The 10 Essential Ensemble Objectives Your Band Must Acquire
by Mark McGahey
The following is an abbreviated version of the handout from Mark McGahey's clinic at the 2018 Oklahoma Music Educators Association Convention. The clinic's focus was towards wind band ensembles. However, the ensemble objectives and many of Mark's procedures can be applied to orchestral and wind groups alike.
1. Tone Quality
The discussion of tone quality is a very subjective idea. For brass players, keeping the embouchure and aperture firm, flat against the face is the foundation for the core sound. With the proper air speed, voicing with a "tall mouth", spread teeth, and soft, vibrating lips inside the mouthpiece will give the refinement for a mature, characteristic sound. The concert F scale is a good starting point for putting these concepts in motion.
Objectives
- Improved tone quality in extreme registers -- try to eliminate interference in lower notes and thinning of upper notes.
- All notes sound and feel like the Concert F with a transfer of energy to new pitch.
- Move with no gaps or bumps between notes.
2. Starts and Releases
There must be a "point of reference" for the music, and all exercises will work on three things that are inherent in all music:
- Start of sound
- Body of sound
- Release of sound
All exercises must teach the skills needed for musicians to be successful on their instrument. Teaching these techniques, rather than limiting them to just learning their contest program, will allow them to be successful with any type of music.
- All notes should be square, not move, should respond instantly, and be started and stopped as together as possible.
- Each note should have good core and body (solidity) to it, and the sound should move from note to note as evenly as possible.
- All musicians should "play to the back of the note", or get the air speed quick immediately.
- The volume that a sound starts with has to be the same for the duration of the note. (Exception would be a special effect)
- Matching pitch is possible to the extent that the previous bullet items are successful.
- There should be constant reinforcement of the transfer of these ideas/concepts into the body of the rehearsal.
- These concepts will be successful only to the degree that both student and instructor are actively involved both mentally and physically in the learning process.
3. Technical Facility
Most music we perform in basic literature uses parts of scales and arpeggios in the compositions. If the performer can make these things "automatic" then all music will be accessible. The quality of sound you are establishing with the long tone exercises and flow studies are now the foundation for these technical exercises. Remember that all technical passages must have body of sound and each musical line must have direction and a specific arrival point.
Flexibility fits under the category of technique. Lip flexibility for brass players is a necessity; their ability to accurately play the correct harmonic, especially quickly, can help expedite the learning process. In all instances, the woodwinds and mallet percussion can model on their instruments giving the brass references before or during their mouthpiece vibrations.
4. Intonation
Focus more on matching volume and intensity, rather than pitch. Your students will need to know the tuning tendencies for their instrument, and time should be spent to show how the "dial stops" when looking at a tuner.
Good intonation is a direct result of playing in the center of your instrument. All musicians must use a supported air stream (but not over-blowing i.e. flutes, tubas), quality equipment and correct voicing. Brass players have to buzz in the center of the pitch on the mouthpiece and apply this to the instrument.
5. Rhythmic Accuracy
Simply stated, the printed rhythms must be performed or counted with accuracy. This is not limited to eighth note or sixteenth note rhythms, but includes syncopated rhythms and the release of long notes. In many instances, the release of a long note helps with the entrance of the next rhythm.
6. Precision
This ensemble objective includes sections and the full ensemble "playing together". A common problem is with note values that are half note or longer is for musicians to not subdivide during these notes.
Subdivision - When playing longer, sustained notes, the release point of the note can sometimes be problematic. Dividing the note into eighths or quarters will help define release points.
Metronome - The use of the metronome is a necessity with ensemble rehearsals. The musicians' awareness level must constantly notice the relationship of their part with the steady pulse.
7. Articulation
All note values have the same start to the sound. There seems to be a misconception that whole notes or long notes start a certain way, and that quicker notes, like sixteenth notes, are tongued harder. If this technique can be mastered, certain clarity will begin, such as a camera lens that becomes focused. Remember that articulations also deal with the release point of note values.
Procedure
- Begin with a whole note and proceed through shorter note values to 16th notes.
- Start with notes that touch and work on a firm legato articulation and later a highly defined, very firm articulation (Hard "DI")
- Work on notes that don't touch -- long lifted, short lifted, and staccato notes.
- Do touching and non-touching notes separately at first, then put them together.
Objectives
- Matched note lengths
- Same strength of articulation on every note within various areas
- Direction of line
- Same body of sound on every note
- Feel of subdivision in silences and overall precision
- Tongue must touch in the same place in your mouth every time
- Tongue must touch with the same strength within a given style
- Never breath at a bar line/style change
8. Balance
Balance should be treated as "layers" of color, not just numerous colors blended together. Adopting this approach will allow combinations of timbres to create many desirable effects. Balance involves matching:
- Tonal energy
- Articulation
- Releases
- Rhythmic movement
Click here to download a PDF of Balance Guidelines.
9. Control of Dynamics & Changes
Dynamics should be relative from section to section. If the entire ensemble has a written forte, adjust the volume from instrument to instrument, depending on each instrument's place in the harmonic series, with the goal of creating a unified ensemble forte. When thinking of volumes of dynamics, answer these two questions:
- What is the opposite of hard?
- What is the opposite of loud?
If you answered "soft" to both questions, that's wrong! The opposite of "hard" is "soft", but the opposite of "loud" is "quiet." As teachers, we too many times set our students up for failure while telling them to play soft. This gives the wrong connotations of "soft" air and "soft" embouchures, rather than smooth, constant air and firm embouchures. "Quiet" tends to give a better mindset of the same correct principals of wind playing, without saying words that would cause problems on a wind instrument.
10. Control of Tempos & Changes
The concept of using numbers in regards to dynamics can also be applied to tempos. Ritardando, rallentando, accelerando, stringendo are all gradual and establishing new tempi. Use of nonverbal cues in your conducting will help with the teaching of this skill.Quarter note exercises such as Flow studies work well; playing 4 quarter notes on a scale or playing an exercise the students know, but subdivided. When applying to a specific musical excerpt:
- Break down the "skill" on concert F
- Rehearse "air only" with fingers and techinique
- Rehearse subdividing all long tones into 8ths
- Perform as written
Organizing the Rehearsal
Your job is to get the "team" on the same page and create a listening environment for the ensemble. Long term planning is your best bet on how to get these things introduced refined and applied to musical examples. Here are some things I do to make all of this happen:
- Think in terms of the week, not the day. It is easy to get hung up on one or two of the ensemble objectives, especially when these are not strengths of your group.
- As you identify your group's strengths and weaknesses, it is easy to ignore the worst ones. Make these weaknesses your best objective, and when you have options in your planning, make it another priority for the day's rehearsal.
- Remember that you are teaching them to play their instruments and learn ensemble skills, not just to play certain musical selections.
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Mark McGahey is in his thirtieth year as a music educator. He has been Director of Bands at Keller High School in Keller, TX for twenty-two years. He also directed bands at South Grand Prairie High School in Grand Prairie, TX, and Shawnee High School in Shawnee, OK. In 2015, the Keller High School Band was named a finalist at the prestigious Bands of America Grand National Championships, and a Sudler Shield recipient. Mr. McGahey holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from the University of Oklahoma, where he studied with Gene Thrailkill, William K. Wakefield and Roland Barrett. He was a student of Tom Bennett while earning his Master's Degree in Music Education from Texas A&M in Commerce (formerly East Texas State University). Mark was formerly on the brass staff of the World Champion Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps from Rosemont, Illinois. He has authored an instructional DVD entitled The Cavaliers Brass: From the Concert Hall to the Football Field that has been met with international acclaim. |
