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Small Schools, Small Ensembles

Dori Waggoner | July 2010


    Directors who teach in small schools usually have fewer students and resources than those who teach in large schools. While they may face creative choices because their ensembles do not always have full instrumentation, there are many benefits that make teaching at a small school satisfying. In­structors have the opportunity to oversee the development of their players, from selecting instruments as beginners to the final chord of their final concert years later. Here are some proven tips to build a successful program in a small school.


Music Selection
    Objectively evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your band before purchasing music. When perusing scores, look for literature that highlights the strong points of your players and helps to improve their weaknesses. With fewer students it becomes easier to tailor music selection to your players’ skills. Avoid continually selecting music with easy parts for weak players. They will never improve without a challenge. Also, if one section always has dull parts, it will be harder to recruit and retain those players.
    The volume of your ensemble should not factor into which pieces you select. Instead choose music through which your students will learn to play with good balance, beautiful tone, and blend. Where you are missing instruments, you may need to edit some parts to cover all the moving lines, even when they appear to be insignificant. When editing music, keep the composer’s intentions in mind. For example, if he wrote a textural crescendo, you should include the same type of idea. If you modify the instrument choices, you should retain the color changes.
    Double reed players are often in short supply in small schools. If your ensemble is missing oboes, experiment with flutes, clarinets, or muted trumpets to cover the parts. Bassoon parts can be rewritten for tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, or euphonium. Try several options and listen to the results. No single solution will apply to every situation.
    Many small bands do not have enough horn players, so substituting saxophones, muted trombones (or trombones playing into the stand), euphoniums, or some combination of those instruments may work well. Lack of horn players does not have to be a problem for creative directors. At the 2009 Midwest Clinic, Rebecca Warren suggested having a trumpeter play into a chicken bucket to create a tone that is surprisingly similar to the sound of a horn.
    It’s easiest if you place the bucket on a stand. It takes some experimentation because playing into a bucket can affect intonation, but it is a convincing substitute. You can spray paint the tub black or use school colors.
     Euphoniums, trombones, and tenor saxophones can substitute for one another when necessary. Experiment with the number of players covering the missing part to create the right balance.
     A band without a tuba has a difficult time producing a characteristic band sound. If possible, buy or borrow a tuba, and recruit a willing student. While it seems obvious to switch a brass player to tuba, anyone with good breath support can be a good candidate. A clarinet player who overblows might make an excellent tubist.
    If you find yourself without a tuba, a strong bass clarinet and baritone saxophone can help to fill out the bottom of the band’s sound. Also consider rescoring chords at the cadence points in the music. When bass instruments play in well-tuned octaves, the overtones create a rich, resonant sound because of the resultant tones (the fifth above) that are produced by the in-tune octaves.
     These substitutions can be manipulated to help weak sections as well. For example, to help struggling trombone players ask a tenor saxophone player to perform with them. Hopefully, this doubling will develop confidence in the weaker section until you feel it is time to eliminate the additional instrument.

Recruiting
    Planning for instrumentation in the years ahead does not have to be as difficult as it seems. Begin with a chart of every player in your ensemble, and then separate them by the year of graduation and their instrument.

                2011    2012    2013   

    Flute    Sally    Sarah    Kayla   
                John    Ann    Amber   
                Megan    Hayleigh Amy       

    Oboe    Susan        Nora       

    Clar.    Hannah    Melissa    Kelsey   
                Julie    Mary    Jana   
                John    Joseph    Linda
                Alex    Maddi    Ava       
                Abigail    Lucy    Sadie       

    This chart can be made either on paper or in a computer spreadsheet. Look for sections with plenty of players and ask hard-working students if they would be interested in a new opportunity. Select these instrument changes carefully. A player who is having difficulty learning one instrument will continue to struggle on a different one. Often second chair players of a section are an excellent choice to change instruments because they usually have good music-reading skills and already understand how to practice. It is likely they will thrive when they believe that they are contributing significantly to the band.
    Try to encourage a balance of both boys and girls in each section. Stu­dents are often involved in sports and band in small schools. A mixed section will eliminate the possibility of your entire trombone section playing basketball instead of performing in the pep band.
    Finally, recruitment it easier if  interest in the band is high. Your band should be highly visible in the community. Share photos and newsworthy information with the local newspaper, and take the high school band to elementary and middle schools to perform frequently. Make sure your pep bands play well and are entertaining, because athletic events are usually well attended. They may be the only time many community members, parents, teachers, and ad­ministrators will see the fruits of your hard work.

