Christina Sprague Band Vice-preident
The Feels
As a young musician I remember being told, “The black and white dots on the page are not the music.” I also remember thinking, “Then what are they?” I’m not sure I ever really understood what that meant until I had an experience in 1982. I was a sophomore in high school playing in an all-district honor band. Jared Spears was the conductor, and he was explaining his piece, “Fallen, Fallen is Babylon.” He was describing how the percussion section was the conquering army and the rest of the band was the great kingdom of Babylon. As the music begins you can see the sun rising over the city with the hint of destruction to come. Throughout the piece the percussion parts grow and grow until at the end you can actually HEAR the conquering army overcoming the city. That performance was over 35 years ago, yet I can recall the feelings that piece evoked in me like it was yesterday. I still get “the feels” when I hear it.
I would guess that all of us teach music in part because at some point in our lives we had “the feels” like I had in that all- district honor band. We want our students to experience that same reaction to the music. Often I am reminded of the scene from Mr. Holland’s Opus where Mr. Holland’s principal tells him that
summer 2017 |
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if he is forced to choose between Mozart and long division he would choose long division to which Mr. Holland replies, “Well, I guess you can cut the arts as much as you want. Sooner or later these kids aren’t going to have anything to read or write about.” Where else but in music do students get to explore their emotions in a safe, controlled way? I remember during the preparation for our MMEA performance my students would repeatedly ask to play measure 58 in Brian Balmages’ “Rain” just so they could experience the incredible emotional buildup over and over again. In all those weeks of rehearsal they never got tired of playing that section of our program. If we want our students to be advocates for music education when they are adults, we MUST choose music that connects them to their emotions. I’m not saying we choose music solely based on that factor, but it must become a serious consideration when you are making performance selections. As you are choosing music for next year I hope you will take the following into consideration:
1. Never choose music that is technically unattainable to your students. As a judge I have heard too many bands trying to play music that
is too difficult for them to perform at a high level of mastery. How do you expect your students to perform musically and beautifully if they can’t even play the notes and rhythms correctly? Don’t forget to check the ranges, as well. If your trumpets can’t play a high “A” consistently and in tune, don’t program a piece that repeats high “A”s over and over. Several pieces should be included in their repertoire that allows them to focus on the second level of performance: dynamics, texture changes, expression and musicality. They will never get to that point if they are constantly working notes and rhythms.
2. Make sure you are choosing music for your students, not for your own ego. Of course we must stretch our students, but perform those pieces at a concert at home, not for an evaluated contest. Remember adjudicators must judge what they HEAR, not the intent of the director or the students. Your home audience is much more forgiving.
3. Know your audience. The pieces you choose for a spring concert are probably not the same pieces you will play for
See SPRAGUE, pg. 18 13
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