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In my 26 years as
a professional musician and band director, I’ve had the
opportunity to work with and to observe dozens of scholastic jazz
ensembles. I’ve learned that an effective director not only
knows what to do, but what not to do. With this in mind, I’ve
assembled the 10 most important things that I believe all scholastic
directors should strive “not” to do. These aren’t
listed in any particular order of importance, although their
individual relevance may vary depending on the situation.
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Playing only
pop arrangements
In this case the
director thinks that if his jazz ensemble only plays arrangements of
the latest pop hits, that it’ll “keep the kids
interested.” Many music publishers foster this notion by
offering simplistic arrangements of the most transient music. In some
ways you can’t blame them. They are, of course, in the business
of making money. Most of these charts are played only in the first
year that they’re purchased and are then quickly relegated to
the “dead music” section of the music library. Directors
must understand that publishers always offer the good, the bad, and
the ugly when it comes to jazz band arrangements.
I’m not
trying to trash pop music. It’s just that it doesn’t always
provide the best basis for creating a good big band arrangement.
Tradition as well as practice has proven that the music we call jazz,
as well as “standards,” seems to work best as the source
material for most big band music. As a rule, we always tend to
underestimate what students will accept. With a little time and
understanding, most students will come to accept, love, and even
demand this type of music. |
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Not playing
recordings for students
A director once
asked me, “How do I get my band to play Basie-style charts
better?” I quickly responded, “Play some Basie recordings
for them.” The director looked incredulous and a little
disappointed. I’m quite sure that he expected me to share some
miraculous rehearsal technique with him rather than tell him to do
something so simple and obvious. We all know that music is an
imitative art form. Jazz, in particular, has numerous musical
elements that just cannot be accurately notated. Students must have
frequent modeling from professional sources in order to fully develop
as musicians. Next to sight-reading, regularly playing quality
recordings for your students is the most effective thing that you can
do to improve your band. Having a recording of a great
professional band playing as students are coming in to each rehearsal
is an easy way of accomplishing this. |
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Playing
arrangements just because they’re hard
We’ve all
heard charts like these: the brass play in the stratosphere through
the entire piece, the saxes seem to have one technically impossible
soli after another, the changes are unbelievably complex, it seems to
hit every musical feel - Swing, Rock, Ballad, Latin, the tempos are
blistering, and it musically stinks! Some of us in the big band
business kindly refer to these arrangements as “history of
jazz” charts. Although this kind of arrangement has been around
for a long time, there seems to a recent trend with a few publishers
to offer more of them.
Oddly enough, this
is a bigger problem with strong high school (and sometimes college)
ensembles than with weaker groups. With the emphasis on competition,
some directors reason that the tougher the chart, the more it will
showcase their band. While this thinking might occasionally help win
a trophy, it does so at the expense of musically cheating the
students involved. They can easily end up believing that if an
arrangement is not really hard then it “can’t be any
good.” It’s never musically or educationally sound to
choose a specific chart for your band just because it sounds (or
looks) technically tough. An arrangement should first and
foremost always have some musical merit. Not to worry for you trophy
conscience directors out there - there are plenty of very musical
charts available that are also “really, really hard!”
Remember:
why waste any time playing bad (or even mediocre) charts when there
are so many good charts available? Just because a chart exists
doesn’t mean that it deserves to be played! |
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Using the
jazz ensemble like a “super big combo”
This type of jazz
ensemble suffers from a real identity crisis. Every arrangement that
they perform seems to just be another way to highlight a jazz solo
(or solos). The jazz choruses seem to go on forever while the rest of
the band plays lackluster background figures. A band like this is
sometimes the product of a well-meaning, but misinformed director.
Often, the director will have a strong background in jazz
improvisation, but lacks experience with (or appreciation of) the Big
Band as an ensemble. They believe that they’re actually doing
the right thing by making jazz improvisation the primary focus of
their group.
There’s
certainly nothing wrong with performing an occasional
soloist-centered chart. On the contrary, the jazz solo-feature can be
an important part of a band’s overall repertoire. It’s
just that to use the big band exclusively (or mostly) in this way is
neither musically practical nor historically valid. Directors
must remember that the big band has always been an arrangers medium -
perhaps more than any other type of musical ensemble. The amazing
sounds of bands like Stan Kenton, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Buddy
Rich, Maynard Ferguson, and many others can all be faithfully
recreated because of the wonderful arrangements that have been left
behind. Today, arrangers are still forging great new charts for the
medium. Yes, the jazz soloist is an important part of the big band as
we know it. It’s just not the most important part. A good
jazz ensemble should always be centered on playing quality
arrangements that feature the entire ensemble first and the soloist second. |
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Never
working on jazz improvisation
Never working on
improvisation with your students can be just as bad as making it the
only focus of your jazz ensemble program. Jazz solos are an important
part of most big band arrangements. Unfortunately, many directors
leave this part of their program to pure chance. Often, students are
left to themselves to figure out what to do when confronted with an
improvised solo. Most of the time this is because the director has
had little or no experience with jazz soloing and just feels
uncomfortable trying to teach it.
The director in
this case must either confront his knowledge deficit or bring in
outside help to remedy the problem. Many colleges and universities
offer summer courses and clinics dealing with jazz improvisation and
how to teach it. Although taking a course like this may require some
time and humility, it’s usually well worth the effort. The
quickest (and perhaps best) way to deal with teaching improvisation
is to bring in outside help. This outside person can be either a
local professional musician or a qualified college instructor. However
you choose to incorporate improvisation instruction into your
program, it needs to be done on a regular basis. Unless you have
a healthy jazz combo component as part of your overall program, you
should probably work on improvisation at least a little bit at each
jazz ensemble rehearsal. |
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Not
sight-reading with the jazz band
Unfortunately,
this problem is another indirect result of the total emphasis on
competition that is prevalent in many high school bands. Some
directors theorize that all available rehearsal time should be
devoted toward “mastering” the 3 or 4 tunes they’ve
selected to play at competitions that year. They feel that any time
spent doing anything else is a waste and just another obstacle
between them and their next trophy. Besides being educationally
bankrupt, this tactic is extremely shortsighted.
