Ensemble Skills
As musicians, nearly everything we play is in an ensemble. For us wind players especially, solid ensemble skills are immensely important to what we do day after day. In a large ensemble, we'll be playing in a section with like instruments and even in a chamber ensemble we will usually be with other winds. We go to school and learn our solo literature, technique, and interpretation skills, all of which is incredibly valuable. But ensemble skills, in my opinion, are both critically important and vastly undertaught. In my own teaching, I have seen the value of teaching students to play in an ensemble, and have found that even students of limited technical ability can play together with stunning emotion and responsiveness if they are thinking about their ensemble skills! Here I am going to discuss basic ensemble skills (admittedly with an emphasis on wind players) along with suggestions for teaching them. Most of these skills are straightforward enough that they can be used at any level of playing. While I'm aware some of this is going to sound obvious, what we often don't realize is that what sounds obvious to professional players is not so for students!
First and foremost, students in ensembles need to be listening to each other - not just in their own section, but across the ensemble. I realize this first point isn't news to any ensemble director, but it's important enough to warrant a mention. In my experience, the default mode for too many players is to focus on their part and get it right oblivious to the music around them. Teaching students to listen well yields students who can fix phrasing, intonation, and balance issues on their own.
Intonation is something every musician and every ensemble director is always looking to improve. I like to start rehearsals by tuning to an A or B-flat, as do most ensemble directors. Students need to be made aware that tuning their instrument is more than moving their tuning slide until their A or B-flat is in tune! The initial tuning note just gets the instruments in the ballpark. It does not mean the instrument will be magically in tune on every note until the end of rehearsal. Remember that students don't always get this - they don't always understand how they can be out of tune on a note when they checked with the tuner earlier! The initial tuning note means the instrument will be pretty close, but adjustments will always need to be made. Perhaps the instrument was cold when tuned and gets warmer. Wind instruments (unlike strings!) go higher with warmer temperatures and lower with colder temperatures. Every wind instrument, furthermore, has bad notes. Quality instrument makers can minimize the tuning problems, but every instrument has them. Usually they are predictable, but individual instruments can vary as well.
One might think these problems wouldn't come up on the trombone. With that slide, can't the player adjust tuning however they want? Yes - if the player is listening. But in my experience, trombonists are just as guilty of not listening for tuning as anyone else. They know their visual cues as to where each position is and then put the slide there. I had a student not long ago whose higher E-flat was horrifically flat. He was supporting the note with an appropriate amount of air, but the pitch was almost a half step low. He was simply putting the slide in what he thought was third position (line up the slide handle with the bell) and playing without listening. Once we isolated that chord, he had to pull in a few inches in to lock the note in tune.
Trombone-specific tangent: It's worth noting here that any rule of thumb about where each position is located is just a ballpark guideline. First, every instrument is a little different, so finding fourth by lining up the end of the outer slide with the bell will work better on some instruments than others. Second, every note is a little different in its tuning, meaning each position is not absolute. On my trombone (and most), for example, my third position for middle C has to be in a little further than my third position for E-flat or A-flat. I am reminded of a private student I once had, a fine 8th grade trombonist, who switched to a bigger, F attachment horn. The shape of his new instrument meant that third and fourth position were no longer lined with the bell in the same way as on his old horn. He had been finding them by watching the slide, and his tuning took a nosedive as he insisted on doing the same thing with his new, differently-shaped instrument. It took some time to teach him to listen for the pitches.
