03-14-2019
SHOUT OUT
John brought his field drum to play Under the Double Eagle — that really gave me the tone I was looking for.
THANKS, JOHN!
I appreciate Tom lugging his tenor saw to rehearsal — I promise we will play Jump, Shout and Wail this week!
ENSEMBLE ELEMENTS
A good football coach will tell you that winning is all about fundamentals. Same with band.
Except for PRECISION, I am very happy with our progress on the elements of ensemble. Don’t let up – try to make each week better on each one of the ensemble elements.
PRECISION
To get precision under control, please do the following exercises this week.
1. Place a mirror in front of you. While you practice, look up at yourself at every bar line. Make eye contact.
2. While you practice, count the downbeats and upbeats in your head:
One & Two & Three & Four &
Most importantly, on slow pieces like Irish Tune, subdivide the beat into 16th notes in your head.
1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a
PHRASING
We are being to phrase more and more – but we still need even more! Phrasing and articulation are like STAGE make-up – in order to get it across to the audience we must almost overdo it to make it effective.
The way to get these nooks and crannies is to use melodic beats – that is, stress the active notes leading up to their target.
PLAY LIST
- Warm-Up Sheet & Mighty Fortress
- Shaker Variants
- Music from Disneyland
- Prince of Denmark March
- Shout, Jive and Wail (Link to Brian Setzer’s version)
- The Lone Ranger
- Toccata For Band
- Second American Folk
- Love for Three Oranges
- Irish Tune from County Derry
- Under the Double Eagle