Rehearsal Notes
Posted by spuchinsky in Conductor Journal on January 25, 2012
This is the first time using my own personal blog for school. I’ve decided to lead by example and will start critiquing my weekly rehearsals and classes with my students on this blog instead of posting them onto our band’s blog at bayonneband.com. Each student should also post a weekly blog entry that focuses on their own musical growth by either reflecting on a school ensemble rehearsal or class, or by keeping a journal of their own private studies.
Classical Music
Our unit focus for the upcoming concert focuses on Classical music, and we have put together a program of music for a short concert in March that will feature music from each period in western music history.
- The Battle Pavane – a Renaissance work by Susato
- Prelude & Fugue in Bb – a Baroque work by J.S. Bach
- Andantino – a flute solo by Mozart
- Beethoven’s 7th Symphony (Allegretto) – by Beethoven of course
- The 1812 Overture - by Tchaikovsky (trying to get cannons!)
- Finale from The Firebird Suite – by Stravinsky
This week we were able to work on The Battle Pavane, Prelude & Fugue, and the Andantino. Here are some notes and recordings of our ensemble to listen to as well.
The Battle Pavane
This will be our opening number, and it’s also the selection we’ll be using with all of our upcoming pre-freshmen who will be joining the band for the spring season. This is a technically simple work with very easy rhythms. Our performance of it thus far, however, is riddled with problems – mostly related to ensemble problems – we’re simply not used to performing together in this setting, especially with so many new students joining our ranks.
Our biggest problems right now with Battle Pavane are all in box 1 and box 2 – we need to solve those first before tackling boxes 3 & 4. There are still individuals playing wrong notes, and overall we are simply not getting an “ensemble sound” – our intonation, tone quality, blend and balance all need work.
Next week we will start rehearsal off with our regular warm ups, but we will spend a bit more time on tuning, and singing. The last two weeks, especially with all of the new recruits, we’ve been sight reading and getting a taste of the new repertoire. Next week it’s time to get down to serious work and develop our ensemble sound. We’ll work on some chorale warm ups, long tones, and do some extensive work with the tuner up on the display board for all to see. We can also use the mini-tuners throughout the ensemble. Many of our new students have never tuned before or even talked about intonation – so we’ll revisit that lesson next week with them.
We will also sing. Yes sing – singing forces us to use our ears to match pitch. We’ll do some simple chorales and scale exercises and then transfer the playing to singing and back. You’ll hear the difference immediately I promise!
Battle Pavane 12.1.23 -Here’s the rehearsal recording from Monday – The Battle Pavane finale section – or the last two repeated phrases played at fortissimo with the full percussion section. Listen to the instruments sticking out – especially at the louder dynamic levels. Very poor blend and balance. We need to get this under control. We also need better instrumentation and voices in the keys that are subbing for our non-existing low brass section!
Prelude and Fugue in B Flat Major
The Prelude and Fugue is in just as bad of shape as The Battle Pavane – but it’s much more technical and has more moving and intricate lines. Intonation is key, of course, but we must focus on rhythmic accuracy. Each phrase must be very accurately performed – especially the ends of phrases – think about how long the final note of each phrase should be – off on 3? off on 4? be specific and listen for clean endings to notes. We also need to articulate as one – we must all use the same articulations and get a cleaner, lighter feel.
There are also some instances of wrong notes – please take a look at this and shed it for next week – and let’s easy up on the heavy-ness of the rhythms – they need to be light.
Prelude Fugue 12.1.23 – Here’s the recording from Monday – I’ve included the opening phrase and repeat of the Prelude section. Listen for the items I listed above – next week we’ll slow this down (listen here!) and clean it up!
Final Thoughts
Remember – this is only our second week of rehearsal and we’ve also just added almost a dozen 6th, 7th, and 8th graders! We’re on our way to great performances – but time is short! The concert will be on March 1st – so we do not have much time. Let’s really get to work on this repertoire and make it great!
