MUED 352: Week 12

This week in class we discussed the many ways that a instrumental music ensemble could be rehearsed. While, in all honesty, this topic is lost on me because I have very limited experience leading, I have formed my own opinions of how a rehearsal should be run and the styles that I find most useful.

First, I think that a rehearsal is very amorphous and needs to take the form of whatever needs to happen for the ensemble. Many of my rehearsals that I have been in have been, "Go, go go!" rehearsals. This is where you pummel through your music and do not give much thought to the musicality of what you are playing. This is the opposite of what I feel is a good rehearsal technique.

The rehearsal should be specific to the needs of the ensemble. One of my 'mentors', although he is more of a sage, is Dr. Peter Boonshaft and I would model my ensembles after his. Dr. Boonshaft tells marvelous stories of how when he was honest to his students, and to himself, how his rehearsals would pick up and be much more beneficial.

What I am able to take away from these stories is that the band is made up of living, breathing beings who need to experience a director who is just as real as them. Being able to run your rehearsals with that in mind, that is treating your ensemble as a living being, will be more beneficial than if you do as a machine.

A topic that we discussed in class was the podium. The podium is a place of teaching, not just of conducting. The podium signifies dominance over the players. But, a director cannot abuse the power that comes from his spot at the front of the classroom. Because the students literally look up at the conductor the conductor needs to epitomize what their band represents.

To me, the director is the band. I know that the band, or orchestra, is made up of many members, but to me, the director is the leader and the face of the organization. They are responsible for the learning of the members and in charge of the musical abilities that they will learn.

Briefly, we covered blending and intonation within the ensemble. This concept, in my opinion, is the hardest to relay to students. As a saxophonist I was encouraged to find my own sound and my own style. So when it came to time to blend, I was a bit lost because I had to match so many other people.

In the reading there was a technique that, I think, could have helped me a great deal when I was in band. The reading talked about hiding your sound. In this technique, you tried to hide your sound in the full ensemble by playing very brash and bombastic and then refining your sound until it was "lost" in the sound of the ensemble.

For me, I think this makes a lot of sense. I feel that it would be very beneficial to have students hear their sound in contrast with the band and then change it themselves to what they hear. This helps in so many ways it is tough to explain them all. The biggest way, I believe, is that it gets students to 1) play out and 2) play with an ensemble. Very cool indeed.