Take the Lead!

A huge thank you to those who have reached out via a variety of platforms regarding the first Two Minute Clinic! I have a number of short videos already planned for 2020 (including upcoming discussion on Long Tones, Analogies in the Rehearsal, and Scales). One thing that a couple of people asked were to provide some more depth on a couple of the items I touched upon. If there is a topic you would like to see covered for the TMC, please contact me and let me know. I have included some additional thoughts in this post for your consideration regarding the warm-up time, and of course welcome comments and further questions.

As I shared in the Two-Minute Clinic, I treasured the warm-up time in rehearsal as I could attend to Tone, Tuning, Technique, Time, and Touch. While opinions vary from director to director, tuning can only happen after the ensemble has gone through a proper warm-up that focuses their sound and tone in a variety of individual and group ways (e.g. section blend, ensemble balance, unity in articulation, articulation agreement). While tuning is the second dimension mentioned in the TMC Video #1, it actually is the final thing I recommend doing before beginning work on the repertoire. Tuning at the conclusion of the warm-up session means that instrument temperature should be relatively stable, and the individual and section tone has been focused in meaningful ways and the ears of the students are engaged to monitor their sound in the background. The repertoire has enough variability in terms of interpretation and artistic/technical demands that now deserve primary attention. If the warm-up has taken into account some of those ideas and concepts, the students should be able to see the logic of transferring those skills and insights into a different context (the repertoire).

When it comes to technique, every experience a director has gone through on a secondary instrument needs to come to bear in service of the students. Many of us are individually very accomplished musicians on our main instrument, so advising technique to that section comes naturally. However, every section of the ensemble needs that same attention depending upon the task at hand in the exercise (or later on in the repertoire). My advice here on technique, especially to younger directors just starting, be diligent in developing those competencies and gather ideas from veteran directors or studio musicians who play a different instrument. Some of the great directors I have encountered in my travels – like Michelle Nelson in the Central Dauphin School District – keep an arsenal of instruments within eight feet of the podium so that they are prepared when an opportunity arises to model or demonstrate for a student or their ensemble. I am impressed with the studio faculty at Messiah College and their generosity sharing insight with me, but also with our graduate students in the Advanced Instrumental Pedagogy courses offered each summer.

Time is essential to a great warm-up – figuratively (make it happen each day) and literally (the metronome is a friend of everyone!). Speaking to the bigger picture, the amount of time I spent in a warm-up would vary depending upon the time in the cycle until the concert. Early year rehearsals, a 15-20 minute warm-up during my teaching was not uncommon. The closer the ensemble gets to the concert the more specific the warm-up structure and routine became, and the less time we would take to focus on a concept, scale, or technique. In terms of musical time, some directors do their long tones with a metronome, some do not. My perspective here is that doing them un-metered and out of time does not force the group to go on until the tone is focused on each note. Doing other skills – scales, articulation patterns – in time sets in the mind of the student the standard to which they will be held accountable in the repertoire.

Finally, we live in a high-tech society. As music educators, we teach in a high-touch art form. Creating space during the warm-up time for students to apply their tone in expressive fashion is vital for them to be able to communicate the emotion of the music. I often hear young directors – and I was one of those once! – question the use of chorales in the rehearsal. Regardless of where you might be pulling a chorale from, they extend the individual and section concept of refining tone. They also afford directors the opportunity to work on expression. With few rhythmic demands, students can be more diligent about lifting their eyes from the music and focusing on the gestures of the director and understand what they are communicating. Certainly, there is information on the page the student is responsible for recreating into a beautiful, acoustical thought. Encouraging independence from the page and leading them to the heights of musical expression is part of our responsibility as conductors. Can they identify a decrescendo? Probably. Can they demonstrate what it means? I hope so. Can they do it with some non-verbal gesture from our conducting without a stifling hand, a finger pressed to our lips or an audible “Shhh”? Perhaps not. Here in these small windows of two or three minutes in the warm-up students can show us what they can do in music, in addition to what they know. After ten to 15 minutes of focused instruction with clear standards for what the musical expectation is for the rehearsal and long term development, every ensemble should be ready to take the lead.