The First Rehearsal

I had wanted to type something up before we met today describing my planning, but spent all day running around getting ready for the rehearsal.

We normally don’t meet after graduation. This is certainly a special case however, and I arranged to have next year’s Symphonic Band meet during our normal Tuesday afternoon time from 2:10 – 3:30. I had one main goal for this rehearsal…to create, as Peter Boonshaft calls it, as many “pearl” moments as possible in those 80 minutes. It’s important to me that the kids left feeling good about the band and motivated to work hard and practice this summer.

Placed on their chair for when they entered was a simple 12 measure homophonic chorale, all 12 major scales, and two works we’re considering for our Midwest program. I sat the kids alternating between the experienced and inexperienced. Even after ten years I’m amazed by how much the younger kids learn from observing the older kids. We’ll maintain a similar seating, paired with aggressive part rotation, through our band camp in into our September Concert.

I was particularly anxious to start the chorale work. Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals. We spent nearly 50 minutes on the chorale. I know it sounds like a lot, but I anticipated this time would be the best opportunity to create those “pearl,” or near perfect, moments…a chance for the kids to hear what they are capable of accomplishing. So, at least for me, the time flew by. More specifically we spent extensive time on, in no particular order:

– Tone, Pitch, and Balance
– Breathing
– Improving the maturity of our sound by improving our ability to play a tongued, sustained line
– Developing an internal subdivision of the pulse
– Mouthpiece buzzing and singing

– Listening to sounds besides their own
– Giving shape to the phrase
– Raising our standards

This is not an atypical list, we spend virtually every rehearsal focusing on these items. The pace was extremely fast. We began by playing the soprano line in unison, went to two parts, and ended performing the chorale as written. I varied the way we were performing (as written, slurred, tongued, secco, subdivided in 8ths, subdivided in 16ths, brass buzzing, everyone singing, varying tempo & dynamics, etc) it quite often to keep them from just going through the motions. We had some real wonderful moments. Once we finished working the chorale I felt not only relieved, but excited about our potential. I never worry about technique, that’s easy to beat into them if necessary. A mature, characteristic sound is something I’m always concerned about, and I feel good about where we’re starting. If we do what we need to do, we should develop into a really fine ensemble. I’ll do my best to try to document that development here.

We don’t spend nearly enough time on scales in general. Some find success with a scale of the week type system. I never seem to follow through with that sort of thing. So when we do major scales, we do all 12. The scales got bit shorted today, but we did spend time on each of them.

The last part of the rehearsal was spent sightreading and lightly rehearsing two tunes we’re considering for our program. We then dismissed for the summer until our camp in August, although I will work with certain individuals and sections between now and then.

Off to finish packing up my room!

(For topic suggestions or questions relating to our Midwest performance I can be contacted via email: cdestefano@skokie735.k12.il.us or through the contact page on our website.)

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