From the Podium to Percussion: Tips for the Non-Percussionist Band Director
This article is information from a clinic presented at the 2023 TBA Convention by Andrew Smit and Miles Locke. It is designed to give insight, tips, and perspective to the non-percussionist band director on how to confidently take ownership of your percussion section, understand the root causes of some common misconceptions or issues with concert percussionists, and build upon your already established band directing skills to address them properly.
The clinic was then highlighted in the Bandmasters Review magazine’s January 2024 issue, which can be viewed below.
After a few years of a teaching, I started noticing a trend. Most of my non-percussion director band director colleagues had a difficult time addressing their percussion section from the podium to varying degrees. On one side of the spectrum, they completely ignored them during the rehearsal (consciously or not). On the other side of the spectrum, the directors would turn to face me and somewhat “run it by me” to make sure they’re correct before saying anything to the percussionists. Somewhere in the middle was only giving vague comments that were few and far between and never really matched the vocabulary, tone, or confidence they would use when speaking to their winds. I recognize that percussion is a bit of a beast of its own and that could definitely be intimidating for some, but I wanted to find a way to empower all of you to recognize that you do have the ears and skills to take full ownership of their percussion section. It turns out that a colleague of mine, Miles Locke; Director of Percussion at Allen High School in Allen, TX, had the same realization and was working toward the same goal. So, we teamed up to build and present this in July of 2023 at the Texas Bandmaster’s Association Convention in San Antonio, TX.
PART 1: Have a Plan for Involvement
Logistics
Logistics are like 90% of playing percussion. So, one of the best ways to start taking ownership of your percussion section is by defining, communicating, and reinforcing the logistics of involving percussion into your rehearsal.
What is the set up? What instruments get left out vs what stays? How much time do they have to get set up?
It is important to have these expectations for your percussionists, communicate that plan to them, and then hold them accountable for it starting on day 1. It can be taught, but up to you to be consistently reinforced.
Give them time to put away their instruments at the end of the rehearsal and plan for that time in your lesson plan.
Daily Drill/Warm-Ups
What are your percussionists doing during daily drill? Do they know what they should be doing? Percussion involvement can (and most likely should) look different from program-to-program, but the important thing is that a plan is made, communicated to students, and reinforced each day in the exact same manner you do for your non-percussionists.
If you don’t know where to start, here are some option:
Use warm up time for set up time
Percussion has written parts that align with the winds
Percussion plays on various instruments to provide “time” for the band
Percussion has pad warm-ups that align with daily drill, but focus on percussion-specific techniques
If you are in need of these supplemental materials to created to match your program’s need, contact me to see how I can help you.
Understand the Unique Challenges that Percussionists Face
The next step in getting your percussionists engaged and keeping them involved is for you to better understand their musical perspective a bit more.
Internal Challenges
One thing that might not be obvious to the non-percussionist is that a percussionist is soloist almost exclusively. Very rarely do they get the luxury of “hiding” behind a section-mate that may have a bit more confidence, experience, etc.
Another challenge that percussionists face is that the majority of their foundation year of instruction is done so on “fake instruments” like gum-rubber pads and tiny glockenspiels. There is also a tendency to practice on these instruments, which simply feel and sound different from the “real” ones.
They also have so many instruments they are responsible for knowing. While the vast majority of instruments they are expected to know all have similar technique, they also all have unique characteristics, special implements, or things to consider in order to play them correctly, which is a lot to be responsible for!
External Challenges
One external challenge percussionists face is that they rarely “feel” their instrument. I say this in regards to a Tuba player that can literally feel the vibrations from their instrument against their chest, the clarinetist that feels the barrel vibrate in their fingertips, etc. Percussionists do get that experience, but it happens much less and is usually in the form of feeling vibrations through their sticks/mallets and not the instrument themselves. This can lead to a kind of “disconnect” of the player to the instrument; especially in younger players.
A more obvious challenge as we’ve previously alluded to is the sheer amount of instruments that they are required to learn and perform on; often times multiple in the same piece. (more logistics) You have to set up multiple things, plan for transitions, AND have all the right implements. Oh yeah! Did you copy page two of your part? Because, you need to have that part over there and you don’t have time to move your whole binder of music.