Sight-reading
is the absolute best tool that a director can use to increase the
strength and independence of their band. A director who teaches
his band to sight-read will find that they can learn tough literature
much more quickly than they did so previously. Starting each
rehearsal session by sight-reading an easy to medium difficulty chart
(grade 2-4) will quickly show positive results with any high school
(or college) band. Most school libraries have many arrangements just
sitting in mothballs that could easily be used for this purpose.
I’m always amazed and perplexed as to why more school groups
don’t use this easy, but incredibly effective program building tool. |
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Using more
than one student on each part
This most
frequently happens with trumpets and saxes. I’ve often seen as
many as seven or eight players in one section. These “super
sized” sections will almost always have two students playing the
lead part. Frequently directors will place more than one student on a
part thinking that it will make the group sound stronger. This tactic
never has the desired effect. Those students on the doubled parts
just remain weak and never get stronger. Additionally, the
doubling of parts creates intonation problems that can be
insurmountable. Even if the director is doing this for the loftier
reason of “letting more students participate” it still
tends to create many more problems that it solves.
Big band charts
are arranged specifically for one person per part. It’s
surprising how much better they sound when played that way. When
there is only one on a part it also has the added benefit of teaching
young players to be stronger, more independent, and play better
in-tune. If you absolutely must have an extra person (only one,
that is) in a section, never double the lead part. Have the student
double a lower part (4th Trumpet, 2nd Tenor, or 3rd Trombone).
True
personal story: I played a gig some time ago with a so-called
professional big band. It was my first (and ultimately my last) time
playing with this group. I took my place in the trumpet section and
watched 4 players arrive, then 5, then 6, then 7. Eventually there
was a total of 8 trumpet players in the section. I was confused, but
the bandleader (a piano player) came back and explained that he
wanted two people on each part. He stated that he “liked the
sound” of two trumpets on each part. I fought off the feeling of
being in the Twilight Zone as we started the gig. About a half-hour
into the first set the bandleader looks back to the trumpets and
loudly (and a little angrily) says, “Is there something that we
can do about the bad intonation in the trumpet section?” I
loudly responded, “Yeah, send half of these guys home!” |
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Ruining your
young lead trumpet player
This is another
problem that is most common with high school bands that are usually
pretty strong. Many of these bands are playing charts that are just
way too ambitious for most high school lead trumpet players. Bands
like these usually have a brave kid playing lead that is squealing
and screeching like the devil just trying to cover the part. Because
human beings are such adaptable creatures, a few young players
actually learn to make it work (...well, at least kind of make it work).
I’m deadly
serious when I say that 99% of all high school trumpet players are
just not physically prepared for extreme register work (above a
written high “c” or “d”). The problem arises when
kids are forced to deal with these range expectations before
they’ve developed a full, mature sound. These students are
forced to employ unorthodox methods in order to try and fulfill the
requirements of the music in front of them. Being a college director,
I’ve had many opportunities to observe trumpet students who are
products of such environments. Quite frankly, most of them are
absolutely ruined as trumpet players. I’ve seen significant
external scarring on the lips of trumpet players that are no more
that 18 years old. Often the scarring is not visible, but is still
present on the internal mouth structures. A young student with a
damaged embouchure like this may find it impossible to ever develop a
mature sound or advanced flexibility. A professional lead trumpet
player, who also teaches, should first evaluate promising young lead
players before introducing them to any extreme range work. |
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Never
using outside help
One of the
universities that I attended was located in a fairly small city. This
university had a large music department with a strong jazz program.
The chairman of the jazz studies department once told me that he had
never been asked by the local high school band director for any help.
He was also sure that in the 20 years that he had been there no other
member of the jazz faculty or jazz-studies students had ever been
asked either. Oh, by the way, the high school in question did have a
fairly active jazz ensemble. This amazed me at the time and continues
to do so today.
I know that high
school band directors tend to be an independent lot, but this is
crazy. All band programs, jazz and otherwise, should at least
occasionally bring in outside specialized help. To not do so is to
deprive your students of new, fresh, and effective musical
perspectives. The varied and complex requirements of the jazz
ensemble demand at least some specialized aid. This outside help may
not necessarily cost an arm and a leg. There are many professional
musicians and college faculty that are willing to help high school
programs for little, reasonable, or no compensation. You’ll
never know until you ask. |
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Directors
not having a performance outlet for themselves
Believe it or not,
some high school jazz ensemble directors have never been a member of
jazz band themselves! This largely depends on whether or not the
college they attended required it for teaching certification. I
believe that to be truly effective, every jazz band director must
have some experience as an adult player in such a group. If a
director didn’t get this experience in college, there are many
other ways to accomplish this. Summer college ensembles, community
groups, rehearsal bands, and even professional organizations
(depending, of course, on personal ability) can all help provide the
necessary experience.
I believe that
all scholastic band directors, regardless of past experience, must
have a continuing personal performance outlet. All musicians
(this includes directors) have an inherent need to perform. If not
fulfilled, this need is often replaced by living vicariously through
directed student ensembles. This can be an unhealthy and
educationally destructive situation. I sincerely believe this is in
large part behind the single-minded focus on competition that is
present in many high school band directors. |
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