Festival Preparation
Carl A. Bly
Part I
Selecting The Ensemble’s Music
This is the time of year when most directors are deciding what selections to choose for their ensemble’s performance at the District or State Concert Festival, or their Spring Trip.This is a very critical step in the ensemble’s development. The understanding that the group will be living with this music for the next six or eight weeks is very important!
During my 30 years of teaching high school band in public schools, I always scheduled my Holiday Concert in early December. This allowed for sight-reading the last couple of weeks before the Holidays, and an opportunity for me to make my selections before the break. Thus, I had the opportunity to mark my scores well during the break.
Here are several very important factors to consider in selecting Festival or Contest compositions:
- Are the works you have chosen a few of your favorite pieces that
you have decided the group will play, regardless of whether the ensemble
is technically and musically capable? A good friend of mine, the director
of bands at a major university, used to discuss with me how he always
wanted to write an article entitled, “Are You Playing Grade V
Literature With A Grade III Band?” Just the title is tremendous
food for thought! Maybe you are a first or second year teacher, and
you have
picked a few
of your favorite compositions your university wind ensemble or high
school band played. Once again, you have to know these works are suitable
for
your teaching situation. Are you the experienced teacher who has decided
to perform couple of works you have done before so you will not have
to do a lot of work studying something new? Be careful here as the
second time around, one can either discover much more detail in the
composition,
or be careless and not!
- Have you ever thought about what not to
play? This is a common mistake we have all made as practicing educators
at one time or another.
I
remember my first year teaching when I took my concert band to a
major concert contest. Don McGinnis, from Ohio State, got all over
me for
playing two suites! Although the works were from two entirely different
periods and in different musical styles, he did not understand why
I was not teaching my students different musical forms. Thus when
selecting music do not pick two overtures, suites, or transcriptions.
And remember
another thing to avoid is playing two compositions by the same composer!
Expose your students to different composers, periods and styles.
Also, in the area of what not to play, one also needs to consider
carefully
whether to perform famous works or not. Yes, every band should play
Gustav Holst’s First Suite in E-flat, dello Joio’s Scenes
From “The Louvre”, and Wagner’s Elsa’s Processional.
However, remember that every adjudicator has performed these great
works, often several times, and has set ideas on how they should
be performed! Let me also warn you about another pit fall inexperienced
directors often run into. Performing an old unknown work or brand
new
work that has just been released. Just because the piece has been
out of print for several years or just released, does not mean the
work
is not still in many old libraries or the new work has not been passed
around in manuscript form between directors of fine high schools
and universities. Although no one in your neighborhood may know the
work,
or have performed it, this does not mean that adjudicators are not
familiar with the work, or have even performed it. So in choosing
your literature, know you must study your scores and do everything
you can
to get your students to perform these works to the highest level
possible, with the musical intent written!
- Is your ensemble capable
of performing a piece? This can be a tough area even for the experienced
conductor. However, here are
some suggestions
that can help you determine their playability. MOST IMPORTANT, sight
read through the work. By this I mean read straight through the work
from beginning to end without stopping! It is acceptable to yell
out rehearsal numbers or letters as you go by them, but the majority
of
the ensemble should be able to get through the composition. Maybe
one or two stops is acceptable, but if you are stopping every few
bars
and starting over, maybe you should consider that the difficulty
level and musical understanding is above your students. A good friend
of
mine, who taught at a neighboring high school, use to tell me that
he always played through the work without the first chair players!
What a great idea. You cannot build your program around two or three
excellent players. Take out those great leaders and you will hear
a totally new ensemble.
- Consider the demand required for ranges on
each instrument. What kind of tone quality and pitch are your clarinets
going to produce
on those high F’s above the staff? If you look at most adjudication
score sheets, you will discover tone quality and pitch are the first
two areas. This order is no mistake as no one really wants to listen
to the categories below if you are not playing with a pleasant, in
tune sound!
- Always consider your strong and weak sections of the
ensemble. If you have two great flutes and one great clarinet player,
trying
to
rip off the end of Poet and Peasant Overture up to tempo is not likely
to come off as it should with everyone else struggling with all those
black notes! However, if you have strong flutes and clarinets, why
not perform this great transcription and show their great technique
off! If you have strong sections, find works that will show them
off. However, do not pick a work that requires a lot of low brass
technique
and extreme ranges if you do not have the players.
- Consider key
signatures, but do not as a result avoid playing a piece your students
are capable of performing. A composer friend
of
mine tells this story. He wrote a work that he felt was quite good,
but the piece was not selling. At a convention he noticed several
directors picking up the score, looking it over, then shaking their
heads, and
putting the piece back. When he inquired of a couple of directors
why they did not like the work, they informed him that their group
could
not play in four flats! The following year he re-released the work
in three flats, marked all the extra accidentals in the parts, and
the music dealers couldn’t get the piece fast enough to sell!
Using warm-up exercises daily in the keys you plan on playing in
will quickly develop student’s skills in new keys. What more
educational that to expand their skills!
- Soloists should always be a major consideration in choosing works to perform. Often directors choose block band compositions for contests and festivals that do not expose young students in a soloistic roll. Part of every student’s musical growth should be to performing soloistic lines in public performances. When choosing works with soloistic lines, the director should consider several factors. Know that your soloists will go home and learn them right away. If you do not have the soloist, do you have a student you can build into a soloist? If you need to build a soloist, know that the student is a hard worker, one who will go out and learn the notes and rhythms in the first week. A student who will do this will become comfortable with the solo through the many repetitions in class during the development of the composition. If the student knows the correct notes and rhythms, you will have time in class to help the student develop their phrasing, proper style, and expressiveness. Let the student know that you would like to perform this work with the ensemble, that you believe they are capable of doing it, and ask the student if they believe they can do it. Developing solo players can be done and it is one of the most rewarding experiences for both teacher and student.
Remember; know your teaching ability. If you think the work is a little above their capability, motivate your students, then go for it. Your students will only get better by being pushed a little beyond their ability level. They will only become better musicians by performing new and different works in many styles and periods that they may not be accustom to. What every you pick, know YOU will be growing and developing as a musician along with your students. The greatest thing about teaching music is constantly doing new works and continuing to grow and develop our own musical skills.
In Part II we will discuss preparing the works.
© Copyright 2003 Educational Programs Network. All rights reserved.