If there is a tuning problem, try having the ensemble sustain the chord in question. Normally, they will adjust their pitch and the chord will lock in. The students can hear that! Once they realize how much better it sounds in tune and are listening for the chords to lock, they will police their own tuning, saving us all rehearsal time. If we sustain the chord and the tuning doesn't improve, I'll check the score for troublesome notes. This is where a knowledge of tuning tendencies is so important. If I see a clarinet on B-flat just under the break, or a saxophone on middle D or a trumpet on low C#, I can start there. Adding students one at a time will reveal the culprit(s), and then we can adjust the pitch from there. Important: Think about this! Do you want the student to adjust their tuning slide? If they are consistently off pitch in the same direction, yes. If they are only off pitch on one note, don't let them move that slide. That will throw off all their other notes! Every instrument will have trouble notes, and notes can be bent a little higher or lower on most winds pretty easily. As an example, most saxophones play sharp on their middle D. Simply being aware of that and sitting on the pitch to keep it from riding sharp will fix the problem. (You could also have the player add the low B spatula if it's horrendous.)
I want students always aware of what's going on in the piece. Often, I have to teach young musicians to be aware of which other instruments they are in unison / octaves / harmony with. Once they are aware, however, they have a much easier time listening to each other and phrasing together. If there is an unusual combination of instruments on a passage, I might assign a leader based on who is playing it the best or can be most easily heard by the others. Likewise, they need to remain aware of balance. Sure, reading the dynamics on the page is a solid start, but given the different dynamic ranges of wind instruments and their varying responses in different registers, you never know how loud to play without listening. Those things, again, sound somewhat obvious to professional musicians. To many students, however, they are obvious only after being pointed out.
The goal here isn't so much to fix problems, but to teach the students to fix their own problems. It doesn't take long for them to get in the habit of listening to the orchestration, listening for intonation, and listening for balance if the conductor makes them do it. With a little coaching, students learn to not only hear these issues but to solve them on their own, saving valuable rehearsal time. Running rehearsals in such a way as to encourage ensemble awareness leads to very quick improvements. Try to avoid "You're too loud there! Play softer!" and instead ask everyone to listen for the balance and play the part in question. Normally, the problem will fix itself, which the conductor can then reinforce - "Great listening, saxes! You heard that you were a little overpowering and fixed it".
Intonation is something every musician and every ensemble director is always looking to improve. I like to start rehearsals by tuning to an A or B-flat, as do most ensemble directors. Students need to be made aware that tuning their instrument is more than moving their tuning slide until their A or B-flat is in tune! The initial tuning note just gets the instruments in the ballpark. It does not mean the instrument will be magically in tune on every note until the end of rehearsal. Remember that students don't always get this - they don't always understand how they can be out of tune on a note when they checked with the tuner earlier! The initial tuning note means the instrument will be pretty close, but adjustments will always need to be made. Perhaps the instrument was cold when tuned and gets warmer. Wind instruments (unlike strings!) go higher with warmer temperatures and lower with colder temperatures. Every wind instrument, furthermore, has bad notes. Quality instrument makers can minimize the tuning problems, but every instrument has them. Usually they are predictable, but individual instruments can vary as well.
One might think these problems wouldn't come up on the trombone. With that slide, can't the player adjust tuning however they want? Yes - if the player is listening. But in my experience, trombonists are just as guilty of not listening for tuning as anyone else. They know their visual cues as to where each position is and then put the slide there. I had a student not long ago whose higher E-flat was horrifically flat. He was supporting the note with an appropriate amount of air, but the pitch was almost a half step low. He was simply putting the slide in what he thought was third position (line up the slide handle with the bell) and playing without listening. Once we isolated that chord, he had to pull in a few inches in to lock the note in tune.
Trombone-specific tangent: It's worth noting here that any rule of thumb about where each position is located is just a ballpark guideline. First, every instrument is a little different, so finding fourth by lining up the end of the outer slide with the bell will work better on some instruments than others. Second, every note is a little different in its tuning, meaning each position is not absolute. On my trombone (and most), for example, my third position for middle C has to be in a little further than my third position for E-flat or A-flat. I am reminded of a private student I once had, a fine 8th grade trombonist, who switched to a bigger, F attachment horn. The shape of his new instrument meant that third and fourth position were no longer lined with the bell in the same way as on his old horn. He had been finding them by watching the slide, and his tuning took a nosedive as he insisted on doing the same thing with his new, differently-shaped instrument. It took some time to teach him to listen for the pitches.
