Developing a Spring Percussion Ensemble Program
Josh Gottry
Football games are finally over. The marching percussion equipment has been cleaned and put away. And unfortunately, your percussionists may very well be looking past the next six months of their musical participation, in eager anticipation of the next marching season. While concert band music can pose many exciting challenges for percussion students, the end of drum line can sometimes seem a huge letdown as students look toward the concert band season. A spring-semester percussion ensemble often helps keep percussionists excited about and involved in the band program.
THE ENSEMBLE
I have long advocated that percussionists benefit most from exposure to as many different instruments and ensembles as possible, such as marching and rudimental percussion, ethnic percussion, drum set, concert percussion and percussion ensemble. To that effect, the availability of entertaining and musically stimulating literature for percussion is ever-growing, especially for percussion ensembles. Publishers such as Row-loff Publications and Drop 6 Media, Inc. release a number of new titles each year that are appropriate for high school percussion ensembles. These pieces are typically challenging, yet listener-friendly and (most importantly) engaging for the students. Even more conveniently, many publishers now have Web sites with sample scores and audio excerpts for students and directors can preview before choosing a piece.
THE MEMBERS
Most pieces feature a reasonable variety of instruments (keyboard percussion, drums, accessory, and hand percussion) and the difficulty level varies between parts. This allows directors to include percussion students of any level in the ensemble, and perhaps even wind, string, or piano players interested in learning percussion. I regularly encourage students to play a different instrument in the spring percussion ensemble than they did during the marching season. For example, placing the marching snare and tenor players on timpani, drum set, hand drums, or even keyboard percussion will open their eyes to the variety available in percussion and significantly improve their musicianship and technical development. Whatever their primary musical instrument, learning more about another instrument often makes people better musicians. This is even more true for percussionists, who are expected to play it all!
REHEARSALS & PERFORMANCES
Because many students participate in the band as part of a well-rounded, active lifestyle, scheduling additional rehearsals can certainly be difficult. However, with the appropriate music, many of these percussion ensembles can be ready to perform in a matter of a couple months on just three or four hours of rehearsal each week. Rehearsals can be scheduled before or after school, during band class if an additional instructor and rehearsal room is available, during a percussion class, or even in the evenings. A portion of each rehearsal should be used for warm-ups. Pit or sideline percussion warm-ups, scales, and portions of the ensemble music can all be adapted and used as warm-ups. Also, use some rehearsal time to instruct the group on various performance techniques, using passages from individual student parts as examples. Performance opportunities can include state or national Winter Guard International Concert Percussion or Percussive Arts Society festivals, band concerts (just watch the band parents faces when they see a bunch of Adrummers@ playing music!), school assemblies, or junior high orientation, which is also a great recruiting tool.
THE RESULT
In programs I=ve worked with, the benefits of having a spring percussion ensemble include students who are more comfortable playing in the concert band because they=ve already been exposed to a variety of percussion instruments and techniques, and students are also more excited about drum line and marching season after this break. Musicality is more developed because participating in a chamber setting makes students more aware of the rest of the percussion section as well as the other musicians in the band. The most rewarding part is that, after the first year, students will likely be eager to participate again because of how much they enjoyed playing in the percussion ensemble program.
Josh Gottry is an active percussion instructor, performer, and composer in Gilbert, Arizona. He instructs several local percussion ensembles and private percussion students, and performs regularly as both a soloist and ensemble member. As a composer, Mr. Gottry is a three-time ASCAP grant recipient with seventeen works published for percussion. He is also a clinician for Mike Balter Mallets, Pro-Mark Sticks, and Yamaha Percussion.
To contact Josh Gottry, e-mail josh@gottrypercussion.com .