5-Minute Read: Festival Programming

Music Performance Assessment.  Large Group.  Festival.  Contest.  Whatever you call it, we are entering the season when we prepare our concert bands to be evaluated and judged at regional and state-wide events.  At the center of that process is the ever-present question we face annually: "What do I play?"

Before I tackle this question, let me first give a caveat.  Like all of my blog articles, these are my educated and informed opinions developed through experience.  Festival programming is an issue about which many directors feel very strongly, and I'm certain that many would disagree with the suggestions below.  I'm aware of this, so let me remind you that these are only suggestions, and that there are many alternative answers to this question.  That being said, if you are a younger director, or if you have had difficulty in achieving success in your concert band performance evaluations, then I hope these ideas can help guide you in the coming weeks and months.

Don't Compromise on Quality

If you saw my 5-Minute Read article "What to Play," you know that I'm a firm believer in not wasting our time rehearsing and performing literature that we don't value musically.  The same holds true when performing for an adjudicated festival.  Don't play something at festival just because "it's a great festival piece," or "the judges love it," or "everyone else is playing it at festival." There are many wonderful pieces for which all three of those items are true, and you should program them.  But program a work because of its musical and educational value to you and your students, not for any other reasons.  At the same time, however...

Don't Overreach

I've done it myself, and I've seen many a young band director do it: don't over-program difficult literature at festival.  There are many opportunities for you to really "reach for the stars" in your concert programming: at your spring concert, or in the music you perform on spring trips.  Just remember that judges will always judge you and your ensemble on what you do, not what you're trying to do.  I can honestly say, and I'm sure there are many other judges who would agree with me, that I'd rather hear a beautifully crafted, fluent, comfortable performance of Grade 3 music than a "hold on for dear life, I hope they make it" performance of Grade 4 music.  Of course, you need to select music at the appropriate level as defined by your state's bandmasters association, and there are lists of music to be followed in many locales.  But we all know there is a wide range of difficulty within a given "grade," so don't let your eyes get bigger than your stomach when you're programming for festival!

Don't Be Too Hasty!

Resist the urge.  Don't do it.  Don't pick your music for festival on January 3rd and then spend every rehearsal from now until your performance rehearsing it.  I know it's hard to resist, but I promise you that there's time to find the right pieces for your ensemble before you commit to them.  The best band's I've ever heard and observed spent the first 2 to 3 weeks of the spring semester sight reading multiple pieces of music that were a possibility for their final festival program.  This process has so many benefits:

• You and your students are working on sight-reading something new everyday!
• You and your students don't get bored because there's something new everyday!
• You and your students don't get miserably tired of the festival music because you aren't going to be rehearsing it everyday for 8-12 weeks!
• You get to test out works you're considering, and see if they showcase your band's talents, or see if they expose some major issues you don't want heard by a panel of judges!

If you wait to commit to a festival program, your students will be better and happier musicians for all of the sight-reading and literature to which you've exposed them.  And you'll be much happier because you know you've done the hands-on research to find works that highlight your band's strengths.  Good luck to all of you preparing your bands for spring concert assessments!