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Transcriptions
If you are performing a transcription of an orchestral or choral piece, the conductor must use the original version as their guide. The students need to hear the original version and, as is possible, emulate those sounds and atmospheres. Your goal should be to transform the sound of the band into the sound of the original as closely as is possible. I’ ve heard far too many performances of transcriptions where it is obvious that neither the conductor nor the students have even considered the work in its original form.
Balance
Good ensemble balance must be taught. The printed dynamic marking is not the answer to good ensemble balance; the printed dynamic marking is the question. The question it asks is: How loudly or softly do I actually need to play to accomplish the composer’ s intent? Please remember that there are huge differences between a passage marked, for instance,“ mf” that is intended as an accompaniment, and a passage with the same marking that is intended to be heard as a melody or primary theme. Students need to be taught the difference and to be able to make real time adjustments as they play. The students need to be made aware of their musical“ role” at every point in the composition, and be expected to play that role to its fullest. This almost always means that students should play softer and listen“ louder”. This is particularly true with regard to our friends in the percussion section. I cannot begin to count the number of festival performances I have heard which have been obliterated by an overly zealous percussion section.
Telling the Story
Great artists are great storytellers. What is the“ story” of the piece you are playing? What concepts, ideals, and atmospheres is the composer trying to communicate? Good bands are able to produce the correct notes, balances, articulations, dynamic gradations, and do all of that with a beautiful ensemble sound. The great bands accomplish all of this and, at the same time, are able to communicate a heartfelt, deeply committed version of the printed page in order to better communicate the composer’ s vision, as they are able to divine it, to their listeners.
Are YOU the Problem?
Too many conductors undermine their hard work in rehearsal by the manner in which they approach their visual representation of the music on the podium both in rehearsal and on the concert stage. Many conductors strive for beauty of sound, creating long, beautiful musical lines, and spend hours getting their groups to produce appropriate articulations, only to undermine that hard work by becoming a visual oxymoron on the podium. In other words, they are saying one thing but doing another. Most people are primarily visual learners, which is why it is incumbent upon each conductor to look as much like the music sounds as is possible at all times. Is looking like the music sounds the“ answer” to having a great band? Of course it isn’ t. It is, however, an incredibly useful tool in reinforcing concepts and atmospheres taught during the rehearsal process.
Another subject that bears mentioning is in regard to both male and female conductor apparel. Is your concert apparel too casual, too tight or ill fitting, or inappropriate in some other way? You want to be sure that you are not, in any way, a visual distraction either to your audience or to the adjudicators.
On Stage Warm-Up and Tuning
There are some festivals where warming up on stage is the only option. In these cases, the band director must do what needs to be done to prepare the students for the imminent performance. If, however, there is an option to warm-up away from the performance space, band directors should take full advantage of it and try, as is possible, to not play anything on stage before the performance begins. You will want to avoid showing adjudicators how the sausage is made, and just let them enjoy the wonderfully tasty meal you have prepared for their consumption.
Additionally, tuning on stage is sometimes unavoidable, but when it can be avoided, it should. If you have properly prepared in the warm-up area, tuning on stage is not really going to enhance the performance. In reality, tuning is not something one can do completely or effectively before the performance. Tuning is really only something one can do effectively DURING the performance. The students’ ability to make real time pitch adjustments must be taught, and that process, like so many others, requires high expectations, persistence, and a daily focus on this important performance element. Surely the band director can help serve as the pitch“ conscience” of the group but, in reality, the conductor has no real control over pitch. The only people who can effectively adjust pitch are the people playing the instruments, and it is the director’ s responsibility to teach the students how it is done, and to expect it to happen during every moment of every rehearsal and performance.
Given that I, too, struggle with many of the issues mentioned above with my groups, I cannot claim to be an expert. I am, however, someone who has been fortunate enough to appear as a guest clinician and adjudicator at hundreds of concert band festivals over the course of twenty-plus years. During that time, several truths have revealed themselves to me with regard to preparing for and performing at festivals. I hope that you will find some of the suggestions listed above helpful in your quest for true mastery.
Thomas McCauley is currently the Director of University Bands in the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University in New Jersey where he conducts the MSU Wind Symphony, the MSU Symphonic Band, and teaches conducting. He is the author of the book,“ Adventures in Band Building” published by G. I. A. Publications.
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OCTOBER 2016 61 TEMPO