What do YOU think? Leave your comments below. Listen to the tapes and make your own critique! Think about the boxes – and remember their hierarchical – meaning each one depends upon the preceding one. Box 1 is the basics – tone, rhythms, notes, staying in time. Box 2 is intonation, unified articulations (rhythmic accuracy!) and technique. Box 3 deals with more musical ideas – dynamics, blend, balance. Finally box 4 is the most advanced musical concepts – phrasing, interpretation, and expression. Think about where we are on each song and write your own review!
If you have your own blog write your own post on your own blog and ping back to this post. If you do not have a blog leave a comment below, but please read the comment guidelines first!
My New Favorite Mandolin Player
Posted by spuchinsky in Journal on November 11, 2011
Last week I was up late watching the Colbert Report and I saw Yo Yo Ma was going to be on. Being a huge Yo-Yo Ma fan I waited in anticipation for him to appear. He finally came on with three other musicians, and was promoting a new CD (which is not really his, but he had the biggest name for the Colbert Report billing) called The Goat Rodeo Sessions. It features Yo-Yo Ma on cello, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Edgar Meyer on bass & Chris Thile on mandolin. It’s an insane combination of American classical music, blue grass, blues, and Jazz and is sure to be a ground breaking recording.
I’ve been listening to this CD all week, and now have a new favorite Mandolin player – Chris Thiles – through iTunes I’ve checked out some of Chris’s other recordings and now have several of his CD’s on my wishlist. Stuart, Edgar, and Chris are the three composers on the CD (Yo-Yo is just along for the ride as Steve Colbert reports) and every song on the CD is simply amazing. It’s classified as a classical recording, but it’s so much more than that – it’s a real collaborative work of four amazing musicians and a masterful example of how classical, blue grass, the blues, and jazz can be intertwined with one another.
Goat Rodeo as defined from the Urban Dictionary: A chaotic situation, often one that involves several people, each with a different agenda/vision/perception of what’s going on; a situation that is very difficult, despite energy and efforts, to instill any sense or order into. The Urban Dictionary also offers this definition as quoted by Thile in regard to the project: …about the most polite term used by aviation people (and others in higher risk situations) to describe a scenario that requires about 100 things to go right at once if you intend to walk away from it.
Their lead-in track Attaboy was recorded live and is on Youtube – it’s also available with the album when you purchase it on iTunes.
Mysteries of the Macabre
Posted by spuchinsky in Other Stuff on October 17, 2011
A great video of an amazing composition – György Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre, which was originally written for a chamber orchestra and soprano solo. I found this version on Youtube through a great blog titled The Savvy Musician by David Cutler.
I thoroughly enjoyed this version, featuring Brian McWhorter on trumpet, David Riley on piano, and Phillip Patti on percusion. With a special cameo scream by Molly Barth. Enjoy Mysteries of the Macabre. This is an amazing trumpet performance by Brian McWhorter – and a great transcription for trumpet.
Teaching Music Performance Through….. Marching Band?
Posted by spuchinsky in Journal on October 12, 2011
It’s Marching Band season, which means we’re extremely busy here at BHS – we’ve got USSBA competitions every weekend from now until November 6th, and we’re really pushing to maximize our performance potential with our fall production of Road to Kashmir. We’re doing extremely well within the circuit, but it’s easy to get wrapped up in the trophies and competition – so I constantly need to remind the students – and myself – that it’s not about winning trophies – it’s about making the best production we can and making the best music we can. It’s about MUSIC!
For September, the students and I listened to the judges tapes each week and used a rubric that we have blown up on the wall in class, and each student gets to complete one as well – but we use this rubric all the time to judge our performance. I’ve attached the rubric below – it’s a combination of several ideas I’ve ran into across the internet, but the basic idea is that each box within the rubric (boxes 1 – 2 – 3 – 4) build upon one another. For example – an ensemble cannot work on phrasing and interpretation (Box 4) without having mastered tempo, correct notes, rhythmic accuracy, etc. (Boxes 1 & 2) Building a composition into a musical performance requires an ensemble to understand how each of these performance elements works and how each one interacts with the other.
