Reprinted from the Rutgers Music Education Newsletter, Spring 1999 issue
Beat It! Solving Some Percussion Problems in the Concert Band
by
William Berz
Each spring, I am fortunate to be busy doing clinics with a number of high school concert bands as well as judging band festivals. This allows me the wonderful opportunity to hear many excellent ensembles and to learn a great deal from them and their conductors. This past spring, I have been particularly struck by the ever increasing demands that are placed on percussion sections in the school concert band. Perhaps more than any area, percussion is an area of enormous growth and development. This in due to progress in many related areas, most certainly including the diverse fields of marching band, percussion ensemble, world music, and contemporary classical music.
In listening to many bands this spring, I have seen a number of common concerns with percussion in the concert band, including instrumentation, doubling of players, and special playing techniques. More frequently, composers are calling for exotic percussion instruments in their scores--and it is impossible to own every instrument. When the Rutgers Wind Ensemble performed and recorded Ghost Train by Eric Whitacre a few years ago, I had to do some research to learn about one instrument in particular that appeared in the score: the waterphone. It turns out that it is an instrument used in many movie scores and is made only by Richard Water who lives in Hawaii. After paying the several hundred dollar price tag, Rutgers became the proud owner of a waterphone. (Unfortunately, I am not sure that we have used it since we performed Ghost Train.)
Certainly, not all schools are able to afford an inventory which includes every imaginable instrument. This might be especially problematic at the elementary and middle school levels. Yet an increasing number of works even at these levels are making extensive demands of the percussion section. I might suggest that conductors use some common sense if substituting instruments if that particular instrument is not available. They should try to envision what the sound called for in the score should be, and then try to imitate it should the instrument not be available. A couple of examples might be in order. I attended a recent band festival where one band played a bongo part on low toms; a better choice might have been higher drums since bongos are generally high pitched with little ring. Roto-toms might have also been a possibility, and they often cast off by the high school band since they are not particularly fashionable in marching bands. Another band did not use any instruments to cover what were rather important mallet parts. Even if the school did not have any mallets, perhaps a piano could have been employed. (There was one on the stage.) For those elementary and middle schools that have no mallet instruments for students to use, perhaps an old glockenspiel or other older marching band instrument from the high school could be borrowed. Not only would this help the performance of the music, but it would afford percussion students with the valuable experience of playing mallets on occasion.
Many bands have more percussionists than necessary to play the music (an obvious fact in most cases). And we all know that bored percussionists create problems that are best avoided. With this factor in mind, many conductors double percussion parts. However, this can cause enormous musical problems, especially in terms of balance. Elementary and middle school directors might consider adding parts (mallets, accessories) to music where it seems appropriate to increase involvement without adding more snare drums to the mix. Much educational repertoire will profit from judicial additions and editing. High school directors who perform more serious literature must be very careful about doubling, particularly snare drums. Both balance and rhythmical precision can be seriously compromised. Again, conductors need to be creative to find ways to involve students without sacrificing musical or educational goals. Careful selection of repertoire is a vital first step.
Percussionists (as opposed to drummers) need to be extremely versatile musicians. Technique varies considerably when playing different instruments. I have heard many bands where even some of the basic accessory instruments are not played very well--triangle and wood block are obvious examples. In addition, some percussion musical notation is not particularly clear.
Conductors who are not percussionists may need to seek some assistance to teach their students how to play the parts correctly. While it may take considerable time and effort to teach good technique on snare, timpani, or marimba, many instruments require much less energy to achieve a good basic sound. The marching band has created a cottage industry of percussion consultants. Listening to the announcements at any marching band contest (if there is time after the air-grams are read), will reveal a number of percussionists on each band's staff. Perhaps conductors should seek help from these percussionists for their concert bands on occasion. A small effort will probably generate a huge reward.
Given the demands of our normal day-to-day stress, it is sometimes tempting to take the easy way out in dealing with the percussion section: to do nothing. Instead, directors need to address percussion problems actively and creatively. In this way, the music and the students' growth will profit.