Molding the Ensemble’s Sound

Brian Covey and Chip De Stefano
2014 National Band Association/Illinois Grade School Music Association Band Director Workshop
with McCracken Middle School Symphonic Band

Download Session Handout

Introduction

Brian and I have been friends for a long time. I’m very much an admirer of his teaching and his bands and have a tremendous respect for what he’s been able to accomplish at Lockport. Over the years as we’ve spoken we’ve discovered that even though we teach different levels there are a lot of similarities and some subtle differences in what we do and we thought it would be fun to explore some of these in an open rehearsal type environment.

If you’ve ever had a chance to see me speak in the past, it was probably about tone. To me, nothing even comes close in importance than the quality of sound the kids make. We work on it every single day…not in a run though a specific exercise sort of way, but by beginning each rehearsal by actively rehearsing long tone exercises and a chorale. Notice I’m using the word rehearse when talking about the chorales. We are rehearsing the chorales to get them to sound as good as we can, usually by improving our sound and intonation along the way. The actual warming up is secondary.

Group Breathing Exercises

Nothing has a bigger effect on an ensemble’s tone quality than the way the kids breathe. In fact, by doing a variety of breathing exercises every day the groups sound will not only improve, but I’ve found that you can sometimes create a whole that’s greater than the sum of the parts.

We’re going to go through a series a breathing exercises using the second chorale, playing up to the second fermata.

Exercise #1

Mouth in the shape of “Whoa”
“Look at your hand”
- Hand/arm serves as gauge for the amount of air in lungs.
- All the way out = lungs empty
- All the way in = lungs completely full
Demonstrate what a full breath sounds like
- No whistling
- No added resistance from lips and tongue
One easy breath in. One easy breath out. Relax.
Play the chorale using this type of breath

Exercise #2

Similar to Exercise #1 (Mouth shape, hand as gauge)
Three breaths in, three breaths out, relax
Play the chorale, beginning with three breaths in

Exercise #3

Similar to Exercise #1 (Mouth shape, hand as gauge)
Use opposite hand to create resistance
- Straighten hand, perpendicular to face
- Nose touching second knuckle of first finger
- Side of hand touching center of lips
One easy breath in. One easy breath out. Relax.
Follow with Exercise #1.

Exercise #4

Empty lungs
Place lips against back of hand creating suction
Inhale
“Pop” hand away from face, filling lungs instantly. Relax.

Exercise #5

Blow against thumb
Additional resource: The Breathing Gym by Patrick Sheridan and Sam Pilafian (Focus on Music)

Subdivision

In addition to providing a strong rhythmic foundation, rehearsing the chorale subdivided can have a positive impact on tone quality
Keep the air moving, and the 16ths “fat.”

Brass on Mouthpieces

Buzzing the mouthpiece connects the brain to the music.
Look for a “fat” buzz, with as much lip vibrating as possible.

Inner Hearing

Exercise #1

Students press “record” in their brain
Conductor Claps a simple 4 or 5 note rhythm
Students press “play” in their brain and hear the clapping rhythm in their head exactly as it was performed.
Repeat with different rhythm.

Exercise #2

In absolute silence, students – listening to their imagination – hear the chorale in their head exactly as they want it to sound.
- The most beautiful sound
- Perfect intonation, attacks, and phrasing
Students perform the chorale while hearing the perfect performance in their head.

Quality of equipment

Quality of equipment is one aspect that is often overlooked in the young band, either because of financial restraints or lackof knowledge, but don’t underestimate the enormous impact the quality of equipment has on a student’s sound. Everything from the instrument make, model, mouthpiece, material (plastic vs. wood), ligature, reed brand and strength has an effect on tone quality. Even if you’re not in a situation where students can be playing on professional quality equipment, there are smaller, less expensive tweaks to equipment, particularly in terms of mouthpieces, that will still have a positive impact on their sound. I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this, but it’s always an interesting exercise.

Equipment Demonstration

Make sure the equipment grows with the child. Your eighth grader should not be playing on the identical equipment that he/she did when they were in 4th grade! In the handout I’ve included a list of the equipment we use in our program.
improving

Intonation of the individual

What’s the goal?

