Klarinet Archive - Posting 000906.txt from 1997/03

From: Bob <laker29@-----.NET>
Subj: Re: Section warm-ups
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 16:10:09 -0500

Kelli -

I sent you the Recommendation of the Ensemble Drills by Fussell! That book
is only as good as your "leaders" of which YOU KNOW YOU ARE!

It sounds like your group needs some help on basics, along with Matching
Pitches, and Blending etc. that will come...

I have seen it happen! You start working on your section on something
like the Fussell Book, and others look... and they say, Hey! we should do
that too... You have to do it first.. You, buy yourself, can change your
Whole group, if you Decide if that's what you want to do !! That happens in
small Army Bands in the USA - if they have Good Leaders like you!!
I would! You Can only get Better!
If you want to get better You need to work on basic things! AND like BELOW
- Scott Morrow has to Say-- LISTEN and BLEND & LOVE YOUR SOUND!
Bob Lake <laker29@-----.net>
Musician/Player
Edina Public Schools
Edina,MN

At 2:54 PM 3/27/97, Scott D. Morrow wrote:
>>I am presently leader of a clarinet section of 4 (apart from me). One
>>player is technically good, another is fairly inexperienced but keen,
>>and the other two players are not great technically. As we are earn our
>>living from playing, this wide range of abilities is very frustrating to
>>me - when I run section rehearsals, I'm basically covering what should
>>be done as individual practice, ie running (not very difficult) passages
>>slowly over and over, then gradually increasing speed etc etc, which is
>>boring for the player that can play the stuff (and, I suspect, those who
>>can't).
>>
>>I would like to start some group exercises to at least address issues
>>such as poor tone and intonation, and wonder if anyone on the list has
>>suggestions or ideas for such exercises. My dilemma is that I need to
>>keep everyone interested, and although the standard of some is not very
>>high, as we're all "grown-ups" I don't wish to insult anyone at the same
>>time.
>>
>>Can anyone offer any ideas? (Sorry for the long-winded letter).
>>
>>Kelli
>
> In my opinion, one of the most important things a section should
>practice in a sectional is playing as a section. This might sound dumb or
>simplistic, but I've found that when a section doesn't listen to eachother
>and try to blend as a section, it just sounds like a bunch of people
>tooting blithely away, oblivious to what's going on around them! I'd work
>on blending exercises that require each of the instrumentalists to be aware
>of changes around her/him; perhaps each take a pitch of a chord and have
>one of you vary dynamics as you all hold the note and try to match (you
>could take turns being the "leader".). Try playing a phrase and "swelling"
>together in the middle. Listening exercises will also help section
>intonation, as you'll all get better at listening to eachother and
>adjusting accordingly.
> Then, of course, the next step is to apply these section skills to
>the entire band/orchestra when you play together.
>
>-Scott
>
>Scott D. Morrow
>Department of Biochemistry
>School of Hygiene and Public Health
>Johns Hopkins University
>(410) 955-3631
>
>SDM@-----.edu