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The Road Not Taken by James Syler

Look at Score (excerpt)

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Overview:

Key signature: Concert Bb, a, c minor Length: 5 minutes

Time signature: 4/4, 3/4, 5/4 Style: Lyrical, Expressive

Tempo: Quarter note = 60, 70 Dynamic range: pp - f

Grade level: 3.5 Scoring: 4 part Full Flex

Instrumentation:

Parts 1-4: C instruments, Bb instruments, Eb instruments, F instruments

Special Considerations:

The title of this piece is based on the famous poem "The Road Not Taken" by American poet, Robert Frost. James Syler has adapted this arrangement of the piece from his choral setting of the poem.

Rehearsal Suggestions

Musical Expression:

The Road Not Taken gives musicians the chance to play expressively. Because it is based on a poem, read the poem by Robert Frost to the musicians (or have them read it themselves). Discussing the poem gives musicians a chance to connect emotionally with the music on a deeper level. In order to better communicate these emotions with the audience, read Completing the Circle by Bud Beyer.

There are many wonderful exercises in the book from the world of mime and theater that will help conductors and musicians to connect with each other and with the audience. As conductors, we must be open to the emotions we feel from the music and we must

encourage our musicians to do the same. Every time we take a breath, we need to inhale the character of the music and exhale our emotions through the music.

Tonality/Intonation:

When I began to look at the score for technical elements, I noticed right away that the composer utilized the keys of concert Bb, a, and c minor. Musicians must know how to tune properly before they can play chords in tune. Edward Lisk provides an extremely detailed 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 helpful for hearing 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 play Bb and all winds can join the Eb saxophones in tuning that note. Tuning should begin with principal players. After the principal euphonium is in tune with the tuba, they should keep playing and then the principal trombone player should join them. The process repeats through score order (ascending). Everyone else should tune 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. It is not necessary for the musicians to know if they are flat or sharp because they only need to listen for beats in the sound. If they are pinching the embouchure to slow down beats, they are flat and if they are relaxing the embouchure to slow down beats, they are sharp. They can adjust their instrument by moving the slide/mouthpiece/barrel in or out or adjusting the reed. 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. As the rest of the section tunes, musicians who are already in tune continue to play. In addition to blending within the section, each section needs to balance within the

ensemble. In general, musicians should listen down to the tuba or lowest instrument in the ensemble or the instrument playing the lowest part.

As a warm up, use the minor scales version of the Circle of Fourths (from Edward Lisk's Alternative Rehearsal Techniques - Creative Director Series) to ensure musicians are versed in playing in all keys and tonalities. After they can play unison notes in tune, add perfect fifths and chords.

In addition to being written using minor tonalities, sometimes there are close harmonies in The Road Not Taken, which will need special attention to play in tune. For example, measure three has a chord with Db, Ab, Gb, and C.

In this case, tune the perfect fifth interval of Db to Ab first. Then tune the diminished fifth of C to Gb. This interval will still have beats when it is in tune because of the dissonance, so listen for when the beats are the slowest. Next, put both intervals together and have the musicians listen to each other and adjust to keep those two intervals in tune. Using the Yamaha Harmony Director HD 200 keyboard can be helpful in hearing chords in just intonation and tuning them accordingly.

Another unusual chord occurs in measure seven. In this case, the notes are Bb, F, Eb, and A natural, which resolves to Bb. First, tune the perfect fifth of Bb to F. Then tune the augmented fourth of Eb to A. After getting that interval in tune (when the beats/waves are slowest), combine the perfect fifth and augmented fourth and adjust to keep both intervals in tune. Finally, have the musicians resolve the chord to Bb, F, Eb and focus on hearing the perfect fifth between Eb and Bb and the perfect fifth between Bb and F.

Pulse/Rhythm:

A unified ensemble pulse is another element required to perform this piece. In The

Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader, Edward Lisk explains how to develop an ensemble's internal pulse through the "internal pulse exercise". I refer to it as the internal pulse game with my students, which reenforces 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 musicians should join you in counting. 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 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 can count the pulse exercise correctly, they can transfer that to playing around the Circle of 4ths. First, have them play in unison on concert F on the Circle of 4ths for pulse 5. Musicians 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. As the ensemble becomes secure in their internal pulse, you can stop conducting and let the ensemble 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 3 or pulse 4) and begin on a different note in the Circle (concert Eb, for example). With practice over time, the internal pulse of the ensemble and precision of entrances and releases will improve. Eventually, you can indicate pulses between 3 and 7 (or longer). Also, you can 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.

The Road Not Taken has some quarter note triplet rhythms and many eighth note triplet rhythms. It might be difficult initially for musicians to play these rhythms evenly and precisely, so it will have to be rehearsed. One way to teach quarter note triplets is to have musicians play eighth note triplets and accent every other note. Next, have students leave out the unaccented notes.

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 in measure 25 when part one and part three are playing a quarter note triplet and part two is playing eighth note triplets).

