can watch the drum major and check the timing

between the field musicians and the pit.

Your first task in this process is to watch the drum

major and see how well they are holding the tempo.
Try to have a metronome to your ear and watch the
Rehearsal Techniques for drum majors pattern. Besides checking for tempo
Front Ensembles maintenance, you can also check for pattern clarity
and check to see where the majors focus is. What
James Ancona
section are they watching on the field and trying to
keep in time? The section to focus on will change
The warm-up is over, and the from phrase to phrase. If the major feels like he or
ceremonial moving of pit she is being pushed or pulled by the ensemble, have
equipment has been an instructor go to the back of the field with a
completed. It is time to metronome and speaker. This can be very
rehearse with the entire revealing!
ensemble. You, the
instructor, must take When the drum major is confident with their tasks,
advantage of your space! you can check the timing of the field percussion and
There are a few vantage winds. On the field, there are many situations that
points that will allow you to evaluate the music very can affect their timing. Here are just a few common
effectively: in front of the pit, directly behind the pit problems for the field musicians: slowing down
and from the press box. In an ideal world, you during direction changes in the drill, the battery
would have enough staff members to place one slowing down during rolls or difficult technical
person at each of these positions. If not, try to passages, slowing down going into halts, they may
divide your time accordingly. be inconsistent with tempo changes, retardandos or
accelerandos, or their distance to the front sideline
may affect their timing (if they are too close or too
Standing In Front of the Pit far.) During this process it is very important to make
This is where much of your cleaning of the pit will the pit aware of these tendencies. During a
happen. This is your chance to listen to the rhythmic performance they will have to listen back and adjust
clarity and consistency of interpretation from player to all of these issues coming from the field.
to player. This is also a good time to check out the
balance and blend within the pit. Is the xylophone
over-balancing the vibraphone? Is the suspended Standing In the Press Box
cymbal drowning out the beautiful glockenspiel Standing in the press box or up in the bleachers will
countermelody? This is the time to fix these issues. provide you with the best opportunity to address
Since youve already warmed up with the overall ensemble issues such as balance, blend,
metronome, you know the tendencies of your timing, and general effect. Before you head up
players. Besides their tendencies with rhythm and top, spend some time directly behind the pit, as
tempo, you also know their tendencies with balance, mentioned previously. This will help you to know the
playing zones, consistency of sound, shaping and timing and tempo tendencies of the entire ensemble.
articulation. It will all show up here. From the press box, you will have a better view to
see exactly what is causing these problems;
This is also a great time to check other important particularly if they are drill related. Experiment with
issues like vibe pedaling, dampening of various having the pit tacet during some reps. This will
instruments, accessory technique and how well the highlight the backfield problems and allow you to
pit performs. Essentially, these are all of the things address them.
that you would be looking at and listening to in a
sectional rehearsal (pit alone.) The only thing you More importantly, as a pit instructor, this is your time
would do differently in a sectional is that you would to balance the front ensemble with the entire musical
spend more time listening to individuals play. ensemble. Youll find that there are certain
instruments that often overbalance. Some of these
include; suspended cymbals, tam tams, concert
Standing Behind the Pit bass drums, xylophones and high metal sounds like
If you stand on the front sideline directly behind the crotales, glockenspiels and bell plates. These
pit, you are in the ultimate hot spot. This is a great problems are usually easy fixes. Simply, bring the
spot to check timing issues. From this position, you performers dynamic level down or experiment with a
softer mallet to see if that takes off some of the
edge. If this doesnt do it, perhaps that part is James Ancona is the Percussion Caption Head for
simply too overbearing for the full ensemble score. The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps and has many
If this is the case, you may have to thin-out or years experience as an arranger and instructor for
remove the part. DCI corps, including the Boston Crusaders, the
Crossmen, the Glassmen, Star of Indiana, and The
If parts are under-balanced and not cutting through, Santa Clara Vanguard. Several of his percussion
the solution may not be so simple. Again, you may arrangements appear on Star of Indiana's "Brass
try to bring the dynamic level up or experiment with Theater" and BLAST" compact discs. Ancona
different mallets. More often, under-balanced parts received his Bachelor's Degree in Music Education
are a scoring problem. Perhaps the part is too fast. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst
This means the part will have to be played low to the and his Master's Degree in Performance from
keyboard resulting in a low dynamic level. Perhaps Indiana University where he was awarded the
the part is scored too thin. Can it be played in prestigious Performer's Certificate. He is the
octaves, or voiced with four-mallets, or played in a Assistant Director of the Blue Hen Marching Band,
different octave? Sometimes the part may just be Director of the Basketball Pep Band, and Co-
uncomfortable to play. For example, a B major Director of the Symphonic Band at the University of
chord (B, D#, F#, B) sounds harmless enough, but Delaware.
simply doesnt lie well under the hands.
Uncomfortable parts can usually be fixed with very
simple score edits or new stickings. Another very
common problem is getting vibraphones and chimes
to cut through. The solution to this may be very
easy: be very generous with the pedal. Though
leaving the pedal down for an entire phrase may
sound awful to the performer, it will sound very full
and lush to the audience. Even staccato chords can
use a quick pedal to open up the sound. There are
very few times when you dont use the pedal.

Other important issues to address from the press

box are length of sound and tapering of sound.
There are several instruments in the pit whos
sustain has the ability to cover up or mask the
sound of other instruments (in the pit or on the field.)
Not only will this cause musical balance problems,
but it may also prevent pit members from hearing
what is happening on the field. This can cause
serious ensemble problems. For example, if you
strike a tam tam at forte, the sustain will last for
several measures. To prevent the tam tams sustain
from covering up other sounds, you can taper its
sounds by running your fingers across the
instrument. Essentially, this makes the instrument
die out quicker. You may also want to determine
exactly when you want to completely choke off the
sound of the tam tam. This is the kind of detail that
will lend clarity to your ensemble. Other instruments
that fall into this category are suspended cymbals,
concert bass drums, vibraphones and crotales.

This article has been extracted from James recently

released book, UP FRONT a Complete Resource
for Todays Pit Ensemble, co-written with fellow
Innovative Percussion Signature Artist, Jim Casella. www.innovativepercussion.com