddle tune or something similar so concerts ended with an American composer. Even the very youngest students could handle easy fiddle tunes, and some students could improvise the harmony. I followed that format for each group and tried to find pieces that fit each ensemble.

Bruce Moss
   An opener should grab not only the students’ attention but also the audience’s, and a final work should leave people wanting more. Everything in between should be a good variety not only in the style of the pieces but in the instrumental colors, in the tempi, and in the keys. Nothing is worse than a band concert full of E flat, B flat, and F.
   On most concerts it is important to include a project piece that will stretch both the musical ability of the players and the listening capability of  the audience members. I think we have an obligation to present the audience with a work or two that they may have to stop and think about – something that they might not immediately understand or like. Of course, such works should be blended with more enjoyable pieces that will draw the audience back for more. A suitable variety is always essential for audience interest, as well as for the education of the performers.

Kevin Schoenbach
   For concert band we try to include a march on every concert, as well as something we consider a standard from the band world, such as works by Holst or Vaughan Williams, or maybe a good orchestra transcription. I like to find works written with wind ensemble in mind, or orchestral works transcribed for wind ensemble. I try to include a piece from another culture on each concert; in fact, our first concert of the year is music from around the world. I try to find a well-written soundtrack arrangement or medley. This is usually the most difficult spot to fill, because I only program these if they have a lot of substance to them. This year we worked on a grade 5 medley of Harry Potter tunes. It was extremely difficult, but it had a lot of substance to it and most of the students knew the music. I like to have five songs per concert, so I will fill in the final place with something cool that I’ve heard recently.
   At a wind ensemble concert this year we performed Sousa’s Liberty Bell; Irish Rhapsody by Clare Grundman; Seis Manuel, a Puerto Rican piece that revolves around some solos that get passed through the band; a Harry Potter medley; and the wild card, Bayou Breakdown, a cake walk with New Orleans-style music in preparation for a spring break trip to New Orleans.
   For jazz band, I focus mainly on swing; Count Basie and Duke Ellington reign supreme in our ensemble. I put a premium on encouraging my woodwinds to double, so I search for music that has that opportunity. Every part in each section is very important. I also like to see independent parts, such as the third trombone having a different rhythm from the second, and solos for any part. If a solo is written for the third trumpet that student is going to play the solo; I don’t have the same trumpet player take all the solos. I also try to include Latin and rock pieces at every concert.  

Do you have any unusual programming ideas, dissenting thoughts on marches, or interesting concert traditions? Share them with us: editor@the instrumentalist.com.

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What led you to move from college teaching to the high schools level?
    After earning a master’s degree at the New England Conservatory, I went to Juilliard for a year in the professional studies program and attended the Aspen Music Festival in the summer. While at Aspen I was offered a job at Florida Community College in Jacksonville, where I was a professor of music theory and clarinet, one of two full-time instrumental faculty members. The ensemble director had some health problems and the department chairman asked me to conduct the band in his absence. I enjoyed it so much that 15 minutes into rehearsing “Jupiter” from The Planets, I wondered why I hadn’t continued conducting past college. Five years later I went to Emory University in Atlanta as the head director of instrumental music, conducting the jazz ensemble, wind ensemble, and orchestra. When I started the school had about 10 music majors, and when I left, there were about 60.
    While at Emory I started leading high school workshops on weekends, and I came home bubbling over the level of enthusiasm and quick progress of the high school students, which eventually led me to teach high school. For three years after that I worked after school at the DeKalb County Center for Performing Arts in inner-city Atlanta. I worked with the marching band, which grew from 45 to 180 members, and conducted three or four musicals a year. I often left work at midnight for weeks on end.
    After three years I decided to find something that let me get home earlier and took a job at North Gwinnett High School in a suburb of Atlanta called Suwanee, where I stayed for five years. My band was invited to play at the University of South Carolina’s band clinic, and soon after a superintendent called and asked me to apply for the job at Irmo High School in that state. Irmo won the 5A state marching band competition seven out of my eight years there. When I went out for my first American Bandmasters Association meeting in Las Vegas I ran into Jerry Junkin, the director of bands at the University of Texas and a friend from my years at Florida Community College. He was on the search committee for Bowie High School and asked me if I was interested. I interviewed and have now been here for ten years.

