WASBE Developing Band Network

The WASBE Developing Band Network is a forum for musicians and educators throughout the world that are involved in the training of young band musicians. The way a young instrumentalist is taught varies from country to country but the ultimate goal is the same. The WASBE Developing Band Network connects music academies, school music programs, and youth bands throughout the world in an effort to share ideas about all aspects of band music education.

The Blog is a dialogue on a variety of topics where the Wiki is a repository of resources that pertain to band music education.

Please get involved by posting comments to specific blog postings or submit material for inclusion in the wiki.

Reflections on Festival Season

Tue, 2010-05-11 02:20

Festival season is upon us in North America and I have had a bit of a different take on things this year. Besides my usual adjudication schedule, I traveled to the US with one of our school ensembles to a competitive festival. I was traveling as a chaperon, rather than a director and this gave me an opportunity to sit back and observe without being hindered by getting the band ready to perform, etc. This experience coupled with a recent adjudication of an elementary level, non-competitive festival got a number of thoughts running through my head.

As music educators, we need to spend more time thinking about what the festival experience is all about. Festivals can be an outstanding experience for student musicians and their directors, but only if the reason for working toward a festival experience is clear to all. I was amazed at the number of bands that I heard at the competitive festival in the US that had an amazing ability to play accurate technique with poor sound and little expression. I will admit, that I did not have the opportunity to listen to all of the bands and this may have only been the case with the few ensembles that I was able to hear. But it seemed that notes and rhythms were drilled at the expense of all else. We have a strong tradition of recordings of ensembles that have presented immaculately prepared technical recordings at the expense of expression, but they realize that tone is an essential ingredient to any performance. Good tone allows good technique and expression. The approach of drilling notes and rhythms seems akin to cramming for any academic test - you have a "good" one-off but no long-term understanding.

I've also spent some time wondering about the repertoire that was performed at both festivals. There is the obvious question of quality that is a popular topic in WASBE discussions. What concerns me, and it is directly related, is what we are teaching the students through our repertoire choice. I am more concerned about the sameness of repertoire than what particular pieces are being played. If one formulaic overture is performed, the argument could be made that the one piece teaches certain aspects of form and technique and allows an opportunity to work in a dance style and contrasting legato style. Is there a need to play two pieces on the same program of the same genre? I think not. Likewise, I would never program "pop" repertoire on a festival program, but that doesn't mean that there isn't anything to be learned from "pop" repertoire. An exposure to a variety of styles and musical traditions is essential to a good music education. But, do we need an entire festival program of the top hits of our current pop idols? I don't think so. A variety of repertoire allows more interest on the students' parts and allows the teacher an opportunity to teach more music.

The dangers of competitive festivals are well-known and documented. Excessive emphasis on competition leads to focus on the athleticism of music. How many technical hurdles can each band navigate to gain as many points as possible? In my local area, competitive festivals disappeared nearly 20 years ago, but this has lead to a different set of problems. Especially prevalent in the younger teachers, who have not experienced a competitive festival is the lack of understanding of what a festival experience is about. A not uncommon expectation from non-competitive festivals is that it is simply another performance but where an "expert" praises you and boosts your confidence.

What every music educator/director needs to have clear in his/her mind as festival preparations are undertaken is exactly what is expected out of the experience regardless of whether the festival is competitive or not. This philosophy must be understood by the musicians. In my mind, a festival experience must give the ensemble (including the director) an opportunity to learn and grow. This requires performing a well-balanced program of repertoire that pushes the ensemble but allows them the opportunity for a successful performance. The music should allow the musicians to experience a depth of contrasting repertoire that will challenge them technically and musically. It should be planned with the adjudicator in mind and the format of the festival. If there is a clinic/workshop involved after the performance, there should be ample repertoire for the adjudicator to demonstrate and work with the band on a variety of concepts.

A well-thought out festival experience can be invaluable to an ensemble in that it provides a high-level performance experience that evaluates current progress and allows for future goal setting. It is first and formost an educational experience. With this in mind, a lot of the stress goes away and the process becomes a positive experience regardless of what place one comes in or what individual adjudicators say.

I'm anxious to hear others' thoughts on festivals. Please, feel free to press the comment button and chime in!

Tone Quality

Tue, 2010-05-11 02:21

Ensemble Tone Quality

Quality tone must serve as the solid foundation for the development of further musical fundamentals and advanced musical skills. Although tone is influenced by several factors, the quality of tone produced by an ensemble is especially influenced by the conceptof good tone. If we do not have a tonal image of the sound we want to hear, then the danger is that any sound will suffice.

