Coda
Bands are often criticized because of
their lack of clarity, often times a valid crit-
icism. The massing of many resonant wind
instruments tends to blur shorter note
values causing indistinctness, or what I am
calling poor diction. Clear articulation can
help to solve the problem.
When playing in a band, the perform-
ers may actually need to exaggerate the
amount of separation between notes in
order to achieve ensemble clarity. Just like
much like diction in speech; words must be main arrival point for this four-measure
actors in live theatre need to exaggerate
clearly enunciated so that everything is phrase. Also, it would need to receive
their gestures to communicate with the
clearly presented. That is very much the greater stress than the E-flat to compensate
audience in the back row, band players too
case with this march. Each of the notes for its lower pitch.
need to make compensations. Especially in
should receive some emphasis, however not The last decision is what to do about
regard to articulation, band playing is very
too much. Perhaps a syllable like “dee-dee- the last three notes in the example. While a
different from performing in an orchestra
dee-dee” might be appropriate. Certainly, little difficult to tell for those who are not
or playing chamber music.
they should not be hammered, but should familiar with this particular march, the
There are few hard and fast rules when it
receive weight without much percussive three notes are pickups to the next phrase.
comes to musical interpretation as context
impact. They are probably the least important notes
determines so much. Note weight and length
The next challenge is presented in the in the entire example from a perspective of
are two vital elements in shaping interpreta-
second and fourth measures. The issue here accent. Especially the sixteenth needs to be
tion. Study and reflection of the musical line
is syncopation. The syncopated notes (quar- extremely light and move forward, as it
can help to bring these issues into clearer focus.
ters) need to have added stress—more so really belongs to the next pattern rather
It is the responsibility of the teacher/conductor
than those accents found in the first and than to the dotted-eighth. (The notation
to do this kind of reflection to help the ensem-
third measures. The offbeat rhythm of the makes it look contrary to this.) The last two
ble achieve a musically inspiring performance.
syncopation creates more “trauma” and eighths also must be short and light
Articulation, both in terms of stress and note
therefore needs to receive more emphasis, as although not as delicate as the sixteenth.
length, is a vital element in achieving mean-
they are more musically interesting. In addi-
ingful and accurate performances.
tion to the greater accent, the quarters in
these two measures need to be detached in
order to achieve good diction. The quarters
are preceded and followed by eighth notes.
These eighths need to be quite short to set
up the syncopated quarters. In many real-
life examples, these eighths may not have
staccato markings as shown in this example.
However, indicated or not, they must be
short in order to be clear with an appropri-
ate style.
The next issue is the half note in the
second measure. The previous six beats lead
to the E-flat. This is one example where an
accent should not be detached. Since it is of
long duration and because of the fact that it
is an arrival point in the phrase, it needs to
be held full value. It should be released in
time so that the quarter in the third meas-
ure has a clear attach.
The fourth issue is similar to the third.
The parallel spot to the above E-flat half is
the dotted-eighth note, C in the fourth
measure. This note is probably even more
important than the E-flat because it is the
MAY 2009 23 TEMPO
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100