Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • December 2013
9
Thank you to TBA for allowing
me to share some ideas with the
greatest colleagues in the country.
We are in an industry that is always
trying to find ways to improve what
we love—music and teaching.
I began my own flute career in
a weak junior high situation and
although I had excellent directors
in high school, we never had like-
instrument section rehearsals and
I was pretty clueless when it was
time to teach my own. It was
“trial by fire.” When you are a
new teacher, great mentoring and
assistance usually occurs in the full
rehearsals but you’re generally on
your own in small sectionals.
The Object ives
I Hope To Share:
Find every supplement and
idea that provides opportunities to
enable your ensemble members to
become great musicians, performing
with beautiful tone and facility as
soloists and ensemble members.
Utilizing various pedagogical
methods and performance
opportunities with your students
will improve the quality of the
ensemble as well as develop a more
confident, mature musician.
Evaluate and Assess
It’s important to know where
you are beginning. Benchmarking
is important to establish continuity
in your students’ development. You
have to hear each student perform to
gain this knowledge. Keep accurate
evaluations. Keep a written record
of their ability and achievement.
When we hear students in the
8
th
grade play, we make notes of
general tone, articulation, range,
scale achievement, rhythmic
accuracy, etc. to determine the
individual levels and where to
begin in sectionals. We also test our
high school students at semester
to determine what areas need
improvement.
Before I begin I would like to
emphasize that section rehearsals
are required for all of our performing
bands. Especially in the formative
years, all concert performance
music is taught in sectionals
before attempted in full ensemble.
This assures that all ensemble
members have the correct approach
to their parts. In full ensemble,
with listening and matching skills
being introduced and improved,
they will learn to integrate,
layer, etc.
Most importantly:
Have a plan for each rehearsal,
whether full ensemble or small
like-instrument group.
Refinement and intensity of
varying levels’ listening skills will
certainly not improve without like-
instrument rehearsals. Drills unique
to the instrument must be taught
and evaluated for continuation of
improvement.
Provide modeling examples,
recordings and don’t perform
unless you are prepared to have
them sound just like you! Provide
supplemental materials—scales,
flexibility exercises, tuning charts,
tuner, metronome, and an overhead
projector or document reader.
It’s important not to “beat a dead
horse.” Don’t drill contest music
unless necessary. (How fun is it for
a tubist to drill whole notes for an
hour?) Give the students the tools
to perform their music on a high
level with ease and confidence.
The duration of rehearsal should
be based on age and intensity of
demands. It is important to use
this time to check individuals every
week. Have each player perform by
themselves every week.
Divide the time into basically
FOUR areas of instruction
and evaluation unique to each
instrument—no more than
10-20 minutes on each section
unless teaching a new concept.
Remember: check performers every
Developing the Individual Musician
in Section Rehearsals
Charlotte Royal l
Hiring instrument-specific
clinicians that you trust is an
investment worth making.