Band column

6. Never play with an ugly or strident sound. If you lose control you are playing too loudly.

7. avoid beginning crescendos too soon. the longer you wait the more dramatic they become.

Intonation

8. Learn to adjust individual pitch problems by finding problem areas of your instrument. Learn the pitch tendencies of your instrument and check your chromatic scale with a tuner.

9. always learn to tune chords from the bottom up. attempt to eliminate beats. m ore volume is obtained when we play in tune.

Rhythm

10. Beware of triplets. avoid the tendency to drag or rush them.

11. don’t allow dotted rhythms to become triplets.

12. avoid the tendency to rush fast passages. Keep your anticipation and excitement in check.

13. Keep a constant subdivision of beat going in your head – or pat your foot.

Practicing

14. Some errors are inevitable. Learn from them so they do not happen again.

15. Spend as much time playing softly as you do playing loudly.

16. Play complex passages in the simplest way possible, adding articulation and dynamics as each previous element is mastered.

17. master complex rhythms by counting, singing and tapping them.

18. Work hard on things you can’t play. don’t just practice the things you can play.

19. u ntil you have mastered a passage in the practice session, don’t leave it alone. In rehearsals help your stand partner with it or get help from them.

General Rules

20. Warm-up carefully, discreetly, and in an organized manner. others need to hear themselves, and you need to get an organized warm-up going that you are comfortable with something that helps you play better. also learn to warm down after strenuous rehearsals.

21. Never view any passage as easy. Playing anything well always takes skill and concentration.

22. try not to get overly worried about difficult parts – it just makes them harder.

23. LISteN to the other parts. decide how your part fits in and play accordingly.

24. ask about music terms or other words you don’t know. Look them up.

25. try to answer a question yourself before asking the conductor. Save questions that do not pertain to the entire group until after rehearsal.

26. always look ahead at least a measure or two when playing. When you sightread, play patterns of notes and rhythms rather than a note at a time.

27. When beginning a new work, apply the interpretive ideas from other compositions in the same style or period to the new work.

28. Leave personal problems outside the classroom both in rehearsal and in the concert. don’t take musical comments from the conductor personally.

29. Positive self-criticism is necessary. challenge yourself to become a consistent and reliable performer.

30. No matter how well you play, teamwork is essential. the individual is less important than the ensemble as a whole.

31. try to be a positive person, and you will get positive reactions back.

32. Have a pencil in all rehearsals.

our data on the relationship between arts training and cognitive development revealed a correlation between the amount of music training and the amount of improvement in reading fluency in children.... We discovered a correlation between brain structure--the diffusion properties of a part of the corpus callosum--and reading ability as well as phonological awareness, an auditory skill that is closely related to reading ability.