Guest Article: Fundamentals vs Performance - We Can Have Both!

This time of year, when we’re all preparing our bands to play a handful of pieces for concert adjudication, I am reminded of a new favorite mantra, “a good sounding band is a good sounding band.” It’s easy to get caught up in performance preparation, tough schedules, lack of rehearsal time, and other things that can stand in the way of helping students create wonderful music and a polished performance. But if we just “chase notes” and neglect the fundamental skills for our ensembles, our performances will lack the very polish we seek and we will not have a good sounding band! Below are a few ways that I have found to integrate fundamental musicianship skills into rehearsals, while still preparing for the next concert or festival.

Sound Quality/ Tuning/ Balance

While students are playing all of the notes on the page in front of them, their brain activity often becomes singularly devoted to producing those notes as individuals rather than listening to the sounds they are creating as part of an ensemble. Rather than working on these fundamentals separately, here is a way to work on those same notes while working fundamental ensemble skills.

Starting with the first measure of a section or phrase and ask students to “hold a whole note on first note you play in measure 1, rest for 4 counts, then repeat.” During the 4-count rest ask directed listening questions and offer suggestions to the ensemble. These may include things like:

• “Can you hear the tubas while you play?”
• “Is this a major or minor chord?”
• “Which section is the loudest?”
• “Which section has the best sound right now?”
• “More air!”
• “Just the brass/woodwinds this next time.”

Once you are satisfied with what you are hearing, use the 4-count rest to direct students to play the next measure, and repeat this process until you finish the segment or phrase. To bridge back to playing the full piece take out the rests and play the new "chorale" you just created while directing students to maintain the level of performance they created during the exercise. Conduct dynamics and shape the line. It's great fun for you, and you’ll be making connections between the conductor and the ensemble! Win-win!

Scales for EVERYONE!

If the woodwinds have a technical run or passage, ask them what key it is in. It is often in a different key than the key signature! Ask the entire band to play that scale. My favorite process for working on a scale with a full band is:

• Entire band recites scale in concert pitch (Db, Eb, F, Gb, etc)
• Each instrument says their scale, while performing fingerings, as the director picks a section to recite with "French Horns I'm with you - (Ab, Bb, C, Db, etc)
• Perform scale.Then ask the students to write in above the technical passage "Db Major” so they know the vocabulary they are using in that spot. Now all the students have shared in the learning that technical passage requires. The next time everyone encounters a difficult scale passage in that key, they'll be better prepared to identify and meet that challenge.

Remington Long Tone Exercise – Not Just for Warm-ups!

If there is a section of music where your brass keeps missing larger leaps in their music and/or your woodwinds tend to sound louder and out of balance in the upper register taking a Remington “time out” can be very helpful. Ask students to start on a comfortable pitch: F, Bb, tonal center, etc. and proceed down or up in half steps or up the scale of the piece (more scales!)

One example I use a lot with my high school band is to start on the concert Bb that would be the top note of each instrument’s scale, play Bb, C, Bb, rest… Bb, D, Bb, rest… Eb, F, etc. Around Eb concert is when tone and volume usually start to change for the worse. Things to remind students of as they proceed:

• Try to maintain the same volume and tone on the middle note
• The larger the distance between notes the more focused the air should be
• Maintain excellent posture with relaxed shoulders and neck, no tension

After working to create a good, balanced sound, have the ensemble re-approach the same section and try to apply the same air and sounds they just made in the exercise to the musical passage. Listen for how they transfer the fundamentals!

Difficult Rhythmic Passages

Start by giving the rhythm in question to the whole band. There are many ways to do this. A few ideas are:

• Ask students whose part contains the rhythm to play and have others attempt to transcribe it with teacher writing it on the board.
• Use technology - take picture of the rhythm and project it, use a document camera, etc.
• Prepare a rhythm sheet with many or all the rhythms used in the piece

Try playing this rhythm in unison on concert F or Bb, the tonal center of the piece, or the first note of the measure. Even students who have different musical lines can use the first note of each measure to play a rhythmic ostinato that is written on the board while the section in question plays their part.

Final Thoughts

You can conduct during any of these exercises or turn on a metronome as well. I have taken to using a mechanical wind up metronome on my stand or near me on the podium. The whole band can hear the metronome during the rests then they have to maintain an internal pulse while playing and watching the conductor (who can still hear the metronome to maintain a consistent pulse).

Much like chopping up extra vegetables into the pasta sauce that my kids eat to make it healthier, I hope some of these ideas help your students not only improve the pieces you’re working on but help them to "get better at getting better" and become healthier musicians.