3 Ways to Make the Warm Up Relevant for Students

Much has been written about what should be included in a band warm up. There are some tried and true methods out there. For example, some teachers swear by Bach chorales as a necessity (or at least a chorale of some sort). There is much written as to the purpose of a warm up, and so on and so forth. I'm not actually here to add to that debate today. Today I'm here to offer some tips to make your band warm up more relevant to the students so that more is learned during that time.

The Problem With Most Warm Up Routines...

is that they're routine. On the one hand, routines and procedures are important. They help the students stay grounded, it helps them know what to expect, and so on. But here is the kind of routine I'm talking about:

Band Warm Up:

Bb Scale

Bach (or other) Chorale

Tuning (some place this as the first thing, or perhaps before the chorale)

You may remember this as a student, but after a few days it becomes so routine that you can start simply going through the motions. Once you get to a certain point, it's easy to see what's on the page and give a basic response to it. But that doesn't always help the band improve. At the very least, we could be making more improvement. 

Great teachers that use this level of routine will at least prevent themselves from going through the motions by demanding high standards and not allowing their group to backtrack. 

But since starting concert season I've taken a different track entirely. While there are many things I'm unsure of with regard to my abilities on the podium and from an administrative stand point, I do think the way we've used our warm up time has been highly effective, and I hope some of these ideas are helpful for you as well.

Connect the Warm Up to the Literature for That Day

This is one of the most effective ways we can make the warm up activities relevant for the students. Make it apply to what they're doing that day. Tell them what you're doing so they turn on their brains. Pretty soon, they'll know that your warm up time is focused learning time, and that it is designed to help them later.

Think about the sample, basic warm up I listed earlier. It's a whole lot better than nothing! The Bb Scale does what scales do for players. It helps develop their coordination of chops, fingers, air, as well as aids in ear training, and so on. The Chorale is great for helping them learn concepts about balance, blend, intonation, and also listening and adjusting for moving lines throughout the band. But again, soon this gets a bit boring, and we may find ourselves griping them out in an effort to get them to focus. We know they can do it better, but they're just going through the motions.

Instead, look at the music you plan to work that day in rehearsal. Even if you are a director who wants to play through the entire work each time you rehearse it, what problems do you expect to try to grind out that day? Identify what they don't know or what will cause them problems. Now how can you address these problems in the warm up? If there were a way to do this, you could actually teach them the skills needed before they apply it to the problem in the music.

The idea is similar to what most great core subject teachers do. When students walk in, they have some kind of sponge activity or warm up activity. The activity is always tied in some way to what they'll be learning today. It's proven to be effective! So what are some ways we can apply this idea to band for more effective skills development and faster progress on the music?

3 Ways to Connect the Warm Up to the Music of the Day

1. If you only do one scale a day, make sure it's the scale they need to be proficient in for that day's music.

This past week we had to prepare for a community event that involved us playing simple arrangements of Christmas Carols, three of the five of which were in the key of F Major. While this key isn't too far out there, most Grade 1 & 2 music is in either Bb or Eb. One of our marching show tunes was in F, but we hadn't played in that key or practiced that scale in a while. So on Monday, knowing we needed to sound good in that key, we dusted it off. After a couple of days it was back under their fingers and almost all of the wrong notes were taken care of without me having to address it. Of course, I explained that one of the main reasons we were doing the scale was because it connected to the Christmas Carols. 

I'm no longer having them do just one scale a day, but I have been for most of the year, and I'm sure there are others that do. The point is, scales are important, but students often don't understand why. Connect the dots for them!

2. Find the hardest rhythmic or pulse issue, and teach the skill during the warm up.

There are two ways I incorporate this into the warm up. Many times I've done this with scales. For example, we have an accompaniment part in one tune where the basses play quarter notes on beats one and three, and the harmony plays eighth notes with eighth rests on the downbeats of one and three (Rest - Te - Two - Te - Rest - Te - Four - Te). 

So instead of just playing the regular scale pattern up and down, we'll learn the rhythm for that part of the music. Then I'll say, "Tubas and Bass Clarinets, you play quarter notes on one and three. Everyone else, you play the rhythm, '  Te Two Te,      Te Four Te" We do that rhythm on each note in the scale, up and down. The rhythm is notated on the board, but many of them probably do it by rote after having learned the rhythm.   The notes they either have to do by memory or from their scale sheet, which has a different rhythm on it but can be good for a reference if needed. 

