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You Decide by Nicole Piunno

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Overview:

Key signature: Concert Bb Major Length: 1 minute 40 seconds

Time signature: 4/4 Style: March

Tempo: Quarter note = 120 Dynamic range: p-f

Grade level: 1.5 Scoring: 5 part Flex

Instrumentation:

Part 1: Flute, Oboe, Clarinet 1, Trumpet 1, Bells (optional)

Part 2: Clarinet 2, Trumpet 2, Alto Saxophone 1, Marimba (optional)

Part 3: Alto Saxophone, Horn

Part 4: Tenor Saxophone, Euphonium, Trombone, Bassoon

Part 5: Bass Clarinet, Baritone Saxophone, Tuba

Percussion 1 (optional): Snare Drum, Bass Drum

Percussion 2 (optional): Tambourine, Cabasa

Percussion 3 (optional): Triangle, Woodblocks, Suspended Cymbal

Special Considerations:

One of the neat things about this piece is that musicians can decide whether they want to play Part A or Part B on each phrase of the piece.

One option is to have the entire band learn Part A and then learn Part B. After they are comfortable with both parts, they can experiment during rehearsals with which parts they want to play on each phrase. Every eight measures, they have a chance to change between A and B.

Rehearsal Strategies:

Musical Expression:

You Decide gives musicians the opportunity to experiment with the orchestration and make musical decisions. It is a wonderful opportunity for ensemble members to

experiment with creating different colors based on which instruments are on a part together.

Musicians should explore story telling and creating their own journey with the music. Encourage them to explore through writing, drawing, or sharing their story aloud with others. Remind musicians that each time they play the piece, they are creating a world and giving the audience a glimpse into their story.

Tonality/Intonation:

You Decide is in the key of concert Bb major. In order to achieve proper intonation on chords within the piece, musicians must know how to listen and tune. This skill can be taught and developed, even with young students.

Edward Lisk is a master of the science of sound. In almost all of his books, including The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader, he provides a thorough explanation of the hows and whys of the tuning process. 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, especially for a young band 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 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 in. The process repeats through score order (ascending). After section leaders are in tune, 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, especially when musicians are first learning how to tune, 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 musicians have completed the tuning process, they can play unison pitches around the Beginner's Row from Edward Lisk's Alternative Rehearsal Techniques - Creative Director Series. If they are able to play all of the pitches for a one octave chromatic scale, they can use the Circle of 4ths. As musicians become more comfortable with listening and playing in tune on unison pitches, add perfect fifths. Eventually, players can learn to play major chords around the Row or Circle.

Pulse/Rhythm:

You Decide should be performed at 120 beats per minute. Ensemble members must have a strong internal pulse, otherwise the march will lose its energy.

To develop ensemble pulse with my students, I introduce it as a game, based on Edward Lisk's internal pulse exercise (described in The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader). 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 count with you. Everyone should be counting with a crisp tone of voice and be focused on listening to the space between the beats. Players need to keep their bodies from moving during this time. The focus 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 silently counting. During silent counting, everyone should keep their lips sealed, so no one is mouthing the numbers to themselves. Remind musicians of the internalization process or "thinking in your brain". Initially, only indicate one or two beats of silence at a time. As the musicians improve their internal pulse, keep your palms down for more beats. It is a fun challenge for musicians to see how long they can count silently and still come in on the correct number and with their voices exactly together.

After the musicians have performed the pulse exercise correctly, have them transfer it to playing around the Beginner's Row or Circle of 4ths. Start by having them play in unison on concert F on the Beginner's Row or 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 musicians continue to play pulse 5 around the Row or 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) and begin on a different note in the Row or Circle (concert Bb, for example). With practice, the internal pulse of the ensemble and precision of entrances and releases will improve. As this occurs, indicate pulses between 3 and 7 (or longer). Rests should also be added. 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.

Teach musicians how to count, clap, and play all of the rhythms in each phrase. The rhythms in You Decide are not complicated, but sometimes more than one rhythm will be happening at the same time and ensemble members will need to understand how the rhythms fit together and focus on rhythmic precision (as seen in measures 1 through beat one of measure 4).

First, choose two of the three rhythms and divide the ensemble into two parts. Have one group play one rhythm on a unison pitch, while the other group plays the second rhythm in unison, perhaps a perfect fifth away. After the rhythms have been played, the ensemble can rest for beats two, three, and four and then play the rhythm again on the next pitch of the Beginner's Row or Circle of 4ths. Next, switch parts so musicians are playing a different rhythm from the first time they played. Repeat the process to play the first and third rhythms at the same time and then the second and third rhythms at the same time. After they have used the Beginner's Row or Circle of 4ths to play all three rhythms in isolation and as part of the whole, then they can play within the context of the music in their assigned part.

Dynamics:

This piece has dynamics from piano to forte. Normally, I define dynamic levels using one hand to indicate a dynamic level pianissimo through fortissimo, where zero is pianissimo and five is fortissimo. In this case, use a four point scale, where one is piano, and four is forte. Have musicians play around the Beginner's Row or Circle of 4ths and cue each note at a different dynamic level. Encourage everyone to only play as loudly or softly as they can play with good balance, blend, intonation, and tone quality.

You Decide has a few crescendos in the suspended cymbal part and one crescendo in the winds. To teach gradual changes in volume, Edward Lisk recommends, in his Creative Director Series books, musicians count aloud the number of beats the crescendo or decrescendo lasts. For example, in measures 31-33, there is a nine beat crescendo from piano to mezzo forte.

Ensemble members should count aloud at piano on "one" and increase the volume, so their voice is mezzo forte at "nine".

The process is the same for decrescendos, except counting backwards starting with the voice louder and getting softer.

Remind players they should never be whispering or shouting because that does not represent good tone quality on the instrument. After they are able to do this with their voices, they should play their instrument, while thinking the same volume with the voice in their head.

Articulation/Style/Phrasing:

You Decide uses some slurs. Musicians will need to adjust air speed, air direction, and voicing (shape of the oral cavity and tongue placement) to achieve even slurs. The other notes do not have a specified articulation. Because the piece is a march, it is reasonable to conclude that there should be a little space between the notes.

Ensemble members should focus on playing with a light style when they have the melody. If percussionists are present, remind them to play lightly as well and they can help keep the tempo moving forward. Anyone with the counter melody should listen to the melody and follow their phrasing. The accompaniment should focus on the energy leading from beat four to beat one or beats three and four to beat one (in part 3 during measures 1-5, for example).

Edward Lisk outlines in many of his books, including The Creative Director: Conductor, Teacher, Leader, the three natural laws of musical expression. If ensemble members remember that short notes look for long notes, low notes search for high notes, and high notes search for low notes, they will be able to shape phrases in almost any piece.