If there is a tuning problem, try having the ensemble sustain the chord in question. Normally, they will adjust their pitch and the chord will lock in. The students can hear that! Once they realize how much better it sounds in tune and are listening for the chords to lock, they will police their own tuning, saving us all rehearsal time. If we sustain the chord and the tuning doesn't improve, I'll check the score for troublesome notes. This is where a knowledge of tuning tendencies is so important. If I see a clarinet on B-flat just under the break, or a saxophone on middle D or a trumpet on low C#, I can start there. Adding students one at a time will reveal the culprit(s), and then we can adjust the pitch from there. Important: Think about this! Do you want the student to adjust their tuning slide? If they are consistently off pitch in the same direction, yes. If they are only off pitch on one note, don't let them move that slide. That will throw off all their other notes! Every instrument will have trouble notes, and notes can be bent a little higher or lower on most winds pretty easily. As an example, most saxophones play sharp on their middle D. Simply being aware of that and sitting on the pitch to keep it from riding sharp will fix the problem. (You could also have the player add the low B spatula if it's horrendous.)
I want students always aware of what's going on in the piece. Often, I have to teach young musicians to be aware of which other instruments they are in unison / octaves / harmony with. Once they are aware, however, they have a much easier time listening to each other and phrasing together. If there is an unusual combination of instruments on a passage, I might assign a leader based on who is playing it the best or can be most easily heard by the others. Likewise, they need to remain aware of balance. Sure, reading the dynamics on the page is a solid start, but given the different dynamic ranges of wind instruments and their varying responses in different registers, you never know how loud to play without listening. Those things, again, sound somewhat obvious to professional musicians. To many students, however, they are obvious only after being pointed out.
The goal here isn't so much to fix problems, but to teach the students to fix their own problems. It doesn't take long for them to get in the habit of listening to the orchestration, listening for intonation, and listening for balance if the conductor makes them do it. With a little coaching, students learn to not only hear these issues but to solve them on their own, saving valuable rehearsal time. Running rehearsals in such a way as to encourage ensemble awareness leads to very quick improvements. Try to avoid "You're too loud there! Play softer!" and instead ask everyone to listen for the balance and play the part in question. Normally, the problem will fix itself, which the conductor can then reinforce - "Great listening, saxes! You heard that you were a little overpowering and fixed it".
Role Awareness
I can't believe how rarely I've seen this topic broached. It is absolutely critical to being able to function as a wind player.
When I play a piece, especially a complicated one, I'm always marking up my part. "with horn", "behind violin solo", "answering trumpet 1", "lead the band", "unison", "background behind singer", etc. You have to be aware of your role 100% of the time. Knowing your role, and how to perform that role, means the whole ensemble will be better. What might your role be?
- Lead / principal player. If you're the lead player in your section, you set the style, phrasing, cutoffs, and dynamics. To be a good lead player, you must be consistent! The other players in the section are following you, so decide how you want it to sound and play it the same each time. That makes it easy for them to match your style. Especially in the jazz world, we tend to think of lead players being really good at high notes, which is also important, but more important is good style and consistency. The section will be comfortable if they know what to expect, and everything will sound tight and clean. Playing a first part doesn't mean you are always a lead player: for example, trombone 1 in a jazz orchestra will be the lead voice when the trombones are playing, but will be following the lead trumpet in more of a section role when the whole brass section is playing.
Being a good principal player is not easy, even if you have the technique for it! There's a skill and mindset to playing principal, and you have to be able to play everything with an attitude that says "this is how it goes, everyone follow me"! Playing a principal part does not excuse you from being part of the section. You still must play cleanly, accurately, and resist the urge to play like a soloist (unless, of course, you are actually playing a solo). On my main instrument, trumpet, I've seen too many lead players play jazz orchestra charts like soloists - delaying rhythms, hanging over notes, adding flips - and those are the ones who don't get called back.
