Skip to main content

Band Lessons from the Choir Room

One of my favorite band director sayings is "Excuses are like dirty gym socks... everyone has them and they all stink." Well today, not only were we able to debunk the "I'm not in choir, I'm in band" excuse regarding singing during rehearsals, but did so with an enthusiastic (!!) response.  Here's how it happened...

In honor of the 200th anniversary of the classic holiday tune Silent Night, all three concert ensembles are currently working on Mannheim Steamroller's Stille Nacht for our upcoming Winter Concert. It's a beautiful arrangement by Chip Davis of this timeless melody; I've enjoyed both playing it and directing it with many ensembles. The last time I directed it was during my first year at SCHS as our very first "megaband" piece (meaning all three concert ensembles learn the piece and then we perform it together for our concert grand finale). It was during that performance that our headlining picture for our website was snapped:



But no matter how many times I've directed the piece, one of the challenges of performing it is helping kids to sing. It's a well-known tune, students are only asked to sing on "Ooo", it all seems simple enough. But for this band director- who's choral training is really limited to the church choirs I used to sing in years ago- it's always been difficult getting students to sing. 

So I turned to an expert. 


Not only did my kids sing better in that short 5 minute singing crash course than I had ever been able to get them to do, in all my time directing this piece, but it was such incredible professional development to watch my colleagues work with my students. That short observation was a very healthy reminder for me of a number of fundamentals that are true for both band and choir:

  • There is a difference between speaking on pitch and actually singing. There is also a difference between blowing into an instrument and actually playing it. The difference is in the support and production of the sound: you can not have both poor posture and truly sing/play. It is not possible. You may blow into an instrument/be on pitch, but you can not have both poor posture and produce a clear tone, regardless of how much plumbing you might have in your hands. 
  • The same goes for the breath. A singing/playing breath is very different from a normal breath. (I like to call the normal breath a "couch" breath. You can't breath the same way you breath when you are sitting on your couch when you're making music.)
  • Shape and placement matters; no matter if it's vowels, consonants, and pronunciation; OR Embouchure, articulations, and styles. 
  • As helpful as teacher demonstrations/singing are, ultimately those making the music (students) are responsible. "You can't be a passenger in my car. You need to drive the car yourself."
So the next time your students try to tell you "I didn't join band to sing", please feel free to steal my gym-socks line, maybe invite your choir colleagues into your room for a few minutes, and show them just how much "singing" they have to do in order to REALLY play their instruments. It was a fantastic experience for us!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Student-Led Rehearsals Day 1: Identifying Potential Problems

Today I introduced the task at hand: Each class will be selecting, as a group, one piece to perform for our Winter Concert-- without my direction. The Goal: To perform this piece to the best of our ability; to make it "YouTube"/Social Media worthy, something that everyone at the end of the experience would be proud to share with their friends and social circle. Surprisingly, it did not scare them as much as it does me. But, I did see my fair share of skeptical eye rolls. The first step towards our goal was to identify possible problems/roadblocks in accomplishing our goal. Each class was asked to create a list on the board of potential challenges we may face before we begin. It was very interesting to observe the dynamic of each class as they navigated even this first step, communicating with one another to complete their list. Sometimes, they chose to continue the "teacher/student" paradigm where one person wrote on the board and called out to others with their
2 comments
Read more

Innovator's Mindset in the Band Room: Student-Led Rehearsals

It all started when this happened... George Couros came to Rochester Community Schools yesterday, inspiring hundreds of teachers in his wake. If you are not familiar with George Couros (@gcouros), he is the author of the widely recognized, highly regarded educational manifesto entitled "The Innovator's Mindset" as well regularly writing on his blog, The Principle of Change . There are many aspects of the "Innovator's Mindset" that I find appealing. We agree on many, many points: the power of positive connections, cultivating passion, and the need for teachers to give students space and voice to take charge of their learning. This tweet though, sums it up for me: When you have a compelling reason, you can learn ANYTHING. #RCSInnovate — Kristine Balinski (@MathTeacherMrsB) November 5, 2018 If students have a compelling reason to connect, they will put in the work. Teachers are the resource, students direct their own learning. As educators, espec
1 comment
Read more

Open Letter to My Students

Dear Students, This is certainly not how I imagined the culmination of our face-to-face school year. The last time I saw you, I never imagined it would be for the last time. The selfish truth is that I'm still not ready for it to be the end. I thought we would have so much more ahead of us... Time to use all the tools we've sharpened over the course of the year to put together some incredible performances. Time to get out on the stage and leave it all out there for audiences to enjoy. Time to create, time to play, time to laugh, time to grow, time to cry, time to celebrate, time to say "good bye".  The irony of it all is although we supposedly have "all the time in the world", that time won't look like anything we imagined. This isn't what anyone imagined or anticipated. Not for you, not for ourselves, not for our world. But the good news is this isn't the end . Buildings might be closed, face-to-face instruction may not be possible, but the
Post a Comment
Read more