To Warm Up or Not to
Warm Up? That is the Question
by William Berz
Reprinted with permission from Tempo, the official magazine of the New
Jersey Music Educators Association.
Citation information: Berz, William, "To Warm Up or Not to Warm Up?
That is the Questions!."
Tempo, 56(1), (October, 2005), 50-51.
In the May 2005 Tempo, Ronald Frede1 presented a
great plan for tuning the large ensemble. The article was really much
more than that. It outlined a systematic and practical design for the
entire rehearsal that included periods for administrative tasks,
tuning, warm-ups, and rehearsing. In digested form, his framework
included the following steps:
1. Set up including passing out of new materials (2
minutes)
2. Attendance (1 minute)
3. Warm up (5 minutes)
4. Tune up (1 minute)
5. Rehearsal followed by dismissal (remainder of time)
This kind of systematic plan has considerable value.
Students know what to expect and are prepared psychologically to face
the challenges that lie ahead. This should help to prevent discipline
problems and add a certain welcome regularity to the rehearsal. Time
efficiency can be maximized.
I would like to focus on one segment: the warm up
section. It has been my experience that most young players do not
really need to physically warm up as thoroughly as is normally done,
and they can accomplish this while working on other goals. This does
not mean to imply however that bands and orchestras should immediately
launch into rehearsal of problematic passages. Instead, ensembles
should embark on a basic skill development period. Instead of passively
warming up, one should concentrate on developing basic skills during
this first rehearsal segment.
Hopefully my point is not merely an issue of
language. I have observed that the warm up is often done too casually.
Students – and conductor – simply “go through the steps” almost because
it is tradition. The beginning of the rehearsal becomes too routine,
tossed aside without serious effort. When this happens, there is little
student growth; the warm up probably does not accomplish the goal of
preparing students physically or cognitively.
Instead, ensembles could begin their work on a specific skill or set of
skills that are both fundamental and necessary to better perform the
music that is being studied. This might include development of tone
quality, balance, tuning, articulation, and/or technical skill. This
will not only help solve practical performance issues, but retention
should be improved, as students are able to see the relevance of all
parts of the rehearsal. Particular skills are developed while students
are warming up.
Frede encourages the use of a student assistant to
conduct the initial phase of the rehearsal while the teacher takes
attendance. While student leadership should be encouraged, I would
caution extreme care. Frede’s idea seems to point to my concern about
“warm-ups;” they just are not very important. Perhaps it would be
better to have a student assistant take attendance (the teacher can
quickly double check the role) and the teacher TEACH.
Fundamental Skill Development
Many of the skills needed for a student to become a
better player are best addressed individually. Each instrument requires
pretty specific skill sets. This is one of the reasons why private
instruction is so important in instrumental music. The benefit of
lessons goes far beyond the one-on-one nature of the teaching.
(Students really should be encouraged to study privately whenever
possible! While this is certainly idealistic, great teachers can find
creative solutions to this challenge.)
This does not mean to imply however that some of
these basic skills cannot be addressed in group rehearsal. For example,
technique is very commonly covered in rehearsal as was noted above.
Scales, arpeggios, and rhythmic patterns are all easily tackled.
However, teachers must keep this kind of activity fresh. And tempi
should not be pushed too fast so that bad fundamental habits are
developed.
I have observed that warm-ups that are devoted to technique building
can become particularly perfunctory and mechanical. It is exceedingly
easy to fall into a routine where not very much is really being gained.
Little more than practice of very narrow patterns is accomplished, and
many times students are actually developing poor fundamental skills
because of careless attention to detail.
Conversely, group skills must be worked on by the full ensemble. Such
concepts as balance, blend, ensemble tuning cannot be addressed
individually. These goals must be covered during the rehearsal. They —
rather than technique building — should be the center of this basic
skill development segment of the rehearsal. These group concepts must
be at the core of ensemble skill development.
The basic skill development rehearsal segment can be
divided into several smaller sub-groupings. One might include work on a
particular scale, perhaps in the key of the piece that is being studied
later in the rehearsal, especially if it is problematic. Teachers may
instead work around the circle of fifths over the course of the year
adding a scale every week or two. This can be done relatively quickly.