What are the keys to preparing a good performance?
    When putting a piece of music together, the notes and rhythms have to come first. Without those, the performance will not convey the intensions of the composer. Every composer has a trademark sound, and producing that is the goal of a performance, not just playing the notes sitting on the stand. It is important that students realize that music connects us with some kind of past experience, whether musical or otherwise. As Hindemith so aptly put it, if we didn’t have an emotional connection to what we hear, it would simply have a tickling effect on our ears. The music would not connect with the emotions and the mind.
    I spend a lot of time working on fundamentals. I like to go back to some of the old books, for example the Unisonal Scales and Chords by William White, which was used by the service bands in the 50s and 60s to build an ensemble sound. I also use the Grover Yaus books, including 101 Rhythmic Rests. I think that’s the one most know, but there’s also the 150, the 59, and the 27 rhythmic etudes. Each one has a varying degree of difficulty. I use the 150 with my freshmen because it repeats rhythm after rhythm, all in unison. That way it not only teaches a unified articulation but intonation.
    I use I Recommend by James Ployhar and the Claude T. Smith Symphonic Concert Warmups for the chorales. The tunes in Smith’s book are familiar and use difficult keys like A flat and D flat, so students become comfortable in keys other than E flat, B flat, and F. Directors pass something out in D flat, like one of those dark, sonorous Alford marches, such as The Vanished Army, and frequently students just fight notes for weeks. My freshmen have to play all 12 major scales individually. It still doesn’t guarantee a great reading of The Vanished Army, but it does assure that students can listen in all the keys and make adjustments.
    A book that few people still use is Leonard Smith’s Treasury of Scales, which really builds the ensemble sound. It creates a strong sonority by teaching players to hear the root, 3rd, and 5th in different settings and to drop the 3rd or raise the 5th in a major chord.
    I always teach rhythm with drumsticks in my hands. My clarinet teacher at Juilliard said that every minute you practice without a metronome is a minute wasted, and that has stuck with me for 30 years. Pulse holds the group together, so I constantly keep tempo and pulse in their minds. I use drumsticks because I’ve broken so many batons by banging them on the stand. After a while the students settle into the rhythm and make that their responsibility. Rarely do the groups here lose tempo.
    I also teach tempo memorization. To do that I will set the metronome to 120, and we will play for a while. We move on to something else, and a couple minutes later I’ll ask somebody to tap 120. After someone guesses I turn on the metronome to see how close it was.

How do you instill fundamentals in students?
    Every time we come back to a piece after learning it initially, and students make a mistake, I say, “The capital of Texas is Austin,” and they understand that they should know the music as well as they know that the capital of Texas is Austin. Sometimes I wonder why am I still telling seniors that they missed an F#. Playing correct notes is like starting a sentence with a capital letter and ending it with a period. There are certain rules we learn in other subject areas that we automatically follow because of repetition, so if young students miss an F#, they should repeat the passage many times. When we fix accents or articulations, I always repeat it five times, whether it’s a single measure or a four-measure phrase. This way they associate the physical feeling of the air or tongue used to produce the accent with the sound.
When I sit down to do a crossword puzzle, obviously I have to think about the clue for a minute, but there are certain things I don’t forget, such as how to write the letter B. Sometimes I may misspell something, but I know how to correct that problem. That’s how we approach teaching music. If you start learning a solo, the teacher doesn’t have to point out every crescendo or accent. The teacher can focus more on correct style, which produces higher ratings.
    At high school workshops I help groups prepare for upcoming festivals. I clean up technique and help the band understand the piece as a whole. One difficulty directors face is that students don’t initially grasp the totality of a piece when they begin to work on it. I put the technical elements together like a crossword puzzle and prepare them for that higher level of understanding.
    A former student of mine auditioned for the United States Army Band and played the repertoire for me a couple weeks before the audition. He began one excerpt too fast, and I told him that his tempo choice was not at all traditional, so he slowed it down. Afterwards he called me from Washington, D.C. to tell me that he made it to the second round. He said that almost everybody played that excerpt too fast, but those who made the cut played at a slower tempo.

