Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • September 2014
10
A Few Random Thoughts About Band
It seems to me that teaching
boils down to four essential things:
1)
information
(I’d be a lousy
calculus teacher since I don’t
know the first thing about it);
2)
communication
(we’ve got to have
some effective means to dispense
that information to our audience,
in this case band students);
3)
motivation
(we have to find a
way to make them want to receive
and process the information); and
4)
evaluation
(essentially, determ-
ining if the process results in a
change in behavior; without a
change in behavior, no education
has taken place).
It took me many years to realize
that the most difficult of all these—
by far—is to capture and hold the
full attention of the students; this
is in no way exclusive to young
people, incidentally. How many
times have you read a paragraph,
even an entire page, only to realize
your mind was somewhere else the
whole time and you have no idea
what you just read?
This ties into the next point
I’d like to make, namely that it’s
easy to feel anonymous in a large
ensemble. I want to hold each
band member accountable and for
them to know that they may be
called upon at any moment to
repeat something I just said or to
play their part alone or perhaps
to evaluate what someone else has
played. Once they understand that,
they’re far more likely to tune in.
Parenthetically, I should add that
this, as well as everything else we do
in a rehearsal, absolutely demands
excellent classroom
control. I see many
directors who have
it, but, sadly, many
that don’t.
Next point.
There is probably
no time in students’
playing careers that
their excitement
runs higher than
when they first
come into possession of that bright,
shiny new instrument. I can’t think
of any better way to quash that
excitement than to spend days, even
weeks, playing on the mouthpiece
alone. “But,” you might say, “I don’t
want to allow them to establish bad
habits from the outset.”
I understand the rationale,
but I’m quite convinced that’s
not a problem, provided a poor
embouchure or hand position is
not allowed to continue for any
appreciable amount of time. The
late, great James Mursell, one of the
premiere music educators of the
past century, drew an analogy to
teaching a kid to throw a baseball.
Would you spend hour after hour
explaining the proper grip, just
where the laces should go, the
aerodynamics of the flight of the
ball, and all the rest? Not likely.
You’d hand him the ball and have
him throw it to you. Then you’d
say something like, “Great. Now,
try this.” And you’d continue to
refine the process
over time.
And so it is
with playing an
instrument, in my
opinion. Here’s
how you open
the case, here’s
how you put it
together, here’s
how you hold it,
and how you form
your embouchure. Now, let’s see
if we can make a sound. Then go
from there, constantly encouraging
and refining at ever higher levels.
When I was teaching beginning
band, I’d have 120 beginners
every year, all in one class, and no
assistant. While the numbers would
vary, this was pretty much the
pattern everywhere in those days.
My goal would be to send them
home the very first day able to play
“Mary Had a Little Lamb” (three
notes). It would sound terrible, of
course, but rarely would there be
a student that couldn’t manage it.
The second day, we’d get down
to some serious business, but
we’d managed to allay those initial
apprehensions they (and their
parents) had and to capitalize on
the great excitement about being
a part of that thing we call “band.”
Dr. Gary Garner
There is probably
no t ime in students’
playing careers that
their exci tement runs
higher than when
they f irst come into
possession of that
bright , shiny new
instrument .