Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • September 2014
12
Oh man, I’m already feeling so much better.
Tempting though it is to relieve myself of so many
other dearly-held opinions, I’ll limit myself to just one
more: developing technique.
The chromatic scale is the
wellspring of all technique. By the
end of the first year in band, every
student should be able to play the
chromatic for the full practical
range of the instrument. The brass
players will be limited, of course,
to whatever their chops will allow
at that point in their development,
but it should be at least to a G
above the staff for the trumpet, and
the equivalent for the other brass.
Full range for flutes and saxes, high
G for clarinets, Eb for oboe, and F for bassoon. I’m
assuming, by the way, that your beginners are meeting
daily, and not on alternate days, as is the unfortunate
case too often. As for myself, I’d rather wait until the
next year, if necessary, in order to see them every day.
They should also be able to play all twelve major
scales and arpeggios by the end of the first year, two
octaves where practical. Next would be the remaining
building blocks of developing a facile technique:
minor, dominant 7
th
, and diminished 7
th
arpeggios,
though these would probably not come until the next
year. I don’t worry much about minor scales, since all
minor tetrachords, other than the augmented second
in the harmonic minor, are present in the major scales.
Oh, sorry, I can’t sign off without mentioning one
other thing: my continuing amazement that 1) with the
proliferation of recordings and videos of so many great
players, so few students I encounter
have the slightest notion of who
they are and how they sound; and
2) that so few directors make them
aware of that fact. They need to
have models. They need to have
heroes.
Finally, I feel compelled to
exorcise one more curmudgeonly
thought that weighs heavily on
me. What’s wrong with the word
“band”? It strikes me as the height
of irony that so many highfalutin’
professional orchestra conductors
routinely refer to their ensembles as “the band,” yet a
great many of us who actually conduct (gasp!) bands
avoid the use of that dreaded word at all costs. Does
the use of term “wind ensemble” (the first to leave the
reservation) or a “wind orchestra” or “wind symphony”
or (insert your own choice from the many others
available) really confer more musical respectability
than that time-honored word “band”? I think not,
and I’m proud to claim the title. I’ll shout it from the
rooftops: I’m a BAND DIRECTOR! And oh yeah, if
you absolutely must use the word, be sure and put
“wind” in front of it. That way we eliminate any chance
of confusing it with a rock band, a rubber band, or
possibly a wedding band. So many possibilities.
By the end of the f irst
year in band, every
student should be able
to play the chromat ic
(scale) for the ful l
pract ical range of the
instrument . They should
also be able to play al l
twelve major scales and
arpeggios. . . , two octaves
where pract ical .
A Few Random Thoughts About Band
Dr. Gary Garner retired in 2002 after 39 years as Director of Bands at West Texas A&M University. He holds a bachelor’s degree from
Texas Tech and the Master of Music and DMA degrees from the University of Southern California. He began his teaching career in Lubbock.
From there he went to USC as marching band director for four years before accepting a position at WTAMU. During his tenure the WTAMU
Symphonic Band appeared a record ten times before the TMEA, twice at College Band Directors National Association conventions, and twice
in Carnegie Hall. Dr. Garner has recorded an album for Crest Records with his sons Brad and Blair, “The First Family of Flute”, and an album
of fute trios with son Brad and the eminent futist Julius Baker. Honors include: WTAMU Faculty Excellence Award, WTAMU Phoenix Club
award for teaching excellence, Minnie Piper Stevens Award, Amarillo HS Hall of Fame, Texas Bandmaster of the Year, Bohumil Makovsky
Award for outstanding service to college bands, Phi Beta Mu International Outstanding Bandmaster, Gene Hemmle Award as an outstanding
music alumnus from Texas Tech, Honorary Lifetime Member of TBA, Percy Grainger Award, and Legendary Bandmaster by the Dallas Wind
Symphony. Dr. Garner was the 2014 TBA Featured Clinician at this summer’s convention.