It’s not important that young students are able to distinguish whether they are sharp or flat.
It is important that young students are able to distinguish whether they are in tune, or out of tune (listening for “waves” or “beats”).
They then make an educated guess, based on experience and instinct, to move up or down in pitch. The only wrong answer is to do nothing.
If the waves slow down, the student continues until the waves disappear.
If the pitch gets worse, they quickly adjust the other way until the waves disappear.

Demonstration

The Tuning CD

The most effective method of developing intonation skills in students.
Develops sense of just intonation
Students learn, by ear, that different scale degrees require additional adjustment to sound in tune.
Students may find it extremely annoying, but they will put up with it because they will hear the improvement.

Demonstration

Scale patterns
- Tonic – rest – Tonic – rest – Tonic
- Fifth – rest – Fifth – rest – Fifth
- Fourth – rest – Fourth – rest – Fourth
- Third – rest – Third – rest – Third
- Second – rest – Second rest – Second
- Tonic
Easy tunes against the drone

Work with Tuner

The tuner must be used as a tool, not as a crutch.
Tone first, then tune.
- Young students tend to manipulate the pitch with their embouchure while looking at the tuner rather than playing, then adjusting their instrument.
- Tune the students’ best sound.

Students must know the fundamentals

Tendencies of instruments
Knowledge of how to manipulate pitch up and down on their instrument
Additional Resource: Improving Intonation in Band and Orchestra Performance by Robert Garofalo (Meredith Music Publications)

Improving the Ensemble’s Intonation

Director Responsibilities

Student’s are a reflection of their teacher. They will not make intonation a priority if the director doesn’t. In fact it is director’s primary responsibility to create a sort of “culture” of good pitch. We never want our students get to the point, and certainly don’t ever want ourselves to get to the point where out of tune is tolerable. We do this by treating an out of tune pitch like a wrong note, because, in essence, it really is a wrong note.

It is also impossible to overstate how important it is to teach our students the proper skills. Telling students that they are sharp or flat after looking at the tuner…let’s face it, we all do it, I’ve done it at least a half dozen times a week…but it’s not good teaching. Pitch is the students’ responsibility. We want our students to be able to adjust on the fly in performance…they won’t be able to do that if the director has been the sole source of information regarding pitch in rehearsal.

Rehearsal procedures

It is the students’ responsibility to make sure their instrument is properly adjusted for rehearsal. Nothing destroys the pace of an entire rehearsal more than going around the room individually tuning each student individually. Not to mention that for the amount of time it takes, the improvement is minimal, if there is any improvement at all. Instead, strategically place several tuners around the room prior to rehearsal, or have the students purchase their own. If necessary, you can then spot check problem sections with a tuner, or tuning CD within the context of the rehearsal.

Teaching Students How to Listen

I think it’s important to take some time to discuss what it means to listen in this context. Generally, we want students listening down, but it’s more than that, we want student listening through the parts lower than themselves until they get to the lowest sounding pitch.

Listen to only yourself
Listening scope neighbors
Listening scope section
Listening scope tubas
Listening scope, listen through all sounds lower than you until you reach the tubas.

Demonstration

Especially with younger students, to just say “listen” doesn’t really help much. We want to help our students determine where to get their ears in order to help with the pitch. When isolating problems, we actually want our students listening to each other, and not themselves.

Demonstration

Another example of directing our students ears is helping them find ways to anticipate their pitch.

Demonstration

Proper Procedure for Tuning Chords

As your students’ intonation improves, they will undoubtedly begin to have good success in getting the unisons and octaves in tune with each other. This, however, will only go so far. Chords must also be in tune with themselves. It is not possible to achieve this result using a tuner. Intervals also produce waves when they are not in tune with each other.

This procedure is effective when done with and without the tuning CD
Begin with the tubas, assuming they are on the root of the chord.
Add everyone who plays the root of the chord
Root & Fifth
Root, Fifth, & Third (3rd is lowered slightly in major chords, raised slightly in minor chords)
Root, Fifth, Thirds & Seventh (if applicable, Dominant 7th must be significantly lowered)
Add any additional harmonic extensions

Singing

Start students singing during their first year playing
The way you approach singing will have a direct impact on their willingness to do it!
Have students hum
- Less reluctance than singing with the same benefit
- Less concern with proper vocal pedagogy
Have students sing/hum chords that are not locking in
Have students different intervals using solfege or numbers for ear training