However, teachers must exercise care that students are accomplishing
more than just “going through the motions.”
Balance and tuning should be part of every
rehearsal. I favor use of tuning exercises that builds in octaves from
the bottom of the ensemble. One such procedure is given in the I
Recommend book by James Ployhar starting on page 5. Octaves lead to
triads in very basic and short exercises. Short chorales in each key
are also provided. The condensed nature of these exercises helps to
keep attention focused. In general, the playing of chorales is
excellent as long as students are taught how to listen and adjust their
sounds to fit into the overall sonority. Not only should these tasks
cover balance and blend issues, but students must be encouraged to
listen to tone and intonation as well.
Tuning is one of the most difficult tasks for any
large ensemble and an enormous amount of time can be devoted toward
this end. Some conductors will have every student use a tuning machine
one at a time. Some have a tuner on every stand. The use of machines is
valuable in helping students learn how to listen, and they can save an
enormous amount of time in rehearsal. However, they must be used in
moderation and in ways to encourage student learning. In the end,
students must be taught to hear.2
This skill development segment of the rehearsal can
be altered considerably over the course of the year. The teacher might
develop a rotational curriculum to cover a wide variety of skills. At
first, the teacher might focus on very basic objectives. As the year
progresses, the goals may become more specific, perhaps relating to
some narrow concept found in the music being studied. There should be
blend between variation and constancy – enough variety to keep the work
fresh but with enough structure to keep procedures firm.
Real Warm-ups
Every instrument requires a different kind of
preparation to begin playing properly. For example, brass players need
to warm up the muscles of the embouchure; woodwind performers need to
begin to move the small muscles in the hands; and percussions have to
work on larger muscle groups of the arms. Often, group warm-ups focus
on skills that brass players value and are essentially a waste of time
for other instrumentalists.
Students should be taught how to warm up properly on
their respective instruments, and then given the responsibility to
begin the process on their own. Given the limitations in many schools,
the period of time available for this is probably brief, perhaps done
while attendance is being taken or while students are entering the
room.
Obviously, the potential exists for students to not
warm up properly on their own. When students are given individual
responsibility, it then falls to the teacher to make the students
accountable. Like in so many areas, students should be held to a high
standard, one that is serious. Once students understand the importance
of warming up and are held accountable, discipline should not be a
significant problem. When this happens, then the issue of brass players
needing to physically warm up is addressed and the group warm up can
become the fundamental skill development exercise outlined above.
Coda
Instrumentalists do need to prepare themselves
physically and mentally to play well. Because of the educational nature
of school bands and orchestras, rehearsals must encompass a great many
kinds of activities which lead to musical development as well as
successful performances. In the school environment particularly,
ensembles are limited by relatively short rehearsal periods. The
traditional warm up period can often represent an unproductive time for
school ensembles. Ensemble directors need to consider how best to warm
up their ensembles, considering the maturity of students.
Instead of the traditional group warm up, the
beginning of the rehearsal should be devoted to improving fundamental
skills which might incorporate warming up. It can include technique
building, improving balance and blend, refining intonation, stabilizing
tone, and many others. The teacher can establish a unified curriculum
for the entire year based upon many factors including the repertoire
that is being studied. The beginning of the rehearsal can become a time
of serious purpose where students both prepare as well as to refine
basic skills.
The better the students play and understand musical
concepts, the more the possibilities for enriching experiences
increase. In order to achieve these goals, rehearsals need to be as
productive as possible. When students and teachers begin to simply “go
through the motions” and quit working positively, development is
slowed. Teachers need to make every moment as fruitful and exciting as
possible.
Endnotes
1. Ronald Frede, “Rehearsal Techniques: Tuning the
Ensemble,” Tempo 56 no. 4 (May 2005): 62-63.
2. See William Berz, A Machine Age?, Tempo, 57(3),
26-27, March, 2003 for some ideas about using tuning machines in
rehearsals. The article can also be found at:
http://musicweb.rutgers.edu/windband/tempohome.htm