- Section player. This means you are following someone else's lead. You're playing a second or third or fourth part, or a different instrument is leading the ensemble. Way too many people think playing section parts is boring, unimportant, or means you're not as good as the principal player. Stop thinking this stuff! If the music is capably written at all, you part and your role as a section player is immensely important. Not only that, being a good section player is not easy and requires at least as much focus as being a good lead player. People who treat it as easy and boring make their sections sound weak; people who handle the role well make their sections sound incredible. And I can tell you, as someone with a lot of experience as both a section player and a lead player, that good sections make the lead player sound good.
How do you play in a section? First and foremost, listen to the principal player. It's their job to set the phrasing, articulations, and dynamics, and your job to follow and match what they set. A good lead player will be reasonably consistent and predictable, so you can usually guess how they're going to play something once you're used to them. As a quick example, I played many jobs with a certain jazz orchestra. If lead player 1 was playing, I knew to expect a really retro kind of interpretation, like Duke Ellington or Fletcher Henderson's trumpeter might play, with clean attacks and a pushing forward rhythmic feel. If lead player 2 was there, I'd have to adapt to a more Kentonesque approach, with harsher accents, more dramatic dynamics, and a rhythmic approach that stayed on the back end of the beat. (If I was playing lead that day, I could decide for myself, and tended towards player 1's approach.) Neither was better or worse, but the gig was totally different depending on who was in the lead chair, and it was my job as a section trumpet to match them.
Keeping a dynamic balance is the responsibility of section players. Too soft, and the lead player has no support. Too loud, and you overpower the lead player, either forcing them to play louder or screwing up the section's balance. For brass players especially, you always have to be aware of the range the lead player is in - when they play way up high, they need more and more support from the section. You've also got to stay aware of the orchestration. Unison lines don't need to played with enormous force, since multiple winds on the same line will cut through pretty well anyway. Harmonized parts, on the other hand, need to be played much more forcefully to carry the same impact. As a section player, it's your job to know which parts are which, and back off on the unisons while driving into the harmonies with more force.
Once again, it's worth noting that roles can change. Playing, say, first oboe in an orchestra means you are the principal player when just the oboes are playing, but you will most likely follow flute 1 if the whole woodwind section is playing.
- Soloist. Whether you are the soloist for an entire piece or for just a passage, this role requires careful interpretation of the style of the piece. In some ways, playing as a soloist is an easier task because you don't have to lead or follow as carefully and, depending on the style, may be able to take some liberties with the part. On the other hand, your interpretation needs to be consistent with the style of the piece. A soloist on a Baroque piece is expected to add ornaments and has a little freedom to stray from the written part, while a soloist on a piece from the 1950s would generally be expected to play the piece as written. In jazz settings, a melody played solo can be interpreted much like a Baroque musician would, with some rhythmic freedom and embellishments. An improvised solo, of course, has no set notes and rhythms, but even here it's important that the soloist play the style of the piece. If you are playing a New Orleans jazz piece, improvising like a bebop player is going to sound pretty strange.
The most common mistake I hear people make with regards to the solo role is playing like a soloist when they shouldn't. Especially in jazz groups and rock horn sections, some players try to stretch time or add embellishments when playing in a section, rendering the overall section sound sloppy.
When I play a piece, especially a complicated one, I'm always marking up my part. "with horn", "behind violin solo", "answering trumpet 1", "lead the band", "unison", "background behind singer", etc. You have to be aware of your role 100% of the time. Knowing your role, and how to perform that role, means the whole ensemble will be better. What might your role be?
