Future Music Educators

Right now I am finishing up a small tour that I am taking with Gallery Brass from Grove City College. It has been a great week, but terribly tiring.

Hours at a time on the road have given me time to think a bit about this experience. When I actually thought about it, it is amazing how much I have grown musically from participating in chamber groups. I am the tuba player for two brass quintets. With only five people in the group it is so necessary to be precise and accurate in terms of pitch, tuning and dynamics. With this few members playing at once, every individual player is completely exposed. A wrong note that is quickly fixed sticks out like a sore thumb. Bad tuning on the last chord in a piece has the potential to ruin the whole thing. One player playing too loudly in a soft section or vice versa can completely throw off the balance of the group. In chamber groups, there isn’t the rest of the section to have your back if you mess up and must drop out. There is only you and your potential to make mistakes. Now, this may seem really scary, but in reality, it is such an efficient way to increase your skill at your specific instrument.

Travis Weller is a fantastic music educator, composer and conductor. He blogged about this specific issue on his blog, “Small Ensembles and the Chamber of Doom.” In this post, Mr. Weller talks about how he incorporated small ensembles into his high school curriculum. He says many of the things I have stated above about small ensembles. But he also says that the chamber ensembles have also improved his students’ focus during band rehearsal. He also states in a comment that this can also help students to realize that they should practice.

He is obviously a fan of doing this, and of the results the small ensembles produce. I think that this example shows that if you challenge and set the standard high enough within reach for students, they will respond and reach them.

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