Risky Business

There was something else that happened at the first summer camp that was really cool that I wanted to document and share. I've said before that the camp was amazing, the kids were incredible, etc. etc. And that's all true. But the first few days of camp we didn't feel so much amazing as we felt like it was a crazy storm.

A lot of great things were happening. It was obvious that the previous band director did a lot of great things. These kids had great attitudes, they were comfortable in multiple keys, solid leadership, stand out players in nearly every section, and the list goes on. The director challenged them to do even more of the things a band with pride would do. For example, to keep the band hall clean (or face clean up duties), show up early, etc. We also made examples of the students who gave up part of their breaks, either by staying late or showing up earlier, to practice what they were having trouble with. Pretty soon we witnessed this incredible environment where kids were so motivated that it was common for the entire band to be in their chairs working on parts with five minutes remaining in the break, where at the start of the week you might have had a single student, but most likely expected kids to casually waltz in with only a minute or two to go. We're not just talking about warming up, or being in the right place at the right time. This was the kind of work ethic you dream about in a band.

So a lot of great things to say. But there was one really large problem. They couldn't count.

And it was a major problem because the director didn't want to order the "band in a box" Journey show. These were arranged by our mutual friend (a very talented young arranger and composer), and with few exceptions, the rhythms are pretty true to the song, especially the melodies. Which is to say that the rhythms were very complex, and that the music might have been over their heads. So while we appreciated their enthusiasm and work ethic, even on the first day, we knew this might mean serious trouble. That night we brainstormed.

I tossed out an idea. I thought it was crazy, and I didn't know if it would work or just be a waste of time. We basically had two options - teach them to count, or teach them by rote. To me the latter option, especially for a high school group, gives me knots in my stomach. And while the obvious answer would be to break down individual rhythms in context, that failed epically all day. They needed to develop not only a sense of pulse, but review basic rhythmic values, how to count them, and how to dissect rhythms. So I went with what seemed obvious to me, but also what I felt was perhaps a crazy idea that I'd never heard of being done before. Perfectly open to rejection, I threw it out there.

What if we started training them as if we were preparing them for sight reading contest? At that time of the year you break down and learn to play rhythms every day, and each time you gradually spiral up the complexity. The camp schedule included two sectionals and two full band rehearsals a day, so theoretically we could make 4 days of progress each day of camp, the end result being 16 days, or three weeks plus a day, of rhythmic progress. After some debate, Adrian agreed that it wouldn't hurt to devote as much as 15-20 minutes to this in each sectional, and asked us to start with some pretty basic stuff, such as dotted quarter note, eighth note rhythms, and nothing tied across the bar line. The next morning we went to work.

And it was a disaster! There wasn't much syllable confusion, but rhythmic values were all over the place. Foot tapping was a new concept. Even a dotted quarter, eighth, dotted quarter, eighth rhythm was nearly impossible for them to count accurately. I had only written four lines of rhythms on the board, and we spend 20 minutes just getting through the first line, and not nailing it. The woodwind tech had even more trouble, spending 40 minutes trying to help them get it. We realized it was worse than we initially thought!

But then the woodwind tech had a breakthrough. During full band he started working with a clarinet player. She didn't know fingerings above the middle line Bb, and had little concept of basic fundamentals, both in reading music but to some extent, thing like embouchure, etc. etc. In his hour with her they covered a LOT of material. One of those things was the rhythm tree, which she was starting to grasp after about 15 minutes of the tree and applying it to rhythms. It was a natural thought to use the tree with her, because she knew nothing about rhythms, and he knew that going into the lesson. We hadn't done that in sectionals because we figured they had all been in band for at least two years, so dotted quarter eighths would've been a good starting point (wrong!). Anyway, in the afternoon sectional, he wrote a rhythm on the board, and this girl, who had just seen the rhythm three for the first time a couple of hours earlier, was the only person to figure it out.

So did we have to go all the way back to the beginning? Perhaps that's what it was going to take! Certainly my afternoon sectional saw little, if any progress, from the morning sectional in counting. Great progress in other areas, but not in that one.