- Lead / principal player. If you're the lead player in your section, you set the style, phrasing, cutoffs, and dynamics. To be a good lead player, you must be consistent! The other players in the section are following you, so decide how you want it to sound and play it the same each time. That makes it easy for them to match your style. Especially in the jazz world, we tend to think of lead players being really good at high notes, which is also important, but more important is good style and consistency. The section will be comfortable if they know what to expect, and everything will sound tight and clean. Playing a first part doesn't mean you are always a lead player: for example, trombone 1 in a jazz orchestra will be the lead voice when the trombones are playing, but will be following the lead trumpet in more of a section role when the whole brass section is playing.
Being a good principal player is not easy, even if you have the technique for it! There's a skill and mindset to playing principal, and you have to be able to play everything with an attitude that says "this is how it goes, everyone follow me"! Playing a principal part does not excuse you from being part of the section. You still must play cleanly, accurately, and resist the urge to play like a soloist (unless, of course, you are actually playing a solo). On my main instrument, trumpet, I've seen too many lead players play jazz orchestra charts like soloists - delaying rhythms, hanging over notes, adding flips - and those are the ones who don't get called back.
- Section player. This means you are following someone else's lead. You're playing a second or third or fourth part, or a different instrument is leading the ensemble. Way too many people think playing section parts is boring, unimportant, or means you're not as good as the principal player. Stop thinking this stuff! If the music is capably written at all, you part and your role as a section player is immensely important. Not only that, being a good section player is not easy and requires at least as much focus as being a good lead player. People who treat it as easy and boring make their sections sound weak; people who handle the role well make their sections sound incredible. And I can tell you, as someone with a lot of experience as both a section player and a lead player, that good sections make the lead player sound good.
How do you play in a section? First and foremost, listen to the principal player. It's their job to set the phrasing, articulations, and dynamics, and your job to follow and match what they set. A good lead player will be reasonably consistent and predictable, so you can usually guess how they're going to play something once you're used to them. As a quick example, I played many jobs with a certain jazz orchestra. If lead player 1 was playing, I knew to expect a really retro kind of interpretation, like Duke Ellington or Fletcher Henderson's trumpeter might play, with clean attacks and a pushing forward rhythmic feel. If lead player 2 was there, I'd have to adapt to a more Kentonesque approach, with harsher accents, more dramatic dynamics, and a rhythmic approach that stayed on the back end of the beat. (If I was playing lead that day, I could decide for myself, and tended towards player 1's approach.) Neither was better or worse, but the gig was totally different depending on who was in the lead chair, and it was my job as a section trumpet to match them.
Keeping a dynamic balance is the responsibility of section players. Too soft, and the lead player has no support. Too loud, and you overpower the lead player, either forcing them to play louder or screwing up the section's balance. For brass players especially, you always have to be aware of the range the lead player is in - when they play way up high, they need more and more support from the section. You've also got to stay aware of the orchestration. Unison lines don't need to played with enormous force, since multiple winds on the same line will cut through pretty well anyway. Harmonized parts, on the other hand, need to be played much more forcefully to carry the same impact. As a section player, it's your job to know which parts are which, and back off on the unisons while driving into the harmonies with more force.
Once again, it's worth noting that roles can change. Playing, say, first oboe in an orchestra means you are the principal player when just the oboes are playing, but you will most likely follow flute 1 if the whole woodwind section is playing.
- Soloist. Whether you are the soloist for an entire piece or for just a passage, this role requires careful interpretation of the style of the piece. In some ways, playing as a soloist is an easier task because you don't have to lead or follow as carefully and, depending on the style, may be able to take some liberties with the part. On the other hand, your interpretation needs to be consistent with the style of the piece. A soloist on a Baroque piece is expected to add ornaments and has a little freedom to stray from the written part, while a soloist on a piece from the 1950s would generally be expected to play the piece as written. In jazz settings, a melody played solo can be interpreted much like a Baroque musician would, with some rhythmic freedom and embellishments. An improvised solo, of course, has no set notes and rhythms, but even here it's important that the soloist play the style of the piece. If you are playing a New Orleans jazz piece, improvising like a bebop player is going to sound pretty strange.