Tone and Intonation

    It is impossible to hide poor-quality tone in small groups, even if it is just from a single student. No one wants to listen to a bad sound. Because directors in small districts often teach students at all levels, you have the opportunity to teach good habits early. Be sure that beginners understand how to play with good breath support, em­bou­chure, and posture. Once in high school, their good tone will be an asset to the band.
     Warming-up is the ideal time to develop a characteristic individual sound in every section of the band. Lip-slurs and long-tone exercises need to be part of daily re­hearsals. This first exercise can be adapted for any group.


    Brass players begin on their fundamental pitch (concert B flat), lip slur up to the next harmonic, and then lip slur down, returning to the fundamental. From there, have them change pitch, moving chromatically down the instrument. At the same time, woodwinds play long tones on a concert B flat and then move chromatically down in pitch with the brass.
    Flutes, double reeds, and saxophones can begin to use vibrato on the long tones. As the brass develop flexibility, ask them to expand the number of partials they play. With consistent practice your brass players will be able to play five or more partials.

Chorales

    Chorales are an important part of developing good tone. When you conduct chorales, encourage the students to listen across the ensemble and then work toward improved intonation, balance, and blend – the components of a characteristic band sound. Ideally, they will learn to listen to the entire ensemble, a skill that should be taught and developed over time.
    Choose chorales that fit easily within the ensemble’s technical ability to teach more advanced listening skills. To help develop these skills, ask questions that will direct the students’ listening, such as identifying the parts that play the same musical line or knowing whether one section matches the articulation of another section. Once students become accustomed to your questions, they will listen more acutely to be ready to answer. This process develops listening skills and it is also a helpful classroom management technique.

Listening for Balance

    Begin to address the concept of good balance within sections simply by asking each section to play while listening for balance within that instrumental choir. For example, have the clarinet choir play a chorale as they listen for balance and blend; this offers an opportunity to show the importance of the players on the lower parts.
    With fewer students playing, it is easier to address tuning problems. A band whose members play in tune will not only sound better, the group will also sound louder. When musicians play out of tune, the inaccurate frequencies cancel each other out. Playing with good tone is the first step toward playing in tune. The second step is listening and matching others.

Developing Rhythmic Precision
    Even young players can learn to watch their conductor while playing. While it’s one thing to insist everyone watch you, make sure you are giving something meaningful – cues, eye contact – to each person to watch. Good eye contact is a great way to encourage players to observe your conducting. If you bury your head in the score, students are unlikely to watch; they will bury their heads in the notes. Con­ductors have to practice their craft. You should expect to practice at least as much as you expect your students to practice.
    Consider implementing daily rhythm practice into your rehearsals. This is easy enough to do by displaying a short rhythm of three or four measures on the board and asking students, first, to copy the notation and, second, to write the counting under the notes. Next, count and clap the rhythm using correct subdivision.
    Show everyone typical counting errors, then give your students the   tools for avoiding them. Inexperienced players typically fail to hold long or tied notes for full value. Insist that students subdivide while counting rhythms and while playing. Another common mistake is rushing short note values. Again, careful counting and subdivision will help to fix this inaccuracy.

Solos and Small Ensembles
     It is impossible to overstate the value of a strong solo and ensemble program, especially in a small district. Although the work is time consuming, directors who teach students privately or in chamber groups have the best chance of addressing individual playing problems. For a small band to succeed, every player needs to play his best. The time spent working with small groups will pay off when they bring their improved skills to the band.
    While local, regional, and state-level music festivals are obvious performance venues for soloists and chamber ensembles, consider developing a year-round chamber music program. Working on small ensemble pieces throughout the year encourages students to learn more than a single chamber piece. You can host chamber recitals at school or have soloists and small ensembles perform for community groups.
    The challenges of working with smaller bands are balanced by the satisfaction of developing the musical abilities of students. With creativity you can find solutions that may actually improve your students’ playing in the long run, as they learn to listen and play together to make the small ensemble the best it can be.