Ideas for Successful Marching Band Sectionals

[Derek Reaban]

A topic came up on the TPIN list about working with High School players in a structured sectional environment for a week long marching band camp. The poster was looking for any and all ideas to help him out. I put together a post that might interest some of you too with Marching Band season right around the corner.


Years ago I worked with a Drum & Bugle Corps comprised mostly of younger players (High School and some College). I had marched with this group for 7 years (through College) and was an Assistant Horn Instructor for 2 years after that. My strongest asset was modeling the way it should be done, and the kids really respected my work ethic. Our horn staff was outstanding, and I learned a great deal from them.

First and foremost, make sure you describe to them what your goals are for the week, and make them achievable (i.e. everyone will be expected to have fun, everyone will play with a great sound, everyone will watch the conductor/drum major at all times for tempo/time, everyone will learn what a major and minor chord sound like when played in tune, everyone will be able to play full duration phrases and start and end as an ensemble, as a start). Let them know what is expected of them when they arrive in sectionals with you (the above list and others as you think about it).

Learn the commands for the band so that you can be most effective in aligning what you do with what the drum major will be doing. Require that they form a "brass arc" and stand at parade rest when they arrive at your rehearsal (great for instilling some discipline). Start rehearsals by having everyone come to "attention" and then have them lay their horns in front of them (several steps in front, all in the same way, i.e. bells toward you) and return to the arc. Then have everyone turn to the left and give that person a neck and shoulder massage (it's amazing how this leads to immediate bonding in the group). Then have them turn around and "reciprocate" and give the person behind them a massage. This should be the first 2-3 minutes of the rehearsal/sectional.

Then have them do a few breathing exercises to get the mechanism working. We had several different exercises that we used. Call up breathing exercise number one (a relaxed in for four counts and out for four counts with no hesitation between the inhale and the exhale). Listen very carefully, and assure that everyone is beginning and ending together (building unity in the approach). Do this 4-5 times and then rest. Call up breathing exercise number two (in for one, out for four, and rest for three). Give them the three preparatory beats and conduct through all of the exercises. Stress that "listening" for time will lead to chaos on the field due to separation of the ensemble. WATCH for time and listen for intonation. Assure that they develop this habit and be VERY demanding of them. Do this breathing exercise 4-5 times. Do one more breathing exercise (say in for 2 and out for 8 rest for 4). Conduct, and be very demanding that everyone meters their breathing and arrives at count 9 for the cutoff at the same time. You must be very consistent in stopping if you hear that some players are not with you (you will gain their respect very quickly if you hold them to a high standard that you explain to them first).

Now for some exercises. The Remington exercises are very good as are some of the Irons. If you have the entire brass line, choose short exercises at first and assure that everyone can play them in one breath. Have them pick up their horns and return to parade rest. Call them to attention and give the horns up command. The first exercise could be half note, half note, whole note slurred (third space C, G, low C). Have them take a full quarter note breath before the exercise and then a quarter note breath as you move down through the seven valve combinations. Again, be very demanding, and if you hear players not holding the whole note the full duration, call them on it (not individually, but as an ensemble). I would keep the lip slurs to a range from Low F# to fourth space E (my experience with the average player in groups this age). Maybe 10 - 12 minutes of this work, always demanding a quality sound (remembering what they did with their breathing exercises), and always being very critical of the "back end" of the notes (everyone can start together, but the great groups hold full duration notes and cut off exactly together). Have them return to parade rest often, and look for uniformity in their movements. Everything must be done as a group. Choose some good, but simple flexibilities from the books that I mentioned. Mix in some breath attacks!

When you are up front, you will hear some players with really great sounds. Make examples of them by calling them forward to model this sound for the group (same idea with modeling horn up, horn angle, full duration of the note, etc.). Make them feel really good about their sound and let everyone know that if they follow your direction, everyone will sound that great by the end of the week!

Use the same format for some articulation work (5-7 minutes). Say 2 beats of sixteenths a quarter note and a full quarter breath, and then moving through the seven valve combinations. Start with a metronome of about quarter equals 80 to assure everyone can play this well. Don't lose anyone, you want everyone to succeed.

If you have the whole brass line (send the lead players off with their section leader to do some extended lip flexibilities to get the range working beyond fourth space E). If you are just working with the trumpets, be smart about working to a G and beyond if possible, always with a good sound.

When you begin playing the show music, find some of the chords that the group will be playing (a major chord and a minor chord). Have everyone choose a random note and then move to their note in the chord as you direct them. We called these "space" chords, and everyone really enjoyed the dissonance to consonance that this exercise worked. Be demanding that everyone plays with a great sound and moves exactly together (they MUST watch for time). Here is your opportunity to focus on intonation. Identify everyone that has the root and have them play together. Then identify everyone with the fifth and have them join the root. Finally add the third to the mix. If you feel comfortable giving them some "theory" tell them that interval of the fifth will set up a resultant tone that is ringing an octave below the root and enhancing the dynamic of the ensemble. When you are adding the third, make sure that the major third is narrow and the minor third is wide with respect to Equal Temperament. For kicks try playing an F major chord and then move to a D minor chord. Tell everyone that was on the root and third of the chord that they are on the same notes but they are now in a different position in the chord and to make adjustments (i.e. that they will need to be wide as the minor third, and must be slightly wide on the fifth). This will require them to listen and make them understand that music is absolutely not static even if their notes don't change when a chord under them does!

When you have everyone playing very well in tune, select 4 or 5 players to step out front and play for the group so that everyone else can hear what it's like to really be in tune. Then do it again with 4 or 5 other players. If you have a recorder, do a little experiment. Have them play the in tune chord at a mf dynamic. Then have them play as loud as comfortable with a good sound, but a different chord that they haven't worked on tuning yet. Have them look at the needle on your recorder on the playback and show them how much louder the mf "in tune" chord was than the out of tune ff chord. This should give them a tangible idea of how powerful it is to play in tune (i.e. more bang for the buck, with less effort). Get them to play in tune, with full note durations, and the dynamic of the ensemble will be drastically improved. You have to "impart" this knowledge to them, and this example is one of the best ways that I can think of. This will help you later when someone is "blasting" when the conductor is asking for more sound, and you stop them and say lets play a mf with a great sound and align our intonation. Everyone will work LESS hard and produce what the conductor/band director is looking for.

If you have a chance to talk about resonant sound, and the benefits it can lead to, it will make all the difference in the world.

http://abel.hive.no/oj/musikk/trompet/practice/sound.html

Make sure that you tell the players to avoid playing on "negative air" when they are playing music. Demonstrate what can happen if they do (i.e. it's almost impossible to take a complete full breath if you play down too far on your air). Mark breaths in their parts to assure that phrases are not too long, and be demanding that once a breath mark is in place, they must observe it.

As you can tell, I certainly enjoyed my time working with kids in drum corps. I hope this will give you some insights.

Best of luck!


EDIT: Added the "theory" link above.

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Derek Reaban
Tempe, Arizona

[mafields627]

One things that I've found to help is: once you start to set drill, have them write the counts in their music so that they can start to relate the drill moves to the music. Have the stand and hold their horns at the correct marching angle and do the step-offs and mark time to the moves.
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--Matt--

No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher!

[Moderators]

Edit: Off topic, off-color posts removed. - Moderators