Page 17 - 2018-BMR-December

Creating a Culture of Excellence in Your Second and Third Bands

signatures, section exposure, independent playing, etc.?
n Communication is key for young bands—
Will the piece in question provide interest for the students
emails, flyers, newsletters, Remind, Twitter, Instagram,
and the audience? If the piece you are selecting does not
Facebook. It is amazing that with all the ways we
provide anything new or challenging for the students, what
communicate, some people will still stay “Well, I didn’t
is the reason you are picking it?
know.” The best way to ensure that the students are • When selecting UIL music for non-varsity bands,
digesting the information you are distributing is to ask
questions. What time does the bus leave? Does your ride remember that for UIL good is good. You are not being
know that you need to be somewhere on Saturday? judged on how difficult or challenging the piece is.
• It is imperative that you know your non-varsity The easiest grade one and the hardest grade five can be

audience. Where does band rank on your student’s list performed EQUALLY WELL! Even a grade one can be
played in tune, in balance, in time, with clear articulation,
of priorities? It is perfectly acceptable for sports to be the
with transparency, and with high musicality. A grade one
student’s number one priority. It is perfectly acceptable
played with ALL of those things leads to an impressive
for band to rank 3, 4, or 5 on their list of priorities. As
and beautiful performance! There is not an Honor Band
long as they are showing up, meeting the requirements
competition for non-varsity bands. What are you trying to
of the class, and participating, all is well!! Band programs
NEED solid, non-varsity band kids. These students show accomplish by playing a grade level higher? Non-varsity
up, have good attitudes, love band, and are rock-solid on band students are NOT going to gain the skills needed
their third clarinet/trumpet/trombone parts. You need to to move into the varsity band because they played a hard
UIL program. They are going to gain those skills through
know your audience - if the majority of your ensemble has
individual fundamentals, scales/thirds/arpeggios, solo
band ranking as 4 or 5 on their list, set high standards but
contests, and ensemble contests. By picking an achievable
know that you may not be able to push them to play the
UIL program, you can spend sectional time working on
world’s most challenging UIL program. By knowing your
fine tuning the achievable UIL pieces (phrasing, tuning,
audience, you will also be able to identify your “workers” -
dynamics, style, matching articulation, etc.) in addition
the ambitious students who have dreams of moving up to to working on all the other things needed to further their
a higher ensemble. You can feed these workers with growth
opportunities: invitations to an upper band’s sectional, individual musicianship.
•
participation in the Region band process, invitation to Utilize your winter and spring concerts to explore more
perform with the upper band, etc. challenging music. Use your winter concert to introduce a
concept that the students will see in their UIL music. By
scaffolding this information, the learning process for the
Repertoire for the Non-varsity Band UIL music will move faster. For the spring concert, try

Young band music often gets criticized for “sounding incorporating a harder piece that includes a “varsity band
the same” or not having many “good choices.” There are concept.” This could be a piece with an advanced time
GREAT young band choices available; however, you may or key signature, advanced rhythm, or advanced range.
have to search a little harder to find them. Through the sectional time you gained by choosing an
• As a starting point for picking new music, what skills achievable UIL program and working on other skills, the

are you hoping the students gain from playing it? Are students will be prepared to handle the higher degree of
they learning new rhythms, new time signatures, new key difficulty.
(continued on next page)

Bandmasters Review • December 2018 15 Texas Bandmasters Association