What do you consider when choosing repertoire for your ensembles?
    It is less important how well students play a piece initially than what they get out of it by the time the concert or contest is over. I don’t pass out a piece entirely out of students’ grasp, but I do push them with music just above their level. This year the top band is playing the Rienzi Overture by Richard Wagner, one of those great old overtures that is rarely played anymore. I conducted it recently with an honor band in Georgia. The directors were thrilled, commenting that their students would go home knowing a piece of music that they might not have learned otherwise. When I conduct an honor band I try to have a diverse program by including something from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, as well as a 20th-century band piece. I want to give students the best of all worlds.
    I also like to premiere new pieces. A composer in Austin named Ryan George wrote a piece called Firefly in the last few years, and when Steven Bryant was working on his doctorate, he wrote the piece Dusk and conducted it for us.
    While preparing to go to Seattle this year to perform at the Western International Band Clinic I learned that Satoshi Yagasawa, a Japanese composer who wrote a piece we were playing called Machu Picchu, would be there during the concert, so I asked him to guest conduct his piece on the concert. He led a rehearsal through a translator. It was such a great thing for my students to play for these composers.
    I teach a chamber winds course in which students learn chamber music as part of the curriculum. They receive the music in December, rehearse on their own in January, and beginning in February band class is dedicated to small ensemble rehearsals. Six pianists come to accompany the soloists, and the other three directors and I coach them. I spend considerable time in music stores looking for the best repertoire. If students play great music, their concept of playing improves.
    This year as I listened to the U.S. Marine Band’s performance of the overture to Smetana’s The Bartered Bride at the Midwest, it struck me that I have never heard anything so beautifully played. That morning they had played a chamber concert, and the beauty with which both concerts were performed proves that the skills transfer. I have woodwind quintets in each of my bands because I want the flute, oboe, bassoon, clarinet, and horn players to blend well, and if they do it in a group of five, imagine what they can do in band.

What are your aims in conducting freshman band?
    I teach freshman band because students come to Bowie from four middle schools. It is easier to address all the important aspects and teach the vocabulary I use when they’re together in one class. I got the idea from Paula Crider, who is now the president of the American Bandmasters Association. She told me that her freshman band was a great tool. When I came to Bowie, there were three concert bands, but no freshman group.
    It is difficult to come from middle school repertoire and play Respighi in a top high school wind ensemble. Students might be able to play the notes, but lack the necessary intellectual understanding. That’s why I decided to have the freshman band play that wonderful middle-of-the-road repertoire, such as Vaughan Williams’s English Folk Song Suite and John P. Zdechlik’s Chorale and Shaker Dance. That repertoire is meaty and prepares them to step into one of the other ensembles. It pulls students in a direction that they’re not comfortable with coming from the middle school and leads them to become more responsible.
    Incoming freshmen do not audition at the beginning of the year. Coming into a new school with a new director is difficult enough, so they audition later. This year we divided the 98 freshmen into two concert bands in November. Before then we worked on rhythm, counting, and intonation. By the audition in November we have built friendship and trust, so they give me a good indication of how they play. The audition repertoire is usually a full-page etude; it can have some difficult technical demands, but I mainly want to hear how they play their instrument.
    Older students audition yearly, and I alternate every year between auditioning them individually in my office or bringing in professionals to hear them. Auditioning 300 players by myself takes three or four weeks. Auditions occur at the end of the school year, so the freshmen audition for the upper bands after a full year in the program. The repertoire is usually all twelve major scales, the chromatic scale, sightreading, and an etude that we choose. We do not help students on these; they work on school audition material on their own or with their private teachers, which most students have.