So – for the past month we’ve been listening to tapes, doing verbal critiques and referring to the rubric, and we’ve done some written critiques in class – and some of the kids are really doing well. (I use a completely different rubric to assess a student’s ability to critique themselves – a critique of a critique, and I’ve attached that rubric as well – but that’s really for another post!)
this week we’re taking the critique process online. I’ve created my own little pep talk and written reflection/critique of our band’s performance from this past weekend in Bergenfield, NJ. We did very well, but there were some major problems. The students are being asked to read my post and then add their own reflections and responses in one of two ways:
- Band II students – my Band II students all have their own blog, but many of them are still developing their writing and technical skills in this area – so these students will be adding comments onto the blog post.
- Jazz Ensemble – my Jazz Ensemble students are more expreienced and have been blogging for a few years. They will be creating a pingback by linking directly my post from with a post of their own that they’ll publish on their own blog. their writing (for the most part) should be more advanced and they have a better understanding of how the performance elements work – they should be able to give me more in depth (and thus longer) responses.
I didn’t add my own critique of this past week’s performance with our musicianship rubric, but I don’t think it fits in this situation since we’re critiquing and writing about a 10 minute production, not a single song – so the rubric is limiting – but I’m hoping the kids will start to refer to the rubric when their talking about the different elements.
So – you can teach music through Marching Band – and I really like the fact that we’re performing each week, getting feedback from some amazing (and sometimes not so amazing) judges, but what’s most important is that my students and I are out there interacting and talking with other students and music teachers. 0- getting feedback from our peers. That’s what I’m beginning to really appreciate – having that other set of dependable ears to help you shape the music – isn’t that what it’s all about?
Now if we could only do this in warmer weather and get off the football field!
If anyone has comments or ideas, please add a comment below, and please go to our links above at bayonneband.com and check out our students’ responses.
For my sources and resources where these ideas came from, check out these sites and publications:
- Tools for Powerful Student Evaluation – by susan Farrell
- Pathways – A Guide… – by Joseph Alsobrook
- There are more! But I cannot rememeber them all!
Repertoire Rubric – Rep Chart Rubric
Critique Rubric – Critique Progress Rubric
Endings and Beginnings
Posted by spuchinsky in Journal on June 24, 2011
The end of the year is always tough for me. While most teachers are getting ready to rejuvenate over the summer, closing grades, and saying goodbyes, in band we’re gearing up for the fall. This year we’re saying goodbye to some great talent at BHS, but our time for goodbyes is very short. By the time exams are over, and graduation comes, the seniors are gone in a flash – off to bigger and better things.
But this post isn’t for goodbyes – it’s for beginnings. This time of year we need to quickly spend or budget on supplies for next year, inventory uniforms and instruments, organize the music library, and above all – prepare for band camp. Next year’s marching season is going to be very busy, we’re performing at eight different competitions in the fall and we’ll be busy just about every weekend from September 1st through November 13th. Band camp and the busy rehearsal and performance schedule, however, is what everyone in band is familiar with. It’s this next month of July that I’d like to talk about – that’s when the staff and I meet, make our final revisions and plans for the marching show, arrange the music, write the drill, and begin choreographing the guard. It’s a busy month that needs to be balanced with the all important depressurization (with family and friends) that needs to happen for every teacher at the end of the school year.
Next year’s show for Bayonne’s marching band is titled The Road to Kashmir. The staff and I are very excited and it’s sure to be a great show design and an exciting performance. Our first music rehearsal will be Monday, July 11th – by which time I’ll need to have at least the opener arranged and recorded for the guard and drill designer. So – summer vacation is here, and there will be trips to the beach and camping and kayaking between now and band camp, but there’s also work to do and a schedule to keep. So – it’s tough – I’d like to kick back and enjoy the summer, and I’m looking forward to getting started arranging and planning our fall show – just wish we had more time and a real break in between. Do any other teachers besides music and band directors deal with this?
