New Work: Chaos Overcome

Check out my latest work available from my publisher!http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/chaos-overcome-digital-sheet-music/19934337 

Chaos Overcome by Brandyn Metzko. For Piano, Flute, Horn, Cello, Drums. 20th Century. Advanced. Set of Parts, Score. Published by Brandyn Metzko (S0.11545).

Chaos Overcome, commissioned by Michael Wiltse in Reno, Nevada is a piece about overcoming addiction and the joy of life.

Fixing a "fuzzy" woodwind/brass tone in beginners

In teaching beginning woodwind and brass students, I often come across the same basic problems in students’ playing. A lack of a good tone is common and here I give some solutions for remedying it.

The student should be sure they are using a correct embouchure. In brass students, this is often incorrect placement.  With the mouthpiece alone, have the student first make an “ah” shape with their throat.  Then, close the lips as if to say “mmm”.  Finally the student should allow air to puff through the lips making a “puh” sound.  This is the basic brass embouchure and articulation.

Often a fuzzy sound is a result of not enough air.  Using long tones can help this issue in the long run.  I often ask the student to play twice as loud to see if that makes a difference.  This makes the student naturally use more air and will help diagnose the problem.

On clarinet and saxophone students, one should be sure the reed is the proper strength.  If little air is passing, the reed may be too hard.  If the tone is flat sounding, the reed may be too soft.  A 2 ½ reed strength is a good hardness to start with, though they should move up to a 3 as soon as their embouchure strength allows it.  One must also check that the reed is in good condition with no nicks or cracks, and that the reed is placed properly on the mouthpiece.  Even a small deviation in reed placement can affect sound negatively.  Ensure that enough but not too much of the mouthpiece is in the student’s mouth.  Saxophone players should have about half of the mouthpiece in their mouth.  Clarinet players should have less.

For flute students, check that the embouchure is centered and air is passing across the lip hole properly.  The student may want to “roll out” the head joint slightly— beginners tend to focus the air down into the head joint to ensure a sound coming out but this technique creates a hollow fuzzy tone. Rolling the head joint out allows for a more full tone as the air passes above the lip plate to cause greater resonance.

I hope you find these tips helpful, and if you have questions regarding this or other playing problems, don’t hesitate to contact me at webguybrandyn@gmail.com 

Programming Concert Repertory

Programming repertory for a community instrumental ensemble can be a challenge for new directors.  Here are some things you may want to think about as you begin to program your first concert sets.

Overall level: Many works are graded, meaning they have a number assigned to them based on their difficulty.  In the United States, a 1-5 scale is used, where 1 is absolute beginner bands/orchestras and 5 is collegiate wind ensembles/orchestras.  Understanding where your band/orchestra fits in is important.  If you program too many difficult pieces, your players may become frustrated and you may not have enough rehearsal time to cover all of the issues in the pieces.  if you program material that is too easy, your musicians may not grow significantly by rehearsing the pieces and may become bored.

Instrumentation: Did you program a beautiful piece at the right level only to discover later it requires six horn players to pull off or has a beautiful exposed English Horn solo and you have no English Horn player?  What percussion is required— do you own all of the instruments required to cover the percussion parts?  Do you have enough players?  These are important considerations.  Sometimes you can make alterations or adjustments to make a piece work or some of the parts will be doubles of others, but a quick browse through the score will help you to decide which are vital.

Contrast and Content: Having a theme can really tie the pieces together.  I’ve seen some very creative themes, such as “Gods and Monsters”, “Fire”, “Fairytale Endings”, etc.  However, ensure that your theme allows for enough contrast.  I once went to a concert of nothing but Sousa marches.  I love Sousa, but the marches all have the same form and structure, and stay in the same few keys.  The result was an hour and a half of monotony that bored the audience.  Also, be sure the music is accessible.  If your audience is a normal “popular” community band audience, don’t program an hour of twentieth-century avant-guard works.  

There is much more that can be said about repertory planning, but this gives you a few good basic guidelines.  Best of luck in writing your first concert programs!