To achieve rhythmic precision, split the ensemble in half. Have one group play one of the rhythms on a unison pitch, while the other half of the ensemble plays the other rhythm, perhaps a perfect fifth away. After the isolated rhythm has been played, the ensemble can rest for one measure and then play the rhythm again on the next pitch of the Circle of 4ths. When rhythmic clarity has been achieved, switch parts so everyone is playing the opposite rhythm compared to what they played the first time. Because this is a full flex arrangement, musicians can experiment with playing different parts. After they have used the Circle of 4ths to play both rhythms in isolation and as part of the whole, then they can play them within the context of the music before returning to their assigned part.

Dynamics:

There are decrescendos and crescendos of various lengths throughout The Road Not Taken. In his Creative Director Series books, Edward Lisk explains that musicians should count aloud the number of beats the crescendo or decrescendo lasts. If it is a five beat crescendo from piano to forte, have them start counting aloud softly at "one", gradually getting louder until their voice is forte at "five". If the crescendo is longer or shorter than five beats, have them count to the exactly the length of the crescendo (for example one through nine for a nine beat crescendo or one through three for a three beat crescendo). After they can do this evenly (or at whatever rate you wish them to do it in the piece), they should think the same thing while playing it into the instrument. This skill will take time to develop, but they will get it with practice. The important thing is to be able to say it correctly and then think the same way, while playing. The process is the same for decrescendos, except counting backwards 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (or 9-1 or 3-1), starting with the voice louder and gradually getting softer. Decrescendos are usually more challenging to do evenly at first, so continue to draw attention to making sure the voice is correct and then apply it on the instrument. With time, players will be able to play crescendos and decrescendos of various lengths. Remind the musicians they should never be whispering or shouting because that does not represent good tone quality on the instrument. Tell musicians they should never play softer or louder (or shorter) than they can play with good balance, blend, intonation, and tone quality.

Articulation/Style/Phrasing:

The Road Not Taken is mostly slurred and requires legato tonguing when notes are not slurred. Many musicians tend to articulate too heavily, which distorts tone quality and disrupts the flow of the piece. First, instruct musicians to slur all notes in each phrase. Air speed, air direction, and voicing (oral cavity shape/tongue placement inside the mouth)

must be adjusted to achieve smooth slurs. In general, on lower notes the air speed is slower and aimed downward and the oral cavity is more open and tongue placement is lower in the mouth ("aww"). As notes get higher, the air speed increases, air direction is aimed higher, and the oral cavity shape is changed by the tongue placement being more of an "ee" sound (tongue higher in the back of the mouth). After smooth slurs are achieved, have musicians add a legato tongue on notes that are not marked as slurred.

Emphasize that the air speed, air direction, and voicing should remain exactly the same as before. The only difference will be the tongue lightly touching the air stream. This will

usually be from behind the top front teeth on brass instruments. On instruments with a reed, the tongue will stay on the reed for less time on each note to achieve a legato articulation compared to a staccato or marcato articulation.

Musicians should imagine saying "tu", "du", "lu", or a similar sound into their

instruments and experiment with what produces the best legato style.

Tapered releases contribute greatly to the style of this piece. When thinking about how to release a note in this way, tell musicians to think of lifting a paint brush off the canvas. The sound should gradually decay into silence, rather than ending abruptly. Edward Lisk explains this concept in The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader. Musicians should practice these releases by counting for the length of the note with an implied last beat. For example, on a whole note, count "1, 2, Threeeee". Allow beat four to be implied and decrease the volume of your voice to indicate the precise amount of desired decay. "Three" would be no decay and "Threeeeeeee" would be a great deal of decay.

This piece frequently utilizes a rubato style and has a few molto ritardandos. Focus on changes in tempo one phrase at a time and have the musicians count the rhythms aloud and change the speed they are counting based on how quickly or slowly they want to go. After they have practiced it a few ways with their voices, they should try playing it on their instruments. If they are listening to each other and have established a unified ensemble pulse, they will be able to do this after having practiced it a few times. If the piece is being performed without a conductor, make sure the students know who they should listen to and what they should listen for in each phrase. They can also watch for physical cues, such as breathing together to start a phrase, and a slight amount of movement in the upper body to see when to release the final note.

Playing expressively requires being able to give energy and direction to each note of a phrase. In order to do this, the musicians and conductor must agree on where the high point is in each phrase. Teach musicians that short notes look for long notes, low notes search for high notes, and high notes search for low notes. These are the three natural laws of musical expression as presented in The Intangibles of Musical Performance by Edward Lisk. Utilizing these laws provides a solid foundation for establishing phrasing, which can be adjusted in specific instances, as needed.

Vibrato:

There are times when vibrato could be considered, especially in part one, measures 15-24. If more than one person is playing this part then vibrato should only be done if matched vibrato can be achieved.

Each instrument has a different technique for achieving vibrato. Flutes have the most opportunities to use vibrato in this piece. For flute players, they should use air vibrato by making a "haw" sound with the air. When vibrato is first being taught, it should be played in a quarter note pulse, then eighth notes, triplets, and sixteenth notes. Producing a tone with vibrato is effortless when the vocal folds are relaxed. Vibrato requires fast air and no tension in the throat. The flute players' cheeks will move because of the speed and quantity of the air used, but the cheeks do not cause the vibrato. It will take time to develop the technique, but eventually flute players will gain control over their vibrato. At that time, they can experiment and decide on the desired speed of their vibrato depending on the ensemble setting and the piece of music.