First, musicians need to know how to listen and play in tune on a unison note. Edward Lisk is an expert on the science of sound and he provides a thorough explanation of the hows and whys of the tuning process in many of his books, including The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader. 

     It is best to set a pitch from either a drone or a tuba (or lowest instrument in the band). A drone is advantageous, if possible, because it provides a consistent pitch. Using the Yamaha Harmony Director HD 200 keyboard is also helpful for hearing chords (including cluster chords) in just intonation and tuning them accordingly. 

     Concert F is the best pitch for tuning almost all wind instruments because of the overtone series and where it lies on the instruments. The exception is Eb alto and baritone saxophones, but the benefits of F in all the other instruments outweigh this. After the winds have tuned to F, the drone or tuba should switch to Bb and all winds should join the Eb saxophones in tuning that note. Start by tuning principal players. After the principal euphonium is in tune with the tuba, they should continue to play and then the principal trombone player should join them. The process repeats through score order (ascending). Next, everyone else tunes by listening to their section leader. Only one person in each section (who has not yet tuned) should tune with the section leader at a time, so each musician can clearly hear themselves and identify if there are beats in the sound. Musicians do not need to worry about if they are flat or sharp. They only need to listen for beats in the sound. Tell players if they are pinching their embouchure to slow down beats, they are flat and if they are relaxing their embouchure to slow down beats, they are sharp. After that, 

they can adjust their instrument by moving the slide/mouthpiece/ barrel in or out or adjusting the reed. Next, they need to identify if the beats got slower or faster. Faster beats means to go the opposite direction on the instrument and slower beats means to continue in the same direction until the beats have been eliminated. When musicians are perfectly in tune, their sound is indistinguishable from the sound of their section leader. They should keep playing as the rest of the section tunes. In addition to blending within the section, each section needs to balance within the ensemble. In general, this means musicians should listen down to the tuba or lowest instrument in the ensemble or the instrument playing the lowest part. 

     After ensemble members can play around the Circle of 4ths in unison and maintain good intonation, you can add perfect fifths and eventually major chords, seventh chords, and minor chords in all keys. If ensemble members have trouble tuning any of the chords within the piece, make sure they understand who they should be listening to for pitch and balance, based on who has the root, third, fifth, seventh, etc. of the chord.

 

Pulse/Rhythm:

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     Because of the rhythms in Heart's Lullaby and the way the different parts interact with one another, a strong sense of internal pulse and unified ensemble thinking will be required. Edward Lisk explains the "internal pulse exercise" in his book, The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader. With my students, I refer to it as the internal pulse game to reenforce the idea that challenging ourselves to become better musicians 

(through concentration and focus) is fun. To lead the game, hold your hands out with the palms up and count aloud 1-8 (at a tempo of approximately 60 beats per minute). Next, the ensemble members should count with you. Everyone should be counting with a crisp tone of voice and be focused on listening to the space between the beats. It is important that musicians keep their bodies entirely still during this time. The emphasis is on internal pulse, not on external elements like foot tapping, head bobbing, etc. After the pulse has been established, turn your hands, so your palms are facing down. When your palms are down, you and the ensemble members should switch to counting silently. Nothing should change, except they are counting in their brains. Make sure no one is mouthing the numbers to themselves. Emphasize the internalization process or "thinking in your brain". At first, only indicate one or two beats of silence at a time. As the ensemble's sense of internal pulse improves, you can keep your palms down for more beats and still have the ensemble come in correctly when they have to start counting aloud again. This becomes a fun challenge for students to see how long they can count silently and still come in on the correct number and with their voices exactly together when it is time.  

     After the musicians have performed the pulse exercise correctly, they should transfer it to playing around the Circle of 4ths. Start by having them play in unison on concert F on the Circle of 4ths for pulse 5. Ensemble members should be counting to five (internally) while they are playing for four beats, releasing on beat five, and then breathing and entering with the new pitch on the next beat. After they have played concert F, they should play concert Bb, then concert Eb, etc. At first, you can conduct a "one" pattern and indicate the entrances and releases. When the ensemble is secure in the internal pulse, 

stop conducting and let the members continue to play pulse 5 around the Circle. It is important to stop the ensemble when precision in entrances and releases is lost.  Remind musicians to breathe together and play together. Whenever the entrances or releases lose precision, name a new pulse (for example, pulse 4 or pulse 6) and begin on a different note in the Circle (concert Ab, for example). Eventually, with practice, the internal pulse of the ensemble and precision of entrances and releases will improve. When this happens, indicate pulses between 3 and 7 (or longer). You should also add rests. For example, pulse 5 rest 3 would be "play, two, three, four, release, two, three, breathe" and would be notated as a whole note followed by a whole rest.    

     Throughout the piece, there are some triplet, sixteenth note, and thirty-second note rhythms that will need to be focused on. When it comes to rhythmic precision, teach ensemble members how to count the rhythms. After everyone can read, count, and clap each rhythm, have them think and play one rhythm at a time in unison on one pitch (starting on concert F) around the Circle of 4ths. Everyone should learn how to read and play all of the rhythms (whether they appear in their individual part or not). Sometimes two or more different rhythms appear at the same time in the piece (for example the clarinet and bassoon rhythms in measure 22).