What is your philosophy on marching band?
    We refer to the marching group as the outdoor performing ensemble because it incorporates as many aspects of the school as possible. If the show uses props, we get the theater people to build them and move them on and off the field. When I came here, there was a real need for more visual activity in the program because the color guard was small. I invited the dance team to work with the band, and their director, who had played at the University of Texas, loved the idea and choreographed for 80 girls to surround the band during the performance. In parades I like to invite the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps cadets to carry the flags.
    The name also reflects the fact that we play substantial music. When I think of marching band, I think of marches, but if we’re going to spend three months working on the same music, the students should get something out of it. This past year we played Tchaikovsky, and in the past ten years we have done works by Ginestera, Mahler, Stravinsky, John Adams, Respighi, and Shostakovich to name a few. If we are going to stand outside in 100 degree weather and march day after day, I want students to have experiences that they will remember. We played “Deep in the Heart of Texas” when we went to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2008 because we were from Texas and I thought it would draw attention to who we are.
    Our drum major this year has cystic fibrosis. She had great dedication and was an inspiration to me. She has a debilitating disease but doesn’t miss a rehearsal or performance. That’s one of the great things about teaching, you run across students who really inspire you. It helps you realize that working outside in hot weather isn’t so bad after all, compared to what this student has to overcome.

Why do you avoid going to the same places each year?
    The Bands of America Grand Nationals are such a wonderful experience, and I want it to leave a strong impression on the students and remain the pinnacle of the their marching band careers. However, I think it becomes just another contest if you go every year, so our band attends different competitions. There were three years between our last two trips to Grand Nationals, so the group that was there as freshmen got to return as seniors. I am not planning to go again for a couple of years.
    The concert band went to the Western International Band Clinic in Seattle twice recently, partly because Canada is so close. We take the clipper up to Victoria, get off the boat, and line up to go through customs. It is a good experience for the students to get passports and learn about international travel. This year the festival had a group from Japan and one from Idaho. It’s important for students to realize that music is the universal language. We can get on a plane and fly to Russia and play a duet with a Russian clarinetist and not say a word because the music is the same.
    On the trip to the Macy’s parade we stopped in Washington D.C. for a couple days. We brought a wreath to present at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arlington National Cemetery and all 305 band members wore matching black jackets. The tomb is in the back of the cemetery away from the parking lot, so the students got in a straight line and followed each other close to three-fourths of a mile without saying a word. I remember wondering what was going through their minds, surrounded by these graves and all of this heritage. The amount of respect they had was mind-boggling, and many people stopped to ask who we were. We’d tell them that we’re a high school band from Texas going to the Macy’s parade. They would say it’s no wonder, considering how respectful these children are. Then we did the same thing that night at the Vietnam Memorial and visited the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. I think part of my job as an educator is not only to teach them about music, but to also show them the world beyond the Texas state line.

How do you raise funds for the band program?
    Our program was inspired by a fundraiser at Lafayette High School in Kentucky called Flamingo Flocking. They have 200-300 plastic pink flamingos, and people pay the band to have them all put in someone’s yard for such special occasions as birthdays. They have the flamingos put in before sunrise and gone before sundown. Imagine waking up and going to get the newspaper and finding 300 pink flamingos in your yard. This didn’t catch on in my community, but we have a similar program called the American Flag.
    People buy a year-long subscription for $40 and on July 4th, Veterans’ Day, Presidents’ Day, and a few other holidays we put an American flag in their front yard. We own the flags and poles and use a couplet to plant it to avoid damage to the grass. The parents deliver the flags, and we have about 1,800 or 2,000 subscriptions now. In addition to individuals, many neighborhoods subscribe so there’s a flag at the entrance to their street. It works well for us because students do not have to convince people to buy candy or magazines. The money students raise goes towards their band accounts, so if someone sells 20 subscriptions, that’s $800 toward their balance.

What advice do you offer others?
    I tell colleagues and students, “Whatever you’re going to do, do it to the best of your ability. Don’t ever settle for mediocrity.” When a couple of students were late to a morning rehearsal recently, I said, “I know this rehearsal starts at 7:30, and it can be difficult to get here, but I drop my two children off at their school while it is still dark so I can be here on time.” It is irresponsible for them to take an extra ten minutes to get here, and I want them to know that we all make sacrifices to have a great band. From the looks on their faces I could tell that they understood why they should be considerate to others.        

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