One year, three members of my high school trumpet section were causing problems during concert season. This was unusual because it was the top concert band where students were typically more serious and disciplined. One of the problem children was incorrigible, so I set up a conference with his parents because having a one-on-one conference with him did not work.
At the meeting with the young man and his father, I realized that the father was not going to be of any help. His philosophy was that “boys will be boys” and that the behavior was my fault because his son was bored and not challenged. This was wrong on three counts. First, his son usually started talking as soon as he sat down for rehearsal before I even had a chance to gain enough momentum to bore him.
Second, we were only working on one song, Suite Francais by Darius Milhaud, that required a lot of patience on the part of the brass. It had difficult woodwinds parts that needed extra attention in rehearsal. All of our other selections had many challenging passages for brass.
Third, he was not talented enough to be bored. He did not have his parts down nor was he progressing as a player. I suggested to the dad that his son take lessons, work on supplemental books, and learn some solos. As I suspected, he had no interest in any of that. Boredom was just an excuse.
Even so, I took the experience as a lesson to be more careful in matching our music with the maturity of the group. That year we had the talent but not the maturity to play Suite Francais. Unfortunately, the final performance proved less than stellar.
Since switching from trumpet to euphonium several years ago, I have revisited the issue of rehearsal boredom from a personal perspective. Euphonium parts are often less exciting than the more melody-laden trumpet parts. Unfortunately, not every piece is like a Sousa or King march. I have learned a number of things that have helped me as a player, and in turn, the low brass students that I teach privately and who sometimes need tips on ways to maintain interest and focus when their music is less than challenging.
Here are a few suggestions I give students to avoid rehearsal brain rot:
• Concentrate on producing consistently clean attacks where a good tone starts immediately. Little t and big OH – tOH. Be meticulous.
• Examine tone quality on sustained notes in different parts of your register.
• Are you in tune with others in your section?
• Are you in tune with surrounding sections?
• If you have any accidentals, listen extra carefully to make sure the notes they accompany are in tune with notes played by other band members.
• What other instruments in the band have you noticed playing especially well? (Tell them the next time you see them.)
• Listen for who in the band has the melody at any given time.
• Listen for who has the same note or part that you do. Are you tuning with them?
• What timbres and tone colors can you hear with the different instrument combinations? What instruments are you expected to blend with at any given time?
• Do you need to go beyond the written page and play the varying dynamics that are in the melodic parts?
• Does your breathing/phrasing work with the melodic parts? Should you breathe in the same places? Should you stagger breathe in your section?
• Work on vibrato. Vibrato is not an optional part of euphonium playing – it is essential. The good news is that it can be practiced frequently during rehearsal.
• Finger through a difficult passage.
• Work on double-tonguing by beginning all attacks with a “Ka” or “Ki” syllable, making them as clean as possible.
• Employ alternate fingerings. See how they tune compared to more common fingerings. See if they make any of the passages easier technically. I recommend David Werden’s Advanced Fingering Guide (Cimarron Music Press) to help with this endeavor.
• I hesitate to recommend this but keep some more difficult music on your stand (possible audition material) and finger it during lulls in rehearsal.
• But don’t miss the next entrance!
Composers and arrangers should give more melodies and countermelodies to the euphonium. Why should horns and altos have all the fun with countermelodies? It can also be effective on the upper octave of the bass line and blends nicely with the tubas. However, don’t overuse octave doubling in marching band music. The euphonium can also carry the bass line alone in lighter passages. It provides a wonderful supporting voice and should be used as such. It can shore up the unison sounds of the trombones and horns and add strength to the second and third trombone parts when the first trombone part doubles the horns.
Euphoniums can also extend the horn section by doubling the 4th horn part. Its mellow tones will blend nicely with those of the horns. Contemporary pieces often use horn rips, but these are rarely given to euphonium players, who could really add some power to it. Half-valve glissandi can be used to help cover trombone smears, particularly if the smear is over a diminished fifth in range.
Band directors should freely adjust the music if this leads to a better performance and keeps euphonium players more engaged. During rehearsals, directors should show euphonium players a little love by not cutting off right before they are about to play something challenging for the first time in twenty minutes.
Unfortunately, there are no ideal solutions for less than challenging rehearsal music, but maybe it will warm your heart that the consolation prize for such a situation is the knowledge that boredom can lead to patience, which builds character.
