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Imaginative Rehearsal Seatings That Yield Amazing Results

Gary Stith | February March 2021


    It is two weeks before the upcoming concert or performance. The notes and rhythms are mostly under the students’ fingers, but they need to improve the finer points of the performance instead of focusing just on their own parts. Some students may require a little jolt to rise to a new level of music-making. This is the perfect time to mix things up. One way is to change the seating for one rehearsal from the normal arced arrangement to something completely different. Here are suggestions used by several innovative directors from around the country.

    When it gets close to concert time, John Bina, Director of Bands at Saint Thomas Academy (Mendota Heights, Minnesota) uses a variety of rehearsal in the round ideas. One of his favorite strategies is to set the band up in what he calls the scrambled circle. He pre-arranges their seats and music stands in a single file circle facing inward. Upon entering the band room, each student is assigned to a predetermined seat so that no two similar instruments or parts are adjacent to each other. Without the security blanket of sitting comfortably in their sections, students are forced to become more independent, and this makes them aware of the music around them from a completely different perspective.


Pre-rehearsal set-up for a rehearsal in the round.

    Another variation is to arrange the band in SATB groupings all around the circle. Someone playing a soprano line part is placed next to someone playing the alto line, next to a tenor line performer and then a bass part, once again giving players a surprising new perspective. Bina also uses a version of the rehearsal in the round idea in sectionals with woodwinds or brass in a circle. He sometimes even runs such sectionals in his full band class with the first half of the rehearsal devoted to the brass only (with woodwinds using practice rooms or studying quietly) followed by the woodwinds and brass switching places for the final portion of the period.


John Bina leads the scrambled circle version of the rehearsal in the round.


    In an article printed in the December/January issue of The Instrumentalist, Laura Zamzow Lynch, Director of Bands at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota, writes of another variation of the rehearsal in the round concept.  Once the wind students are seated in a circle, she often likes to place the entire percussion section smack dab in the middle. Not only does this make the percussionists feel important and heighten their focus, but it also helps them to hear how their parts fit into the overall sonority.
    Richard Floyd, retired from the University of Texas and currently Music Director of the heralded Austin Symphonic Band, offers yet another way to assist the percussionists. In his book The Artistry of Teaching and Making Music, he shares that when some of his groups are preparing works with particularly intricate percussion parts, he sometimes takes one rehearsal and moves the entire section to the front of the band, facing the first row of woodwinds. This allows the woodwind and brass players to hear and observe the percussion section and gives the director a hands-on opportunity to address percussion issues. Another significant benefit of this approach is that the percussion section hears the band from the front with instrument bells facing them instead of always playing from behind their backs. Achieving sounds that are balanced with the rest of the ensemble is a common challenge for any percussion section due to their normal placement in the rear. A rehearsal such as this can reap noticeable benefits as the concert draws near.


Gary Stith utilizes the quick & easy version with Lake Placid, NY Honor Band.

    Stephen Shewan, Director of Bands at Williamsville East High School near Buffalo, New York, frequently uses what I call the quick and easy creative seating arrangement. Although at times he sets this up in advance, Shewan reports that most often he simply steps onto the podium in front of the group at the start of a rehearsal with students sitting in their regular places. He then asks the front two rows to slide their chairs forward about six feet and turn them around 180 degrees so that they are facing the third and fourth rows.
    Next, he walks between the second and third rows placing his music stand in the middle of the entire ensemble. Though the students still find themselves playing basically in the same section and next to their same stand partners, the woodwinds will hear the brass head on, the brass will hear the woodwinds far more than ever before, and the attentiveness of all of the students is immediately piqued. The conductor in the middle finds him or herself directly adjacent to the third row saxophones and horns (depending upon your preferred seating plan) and the second row reeds which, due to their much closer proximity to the director, will be particularly alert. This set-up also allows the director to hear those inner parts with much greater clarity.
    Steve says that he sometimes implements this rehearsal seating for an entire week, but always in those final stages of concert preparation. Occasionally, he has switched the front and back rows for a rehearsal. The low brass love moving to the front row for a change. However, the quick and easy arrangement is his preferred way to shake up the seating.


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    One reason these ideas succeed is that they thrust players into a novel listening and playing environment. I have received enthusiastic student reactions to these occasional imaginative rehearsal seatings. With few exceptions, students have expressed that they loved it, and many look forward to that special rehearsal near concert time when we mix it up.


    I must confess that in all my years of public school teaching, I never tried any form of creative rehearsal seating, fearing that the result would be pandemonium. In my first semester on the faculty at Houghton College twenty years ago, I tried the quick and easy idea explained above. By the end of the rehearsal, I was sold. The productivity that afternoon was through the ceiling. Student engagement reached an all-time high, and the improvement in their musical sensitivity was absolutely remarkable. Since then, I have used some of these ideas with middle school bands, high school bands, university bands, honor bands and even summer music camp bands, always with outstanding results.
    If you have been reluctant to step out and try any form of creative rehearsal seating, I encourage you to choose one and give it a shot. Please remember the following:
    1. Plan ahead carefully in regard to set-up, seat assignments, and how you intend to instruct the students to sit in this new arrangement so minimal time is wasted moving around. Consider writing and rehearsing a brief script for yourself so the procedure runs smoothly.
    2. Until you become comfortable with this concept, refrain from using it with complicated multi-meter works in which the students are still quite dependent upon you. (However, when you do try it with more complex pieces, you might be surprised at their ability to embark on such passages better than you had anticipated. It may actually help them become more confident and independent.)
    3. Remember to save this approach until the final weeks or days of performance preparation.
    In addition to the suggestions above, please be aware that all of these approaches work best if you are not chained to the score. You and your students will benefit most from varied rehearsal strategies if know them well and do not have to stare at them most of the time. A good goal in your own performance preparation is to be able to conduct the pieces, fully cognizant of the changing meters, cues, dynamics, intended articulations, and styles, with your head out of the score approximately 75% of the time.
    The benefit of this is that when you are able to walk around and continue to conduct (or not conduct), and eventually lead from the podium on concert night, not only will your students grow in their individual musicianship, but your eye contact and visual communication with them will vastly be enhanced. In addition, and even more importantly, you will be astounded at just how much your own listening skills will improve.