Instead, we must develop a strong “aural taste” of what constitutes good tone quality. The way we develop a discerning palette for various foods, we can also develop discernment for assessing tone quality. If we allow our ears to accept mediocre tone quality on a daily basis, then a refined taste for good sound eventually deteriorates. Some methods for refining your tonal palette include:

1)Describe characteristic tone to your students by means of aural recordings. A student cannot be expected to emulate a sound that they have never heard. Nor can a student be expected to produce good, characteristic tone unless the director can identify good, characteristic tone. Once an aural imprint has been made, only then can the director set expectations for the student to reproduce good tone. Each director must apply prudent selectiveness when choosing quality musical recordings to share with the students. Just as “a picture is worth 1000 words”; a quality recording is worth 1000 aural imprints.

2)Meet with your school librarian and principal and discuss the possibility of the library purchasing a few quality audio recordings each year. Be sure to supply the librarian with your recommendations.

3)Introduce students to good music by playing some of your own favorite recordings during a rehearsal. Build a collection of quality recordings of various artists and instruments, and select a different artist to be playing each day over the sound system as students enter the rehearsal room.

4)Devote a few minutes at the beginning of a rehearsal to active listening of a recording followed by an open discussion of the music. Assist students in developing a vocabulary of words that can help describe various tone qualities. You may be surprised how many students already own quality recordings. Invite them to share their favorites with you and the class.

5)Attend live performances. Symphony halls will usually offer discount rates to students and to groups. A band booster organization may further assist in the cost of purchasing group tickets to a live performance.

6)Consider bringing a live performance to the students. Many university ensembles are very willing to travel to schools to perform a concert program. Contact the director of an ensemble to arrange a possible performance date. Although a university ensemble always appreciates an honorarium of any amount to assist in travel costs and program funding, many have the resources to travel and perform gratuitously.

7)Perform musical selections for your students on any instrument you consider yourself to be a proficient player. Bring in colleagues that are able to proficiently perform on the other instruments. Invite some of your more advanced high school students to perform for the younger students. (This also serves as a great recruiting and retention tool.)

8)Compare recordings of the same piece as performed by different artists. It can be very enlightening to ask students to write down "color" words that best describe each artist's tone, and teaches students how to assess and evaluate different tone productions.

If players can lessen their physical effort to produce the quality of tone they desire, and become more interested in hearing the shapeof the sound, then they can often generate a more natural and successful tonal quality. How do you incorporate learning activities during a rehearsal that provide for development of tonal concept?

 

Dr. Shelley Jagow

Wright State University

Dayton, Ohio

Balance

Mon, 2010-03-01 07:00
I am curious as to what kind of emphasis people put on teaching music vs. technique in their band classes or rehearsals. I know that some tend to teach technique as something separate to the repertoire. How do you relate the two, seemingly unrelated topics in your work?
 
Personally, I tend to pick repertoire that is appropriate to the level of ensemble that I'm working with and much of my technique work is directed toward the repertoire. Having said that, there are some aspects of technique that I teach that are not directly connected to the days music. I teach scale technique and rhythmic concepts as almost a separate curriculum to ensure that what I cover is comprehensive. There is also a sliding balance point depending on the experience level of the students. Beginning students aren't going to get much by diving right into a piece of music without spending time on tone production and basic rhythm and fingering concepts. The upper level students can spend less time on technical exercises and more time on repertoire.
 
What works for you?

Repertoire review from Tim Reynish

Fri, 2010-01-01 07:00
Tim Reynish sends this from the UK. The piece is for youth choir and the wind parts don't expose players excessively. He has not seen a score but believes that to be accessible by youth bands. It certainly seems like it is worth the investigation, especially if you have an opportunity to bring youth choir and band forces together! His review is below and please check out his web site as a rich resource on wind repertoire.
 

HERTFORDSHIRE WIND SINFONIA

& COUNTY YOUTH CHOIR

Conductor Mark Eager

Baritone Tim Hobman

Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban

Friday 21st August 2009, 7.30 pm

 

Night Journey (World Premiere) Daniel Basford

 

The generous acoustic of St. Albans Abbey came into its own for the world premiere of the evening, an especially commissioned work for Baritone, Chorus and Concert Band by Daniel Basford, There is no doubt in my mind that Daniel Basford has the potential to become one of the leading composers for wind ensemble and band, and for other combinations, of the younger generation. Perhaps it was the euphoria engendered by a most successful day’s cricket against the Aussies (sorry Percy Grainger), perhaps it was the excitement on the previous day of handling a photocopy of one of Grainger’s famous “round letters”, the one dating from 1943 when he gets so angry with “milksops of sissified darlings” who cannot in 1937 tackle the more complex movements of Lincolnshire Posy, but I suspect that it was because of Basford’s superb handling of his forces, choir, baritone soloist and large wind orchestra in the incomparable setting of St Alban’s Cathedral that I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this new work, a rare occurrence for me. Not a wink of sleep did I catch, my full attention was engaged from start to finish, and the forty minute span seemed but a moment. Not one movement outstayed its welcome, rare in a wind work, and in fact there were times when I needed to hear a further development, only to be whisked on to the next movement or section.

