KBB Music Festival

an
dom
R
Musical Director’s Checklist Part 1
Your answers to these simple questions will help
improve the performance of your band.
By E.C. Moore
A truly great band is a combination
of many factors, including the skill and
attitude of the band members and the
quality and condition of their instruments.
Perhaps most important, however, is
the personality and musicianship of the
director. It is his or her duty to organize,
teach, lead and inspire, a monumental
task that requires devotion, constant
self-analysis and the restraint of selfdiscipline.
What follows is a checklist of questions
for you to ask yourself. The answers may
prove helpful to directors who seek to
improve the performance of their bands.
Do you really enjoy teaching?
No one, however fine his or her
musicianship, can teach successfully
without taking delight in working with
young people. As is true in every other
field of human endeavour, teachers must
be in love with their work.
Are you sold on the importance of
education in music?
Teachers cannot teach successfully unless
they believe what they teach is important.
Do you agree that training in music is one
of the most effective preparations for life
that can be given to young people?
Do you keep your teaching standards
high?
All of us want people to like us. But keep
in mind that teachers who give the most
of themselves — and in turn expect the
most from their students — will in the
long run receive the greatest respect and
admiration.
Do you know how to work with young
people?
Do your rehearsals move with a minimum
of talking from you and a maximum of
interest and attention shown in what you
are doing? Slow-moving, time-wasting
rehearsals are boring and create the worst
possible atmosphere for teaching.
Do you criticize constructively?
To be able to offer criticism without
engendering irritation is at the heart of
successful teaching. Do you keep criticism
constructive and maintain a good humour?
Do you achieve the best possible results
without antagonizing either individual
students or the band as a whole?
Are you capable of self-criticism?
Students are human and subject to all of
humanity’s failings. Of course they are not
always right, but neither are they always
wrong. The same may be said about
teachers. Have you developed a faculty for
criticizing yourself as well as others?
Have you learned the importance of
drilling?
Learning to play a musical instrument
correctly calls for building proper
habits. Keep in mind that “telling” is not
“teaching,” meaning that each oral lesson
should be followed by careful, repetitive
drilling.
Do you have the score in your head, or
your head in the score?
In order to teach effectively, you should
know the score by heart. A band director
should be able to devote full attention to
watching and listening in order to know
when the band is playing correctly.
Do you take time to annotate your score?
Unusual fingerings and slide positions
are rarely marked in individual parts, yet
these occur even in simple music. Do you
go over each individual part and underline
complex or unusual passages?
Do you maintain enthusiasm before your
students?
Do not underestimate the impact made
on young students by a neatly dressed,
enthusiastic director. Always approach
a rehearsal positively, with interest and
vitality. This attitude will prove to be
surprisingly contagious.
Do you keep up on your major
instrument?
The good teacher makes it a point to
maintain performance skills, even though
this calls for daily practice. This is an
excellent way to set an authoritative
example for students.
Do you attend concerts and recitals?
So much music is heard from recordings
that one is apt to forget that much more
can be learned through hearing music
performed live. Keep your ears sensitive
to good tone and sterling musicianship by
attending concerts and recitals whenever
possible.
Do you insist on good tone and
intonation?
There is little pleasure to be gained from
listening to a noisy, out-of-tune band —
and none whatsoever from playing in
one. Maintain interest and enthusiasm by
insisting upon a beautiful tone and intune
playing.
Do you teach the instrument first?
Reading and playing notes requires a
complicated series of mental and physical
reactions. For the first few lessons,
concentrate on the physical aspects of
playing, and then proceed to note reading.
Students will progress faster if this routine
is followed.
Are you convinced of the great value of
musical training?
In secondary schools, it would seem to
be the training itself, even more than
the benefits that accrue in later life.
Remember, every rehearsal, every hour
of individual practice and every concert
helps to mould the character of the young
people entrusted to your care. Make each
moment spent in music count to the
fullest. •
E. C. Moore, a prominent music educator, was
author of The Band Book, first published by Leblanc
Educational Publications in the 1960s and still in
print today. This article is a revised excerpt from that
publication.
Look out for Part 2 of E. C. Moore’s Musical Director’s
Checklist in the next issue of Random Notes.
This article is reprinted from Conn-Selmer
Keynotes Online MAgazine with the permission
of Conn-Selmer, Inc. All Rights Reserved. For more
information and a free online subscription, please
visit www.keynotesmagazine.com
www.kbbmusic.co.nz
6 Printed on Paper from Sustainable Forests