How many concert or marching band festivals have you attended where every other band takes the stage or field with a warm-up, such as the concert B♭ scale? They might change the rhythm or make other variations, like playing in a round, but it’s still a scale. And they usually perform it with great mediocrity.
Then they start into their actual program and, from the first downbeat or pick-up, completely blow me away, taking on the musicality of a different ensemble.
Not all marching bands these days begin their show with a warm-up, of course, Many opt for a “running start.” I covered one of the most amazing running starts used by LD Bell High School from Hurst, Texas, at the Bands of America Grand National Championships in November 2009, here. The band’s running start filled the field with a ballet of bright yellow and white, like a sunrise, and engulfed the stadium in dripping sounds as the program was introduced.
Equally effective are chorales as warm-ups, and many bands use those instead of the scales. These are at least harmonized, and they’re always performed better than a scale would be.
But scales have their advantages, if used correctly, according to a feature entitled, “B-Flat Concert Scale … Friend or Foe?” by Arthur D Chodoroff in the October edition of Teaching Music magazine, here.
For bands that use scales to warm up, he advises conductors to evaluate whether the band sounded any better at the end of the scale than it did at the beginning: “Was it better in tune? Was there more precision when you conducted different meters? Was there a high-quality balanced tone when you conducted at different dynamic levels?”
But each ensemble and each conductor will use scales differently, if at all, and an individual evaluation must be made as to the most effective way to use them for each band. That effectiveness, he writes, depends on why the band is using scales in the first place:
- As a warm-up
- For tuning, tone, and/or balance
- For dynamics
- For ensemble technique and articulation
- Or just for learning scales
That last one is of particular interest to me as a pianist. If musicians can transfer the muscle memory that comes from repetition of different scales, they may be able to draw upon that when they recognize a scale passage in a real piece of music.
Let’s hope they trained those muscles right!
And, “if the chorale is used, can the qualities that are learned be transferred to that slow piece?” Mr Chodoroff concludes. “As we can see, there is always one more question. By finding it and determining the answer, our teaching will become more directed. And the B-flat scale will become our friend.”
