[Trombone-l] musicianship question

[Wayne Dyess]

I have found that most school groups need some direction to sound 
musical.  I have them write in little things that are not in the 
printed music.  Hairpins, accents, dynamic contrasts... contouring a 
line to follow the melodic content.

There is great book that was published by Vandercook simply called 
"Expression" that lays out a pretty good plan for teaching 
musicianship.  I don't know if it is still in print, but it sure helped 
me when I was first teaching (in those days, jr. high band).  The ideas 
I learned from that have carried me through my now 30th year of 
teaching at the college level... and I still use many of the techniques 
presented in the Vandercook paperback.  Terrific book.

Dynamics are given numbers.... 1 the softest... 10 the loudest.  A jr. 
high band might only get 4 to 7 or 8 with good taste and tone quality.  
A high school band should be able to go from 2 to 9.  College, the full 
range hopefully.  That was but one of the techniques used to teach 
musicianship.

Fun topic.
Good luck!
Wayne Dyess


On Mar 1, 2006, at 1:34 PM, Jay Sheridan wrote:

> For all those that do any teaching, how do you teach a student (or 
> group- band/orch etc) to play musically? I have tried several 
> different ways, but none seem to be working. I have a group that can 
> perform rhythmically and in tune, but is lacking musically. The group 
> in question is actually a choir, but I usually think in trombone terms 
> when talking to them anyways.
>
> Thanks
>
> Jay Sheridan
> Director of Music
> Upper Scioto Valley Local School
> McGuffey, OH
> jsheridan at usv.k12.oh.us
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>

Dr. Wayne Dyess, Professor of Trombone
and Director of Jazz Studies
Lamar University Dept. of Music, Theatre & Dance
P. O. Box 10044
Beaumont, Texas  77710
409-880-8146
http://lamar.edu/