But all of this forces them out of simply going through the motions of the same scale in the same rhythmic pattern each day and more closely relates the scale to music, and more importantly, to the music we're working on that day. 

They hated this at first. But after a while they got used to it. I remember one day I didn't tell them where the connection was coming, and one of the kids did it for me. "Hey, that's the thing we did in the warm up!" Smart girl! Not only had the band come to realize that I was connecting the warm up every day to the music, but a few of them were even searching for where the connections were!

There are a lot of ways to make scales relevant. If you're interested check out these Five Ways to Keep Scales Interesting.

Notes, rhythms, technique - check. But what about harmony?

3. Use Relevant Chorales or Balance Exercises

This one is easy for me because after marching season I started teaching the band Ed Lisk's Circle of 4ths Exercise. Basically, the kids play all 12 notes in the circle of 4ths, but start on a different note depending on what group they're in. We're still working through the sequence. We started on unison pitches to work for beatless tuning, then had the band play around the circle in the interval of a 5th, then worked on balance and tuning for Major Chords. This past Thursday we started Minor Chords, which they really got into. Next week we'll start Dominant Seventh Chords going around the circle. When we return from Christmas Break, I'll be able to pick which interval or chord type we do on any given day based on what the music calls for that day.

But I haven't heard of many teachers (at least not in Texas) using this warm up method. You can still change your chorale choice depending on what key you're going to have the most trouble with that day.

For example, "Foundations for a Superior Performance" has a warm up chorale for several major and minor keys. They're all very playable, and you can still teach balance, blend, intonation, bringing out moving lines, and so on. Besides, the more music they play, the better their sight reading gets. And you can develop the band's sound in that specific tone center.

One of the directors I student taught under started using an exercise in addition to his Bb warm up chorale. It was from the "I Reccomend" books. It was a basic balance building exercise in which you build a Bb Major Chord by bringing in one group at a time (Root - 5th - 3rd - Root in the Soprano), and then play a basic I - ii - IV - V7 - I progression in whole notes, focusing on keeping the same balance and intonation as on the opening chord. Simple and effective. This was for a 7th grade band at a 2A school district, if that matters.

So one day I got to cover for him. I looked through the I Recommend book and found out the exact same exercise was written for multiple keys, including the relative minor keys. At the time, the band was working on Pevensey Castle, which is in C Minor. That's far cry from Bb Major for second year players, and the intonation/ensemble sound in that minor key was really kicking their butts.

So we went through a process. Had I multiple days, I wouldn't have done this all in one shot, but I didn't know when I would have another chance, so we did it all at once. 

First we played their balance building exercise in Bb, like every day. Then I had them flip to the exercise in Eb Major, which was a key they were familiar with, and used the Major sound that they were familiar with. It came together pretty quickly.

But then I had them flip to the back of that page to see the Minor version. I told them it was the same key, but different notes (tubas starting on a C instead of an Eb). I warned them that it would sound much darker and moodier. We spent some time on that first chord, building it and getting it in tune, but soon they got to play through the entire progression. 

When we went to Pevensey Castle, I reminded them that this was the key we had just worked on. I was shocked with how much better their ensemble sound was and how much better the tonality was. I think it really helped them to take that chord progression out of context and just play with a good sound with that tone center and minor mode. As a student teacher, it helped trigger a major light bulb about the difference a connected warm up can make. 

So you see, the resources are out there to have balance builders or chorales that are easily playable but in a variety of keys. Simply pick the one in the key they're going to have the most trouble with that day, and you'll increase the warm up's effectiveness and relevance for the students. 

So there you have it - an argument against strict warm up routines, and at least a few ideas to get you started toward a warm up that helps them address the learning you'll need to do to improve the music you're working on that day. I hope you've found this helpful, or at least interesting!

Do you have some other things you use to make the warm up relevant to that day's rehearsal? Please share them in the comment section! If you have any questions about any of the stuff I mentioned, you can also leave a comment or simply shoot me an e-mail! Thank you, as always, for reading. Until next time, take care!