The most common mistake I hear people make with regards to the solo role is playing like a soloist when they shouldn't. Especially in jazz groups and rock horn sections, some players try to stretch time or add embellishments when playing in a section, rendering the overall section sound sloppy.
How can we work on these skills?
As mentioned above, I find it extremely effective in conducting ensembles to coach students on how to listen for ensemble issues. If they are listening for balance, orchestration, and tuning and know how to fix the issues, the ensemble sound improves and rehearsal time is saved as the students can often solve the problems themselves. When ensemble issues do come up, I would rather coax the students into identifying the problem rather than simply telling them, say, "that note's really flat": this way, they are learning rather than just doing whatever I say.
Private lessons are where these skills could really be trained. One exercise I like to do is take a duet or the first and second parts from a piece and play them with a student. I'll start by playing the first part and asking them to follow me, and I'll take some minor liberties with note releases and dynamics. Or I'll surreptitiously pull my slide out enough to be flatter than them. The student's goal, then, is to follow me and adjust to the way I play the piece. Then we switch roles. I might even try holding notes too long or not long enough to throw my student off. More often than not, the student will keep trying to follow me, but after some encouragement they will take their own style and let me follow them.
Middle and especially high schools could contribute to wind players' ensemble skills as well. To develop those skills, students need to play in smaller ensembles one on a part - jazz bands, chamber ensembles, and true wind ensembles that use one player on each part. In my experience, a lot of the ensemble issues college wind students have comes from playing in enormous ensembles - marching bands, big pep and concert bands - in high school. These kinds of ensembles are all wonderful. However, it is very difficult for wind players to learn musical skills playing the same part as a bunch of other people. They can't hear themselves, they can get by without ever really learning the music (since they may be, say, one of five second trumpets), and there's really no chance for any sort of subtle adjustment. In higher level ensembles, wind players never double parts. In the orchestra, in the jazz orchestra, and in an advanced wind ensemble, there will be one wind player on a part. (Possible exception for a wind ensemble doubling up the quieter flutes and clarinets.) I haven't doubled a part, ever, since 2002. I certainly don't think high schools should close up their big ensembles, because there's also something awfully cool about a gigantic pep/marching band that can generate a huge sound. But I think having a true (i.e. one on a part) wind ensemble as the top concert band and having chamber music and jazz available is extremely valuable.
Private lessons are where these skills could really be trained. One exercise I like to do is take a duet or the first and second parts from a piece and play them with a student. I'll start by playing the first part and asking them to follow me, and I'll take some minor liberties with note releases and dynamics. Or I'll surreptitiously pull my slide out enough to be flatter than them. The student's goal, then, is to follow me and adjust to the way I play the piece. Then we switch roles. I might even try holding notes too long or not long enough to throw my student off. More often than not, the student will keep trying to follow me, but after some encouragement they will take their own style and let me follow them.
Middle and especially high schools could contribute to wind players' ensemble skills as well. To develop those skills, students need to play in smaller ensembles one on a part - jazz bands, chamber ensembles, and true wind ensembles that use one player on each part. In my experience, a lot of the ensemble issues college wind students have comes from playing in enormous ensembles - marching bands, big pep and concert bands - in high school. These kinds of ensembles are all wonderful. However, it is very difficult for wind players to learn musical skills playing the same part as a bunch of other people. They can't hear themselves, they can get by without ever really learning the music (since they may be, say, one of five second trumpets), and there's really no chance for any sort of subtle adjustment. In higher level ensembles, wind players never double parts. In the orchestra, in the jazz orchestra, and in an advanced wind ensemble, there will be one wind player on a part. (Possible exception for a wind ensemble doubling up the quieter flutes and clarinets.) I haven't doubled a part, ever, since 2002. I certainly don't think high schools should close up their big ensembles, because there's also something awfully cool about a gigantic pep/marching band that can generate a huge sound. But I think having a true (i.e. one on a part) wind ensemble as the top concert band and having chamber music and jazz available is extremely valuable.
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