That afternoon I talked to the woodwind tech. I was curious to see if he was thinking of reintroducing the rhythm tree to everyone, because I was now considering it. He said that was his plan, and I jumped on board. This way the entire wind section would get it. We told the director that's what we were going to do, and he agreed.

Wednesday morning - rhythm tree. They had all seen it before, but it was rusty. As we went deeper into subdivision, we counted a few measures worth to get the hang of values and syllables. Then we went straight into a number of rhythms, mostly involving quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes. I wasn't prepared to use dots or ties. And they were finally getting the hang of it! Foot tapping, counting, transferring it to playing, all of it. They just had to go back to the very basic concepts.

One of the tunes, "Faithfully", was easily the most troubling. The first section they could barely hold together on, but as soon as the B section hit, everyone fell apart. In the afternoon sectional we quickly warmed up, reviewed the earlier rhythm lesson with additional rhythms, worked on another tune, then hit up Faithfully. Although I knew B was the major problem, I started from the beginning. Now that they could grasp 16th note rhythms, I could make the jump to dots and ties with rhythms in context and hopefully clean up A a little to prevent them from learning it wrong any more than they had. We managed that to an extent, but quickly ran out of time when we hit B. I felt like an idiot for not just going straight to the parts that sounded the worst, like my training told me to do.

Following the afternoon full band rehearsal, The director's concern grew exponentially. Everything else was coming along but this tune, and if needed he felt he still had just enough time to drop it and switch it for the generic version of "Open Arms", which would be much easier and possible to get somewhat performance ready by Friday. At one point he said, "I'm such an idiot! I can't even count some of these rhythms!" (which of course meant that he had to work at it with syllables, not that he couldn't do it). But I saw the progress they were making after seeing the rhythm tree. I knew that all they needed was to make the jump to dots and ties, and they could get it. They were SO CLOSE! I pleaded for more time, and we all agreed that they would be devastated if he pulled the tune after working so hard at it. So he gave us an ultimatum. They had to get it by the end of the night. He would cancel marching rehearsal to give us one more sectional and full band rehearsal. If we didn't get it done by then, he felt he was going to have to cut the tune.

So I put my war paint on. I couldn't relax all through the dinner break. I didn't know if I could pull this off, but  we were all going to give it hell, by God!

I got to the board 45 minutes early and started writing out every complicated rhythm on the board, starting in the B section, going to the end, then back to the beginning up to B. My plan was to have everyone in the group break down and count every single rhythm, play every single rhythm, and then have the section that actually had the rhythm put it into context. There must have been something like 13 of those bad boys. After our warm up we got straight to work.

It was like diffusing a bomb with numerous lives on the line, where the clock was ticking, and throughout the whole ordeal you were just screaming for more time.

They knew what was on the line, so all of us were on our A game. Even so, it was still often just beyond their reach when we looked at every new rhythm. For roughly an hour they plugged through one rhythm after another. Everyone could understand, count and play them on a Bb (even the tubas!), and significant progress was being made. We managed to hold together through the B section, and we managed to hit up a couple of the rhythms from the A section before running out of time, but when I looked at what was left I felt mortified. Like a failure.

We probably only made it through 9 rhythms.

I sent them off on break, forcing some of them, so that they could rest their mushy brains. Then I went outside, found a corner, and tried to fight back tears of frustration. I had worked so hard, and they were giving me everything they had, but I just couldn't do it!

After a few minutes I calmed down a little. They were starting to grasp the rhythms. We made it through the B section. There was still a chance they could make it the rest of the way after another 45 minutes with the director. Maybe we had done enough. "Don't lose faith in them, Chris!" I said to myself, "They might still pull this off!"

So I went back inside. I quietly went around to the brass players, fielding questions and fixing problems. But I never gave them the answers. I helped them break it down, just like in sectionals. The director allowed me to do this and occasionally worked with a different group while I did. They were working so hard, you could just feel the brain sweat pouring out and pooling on the floor! But yes, they were struggling, but they were understanding.