 

I like Basford’s music; he has a knack of writing really singable lines for every instrument (well I don’t know about the tubas nor the wood blocks but the climax in the finale with three clashed cymbals was awesome), and of course the choral writing was excellent, in the tradition of the English choral works; Finzi and Vaughan Williams come to mind, later on Britten, but he has his own voice and those who know his terrific wind band pieces, Songs and Refrains, will recognise little finger prints. Grainger said once that he could sing every part in his wind works, and I think Danny could probably do this too. Like Grainger he has an acute ear for colour, colour not only of instruments but also of harmonic progressions, and he has a sure sense of architecture.

 

PRELUDE: Night is come

The first movement is a gentle pastorale, setting the scene, also laying out the main motifs which are to be heard in various guises, a night motif in the woodwind, a chord progression and another melodic fragment. The inspiration is drawn from Longfellow’s Light of Stars:

The night is come, but not too soon:

O fear not in a world like this

And thou shalt know ere long,

Know how sublime a thing it is

To suffer and be strong

 

CHORALE RECITATIVE: Into the darkness

The chorus’ brief first entry is accompanied by saxophones, brass, double reeds and low woodwind.Restless shifting chord progressions underpin simple choral lines, mainly in unison – the chorus is seemingly nervous about entering the unknown world of night but realises the moon and the stars are there for company.

 

SLEEP

The major movement of this first part, Basford builds a really exciting climax which then dissolves as quickly as it appeared. In his programme note:

Initially sounding like a lullaby, with a ‘rocking’ motif comprising a dissonance followed by its resolution, this movement is more sinister than it appears to be…..this is not a gentle night’s rest – the music builds to a forceful climax, with ‘Come, Sleep’ now turning into an angry command. Suddenly the mood changes and the music falls eerily into a slumber.

 

SOLO RECITATIVE: A Clear Midnight

I wondered whether the fourth movement, a very short interlude for the baritone, was perhaps too perfunctory but the composer has a sure sense of pace, and the more developed solo just before the end of Part 3 makes everything plain – it was well worth waiting for this extended solo passage.

 

PART TWO

THE DREAM: Birds of Passage

Based on a re-interpretation of another poem by Longfellow, Birds of Passage the composer describes this central movement as a dream-scherzo. There is a Mahlerian intensity in the atmosphere, though the choral writing with its soaring motif of fifths is firmly rooted in the British tradition. In this very generous acoustic, it was impossible to distinguish the three note rhythmic motif which is the foundation of the whole movement. After an energetic climax of great powerthe movement dissolves into a rhythmic patterning with the sound of Boomwhackers scattered around the band, (pitched plastic tubes of various lengths). Perhaps these need to be activated more histrionically to take full effect, perhaps more metallic or wooden utensils might be less subtle but work better, as at the end of Metropolis.

 

PART THREE

INTERMEZZO: Chimes

A non-vocal setting of an except from another Longfellow poem this second movement for instruments alone perhaps might cause problems in performance, since it is scored for piano, harp, celesta organ and percussion, with some low woodwind, and I wonder whether so resourceful a composer might engineer an alternative version reducing these requirements. The movement is atmospheric and sets the scene wonderfully for the solo which follows.

 

SOLO: Break of Day

We are back to the mood of the opening Prelude, described by the composer as a rhapsodic, romantic interlude…With dawn about to approach he wishes a loved one not to wake, since he knows his love will have to leave him if she does. Little wisps of melodic invention intertwine with the solo baritone, and from time to time the chorus sing a simple chordal background.

 

HYMN TO SUNRISE

The finale is almost Elgarian in its sweep, and takes the form of a bright fanfare to welcome day, with a magically hushed central hymn-like section before a rousing coda. Here I wondered whether the final section was too short a peroration for such a large-scale work. The chord progressions and the harmonic movement just seemed a little hurried, but brevity is a very good fault. Unusually for me, I felt I needed more music. I look forward to hearing it all again in a less boomy acoustic.

 

For more information about this really terrific score, contact Daniel Basford at dannybee44@hotmail.co.uk

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