VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, [2] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 16:18:09 02/26/05 Sat
Author: Frank
Subject: Low Woodwinds

It’s not that I’m complaining, but what is it about band directors forgetting about the lower woodwinds? For clarification, I’m taking about the bassoons/contrabassoon, bass/contrabass clarinet, and the tenor and bari sax. Most band directors tend to forget where these instruments are placed within the ensemble. Let me explain.

When asking a section to play, it is rare that the director asks the low woodwind section to play, but only when the low woodwind part is separate from the rest of the ensemble. Other times, when a band director asks the woodwinds to play, they rarely mean for the low woodwinds to play, except when playing a chorale. When the band director then asks the lower brass to play, they usually mean for the lower woodwinds to play as well, but why? As it turns out, the low woodwinds and the low brass tend to share the same rhythms, but this is not always the case. This will usually confuse the young player. They are told in their general music class that their instrument belongs to the woodwind family. Why, then, would the band director not want them to play with the rest of the woodwinds, but the band director is confused when the low woodwinds don’t play with the lower brass?

I’ve also been confused by this weird phenomenon. It is one of those things that almost all band directors do but don’t mean to. I’m asking that future band directors try to correct this mistake by further separating the upper woodwinds from the lower woodwinds and the lower woodwinds from the lower brass. It doesn’t bother me too much that band directors haven’t been doing this… well, yes it does.


--Frank Calhoun

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Re: Low Woodwinds -- Lisa, 17:28:58 02/27/05 Sun [1]

That is definitely an eye opener. I never really thought about the low woodwinds not playing with the rest of the woodwinds. So maybe the reason band directors have the low woodwinds play with the low brass is because of the similarity in rhythm. The director may not like the way the lower and upper winds sound together/"alone".


[ Edit | View ]

[> Re: Low Woodwinds -- Brigid, 14:52:02 03/01/05 Tue [1]

Well, Frank, I think we're in the same boat here :)

I think its the nature of the beast. I had a band director in high school who didn't care what I had in my part, or how hard I worked at difficult passage because she said "The tuba isn't really meant to be heard, it's just a color instrument." A lot of band directors feel the same way- thinking are parts are insignificant. I was elated when I came to Heidelberg and Dr. O. actually cared (and noticed) what sounds came out of my horn. There are directors out there who notice us, but I believe they are few and far between. To prove a point, my high school tuba section regularly played things like "Emperata Overture" or "Twinkle Twinkle" while the band was rehearsing Mozart-just to see if our director even heard us. Granted, that was mischievious, but it proved a point to us- she wasn't listening. I think certain directors ignore low brass and woodwinds because its an uncertain area for them. Look at how we are learning these instruments in our low brass methods- we've only had experience on Bb clarinet, not the alto, bass, or contrabass. Bassoon? the instruments we learned on last year didn't even function properly. As for low brass, we skip the euphonium completely and we're spending minimal time on the tuba. I think that perhaps we're not the only one's without much experience on these instruments- band directors are possibly afraid of what they don't know. What do you think?


[ Edit | View ]


[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.