At some point, someone (not me) remembered that one of the main tricks to teaching rhythms with tied notes across the bar line is to simply remove the tie, have them count it, remind them of what happens when you add the tie in, and have them count it, and if needed, switch back and forth, with and without the tie, until accuracy occurs. What a great trick.

By the end of rehearsal the band made it through the tune, from beginning to end. It wasn't beautiful, but they made it, with the right notes, and most of the right rhythms. We met the goal!

But I still felt horrible. Like a failure. And then I realized something.

At approximately 8:20 AM, we started with the Rhythm Tree! The Rhythm Tree!!!

When we considered implementing remedial rhythm work, we all agreed that they probably wouldn't start to really understand the rhythms in their music until a week or two afterwards. In fact, I compromised and agreed to teach by rote in some cases until we reached a point that they could look at the rhythms and really understand what was going on, and why it was the way it was. But after rhythm disasters on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday we went from the beginning (rhythm tree!!) to some of the most complex eighth note/sixteenth note rhythms you'll find in a 4/4 meter. They knew just enough, were just hard working enough, and just smart enough, that they grasped it all in a day. And we helped them get there.

So actually, at that point, I started to feel pretty great!

Thursday I formally introduced dots and ties in our afternoon rhythm workshop, but after making the jump during rehearsal the previous night, all the sudden it wasn't so bad for them. It took a few tries, but they were understanding and breaking it down with great success. By the afternoon band rehearsal, when they played "Faithfully", they were nailing not just the notes and rhythms, but gelling with ensemble sound and making the jump to style and musicality. In fact, I thought the last time they did it that afternoon that, with maybe two exceptions, it sounded gorgeous. They were excited about it. Why they had every right to be! What an accomplishment!

Two weeks after their camp, at their debut concert, it sounded amazing. Their intonation became the biggest weakness once rhythm was addressed, and they've obviously turned that into a strength in the two weeks I was away. But rhythms? Pssshh. Those rhythms were locked in tight. It was the kind of cleanliness that only occurs when every student has a sense of pulse and understands how to play correct rhythms. They didn't learn it by rote. They knew exactly where to place those notes. And it sounded amazing! Not just on that song, mind you. The rest of their music dramatically improved as well once they gained more counting confidence. They're going to knock people out! I was so proud of them, and excited for them. Not only that, but now that they're on the same page as the director in regards to discussing rhythms, it will be so much easier for him to communicate anything that is going wrong.

So this crazy idea of remedial rhythm workshops within sectionals actually worked out, especially once we figured out that we needed to start all the way back at the rhythm tree, and that the key to teaching tied rhythms is to remove the tie first.

It makes me feel much more confident in some other ideas I've had for camps. I've actually considered in the past that devoting an hour a day for two days over the course of camp to dust off their rhythm skills with a review and working up to some rhythms that were a little more advanced than anything in our show or stand tunes would not be time wasted. I've also had ideas for other masterclass kinds of things, with the goal being to create highly knowledgeable students. The master classes would all need to be interactive in some way. I've only seen one band director dedicate a time outside of sectionals for "Masterclass". I don't know how well it worked out for him, but he also left that time up to the techs. Mine would be more structured and have specific learning objectives.

But I've always wondered if it would work, if it could be done. It seems unorthodox. But anyway, perhaps I'll write about that another time. Perhaps after I've tried it out. But this experience made me feel like, yes, it could work.

And the experience as a whole was incredible. And the kids were so grateful to learn how to do it, including those that were slow to hop on and participate. They felt so accomplished, so much better as musicians! And the truth is that they did grow quite a bit in a very short time. It was all very highly rewarding!

So anyway, I didn't have anything to propose, or questions to ask with this blog. I really just wanted to document what happened there so I'll have it. But if anyone has any thoughts, questions, or comments, please have at it!

Thank you for reading! And until next time, take care!

Musically yours,
Mr. Cooper