It might seem second-nature to a non-percussionist that sound is not immediate. You watch the hands of the conductor, prepare your breathe, and on their ictus, exhale to create your sound. That delay (allow milliseconds in real life) is non-existant for the percussionist. We strike, it makes sounds. It’s that simple. So, it can often times be very confusing for a percussionist to “play with what they see” when “what we hear” does not line up. That internal dissonance is only exemplified by the fact that we are in the back of the room with the most distance between us and the conductor
Inconsistencies in Notation
One of the most frustrating things about percussion is that composer-to-composer, genre-to-genre, and decade-to-decade, we see all kinds of different things on the page. There is not one clear standard way of notating percussion. Yes, there are norms and there are obvious things such as a membranophone is notated with a solid notehead whereas a idiophone is usually notated with an “x.” Although, even that differs instrument-to-instrument because sometimes a triangle is notated with a triangular-shaped notehead. So, what do they percussionists do? Sometimes, composers gives us notes with special text, but sometimes we just guess or wait until we’re told otherwise.
Here is an example of just a few of the common ways that a suspended cymbal is notated.
Lesson Planning
Ensure your percussionists get reps on their music
If you have a scenario where percussionists only join the winds every once in awhile, prioritize percussion when they are with the full group. Remember that percussionists are essentially soloists and they need reps with the full group to make sense of their part. The winds also need reps with percussionists to understand what is happening musically and contextually with the full group. Also, keep in mind that full band rehearsal might be the only time they get to play on those “real instruments” (actual snare drums and keyboards that will be used in the concert). They need those reps to get the feel and sound of those instruments, how they cut in the ensemble sound, and the adjustments they need to make to balance with the winds.
Transparency with your students on what to expect
Make sure the students know what music is being rehearsed each day as well as what parts of the music. While it is nice to just assume they should be ready for everything always, in a practical sense, some setups require literal minutes of lugging and setting up equipment. It is far too common of shared experience that a percussionist spends 5-8 minutes setting up equipment that took 3-4 different trips just to stand around counting and waiting for the part that never shows up. Tearing it down and taking those 3-4 trips back to the percussion cabinet is a real demotivator and can sometimes be viewed as disrespect of their time and efforts; especially when that becomes the expectation from multiple experiences. Take these things into consideration as you plan and communicate those plans.
PART 2: Have a Sound in Your Head of What You Want To Hear
Score Study
During my undergrad at Indiana University, Donald Hunsberger did a residency with our bands and held a conducting masterclass. I was fortunate to be able to ask him a question in the Q/A portion of the class and his answer resonates with me to this day. I asked him “what advice would you give younger conductors that you wish someone gave to you when you were younger?” He told us to memorize textures/orchestrations as they appear on the page so you know what to hear in your head. Some of you may know exactly what it sounds like to have a french horn and saxophone play in unison, or piccolo and flute in octaves, but do you know what the timpani sound like in unison with the trombones? What about in octaves with the tuba? What does the entire clarinet section sound like blended with the lower register of the vibraphone? Do you know “the pyramid of sound” as it relates to battery percussion for a march? If not, seek out those answers and commit those sounds and textures to memory.
Another way to grow your ears is to build a firmer understanding of the natural projection of sound for each instrument. “Written dynamics” (as they appear on the page to the performer) often times differ from the “sounding dynamics” (as they sound to the conductor/audience). For example, if the performer “sees'“ forte on the concert snare part of a march, they (hopefully) aren’t going to be play 12” off the drum with a full-forte sound. No, that probably will feel more like a strong mezzo-piano, roughly 6” off the drum to get the right sound and the right balance with the winds. Understanding which instruments “cut” easily, which instruments don’t, and the instruments that can sometimes go either way will help you be able to “translate” composer intent or conductor preference to the percussionist.
Implements | Sticks | Mallets
The biggest (and most common) faux pas I see non-percussionist conductors do/say to a percussion section goes like this …
Conductor: ”Percussion, Let me hear XYZ…”*they play it*
Conductor: “... … ... do you have another mallet?”
The golden rule is this: Implements do not affect dynamics. PLAYING affects dynamics.
Implements primarily affect timbre or color. Anyone can play loud with a “soft” mallet and play soft with a “hard” one. It is much more about HOW you strike the instrument as opposed to WHAT you strike the instrument with. Now that that’s out of the way… yes. There is a right mallet and a wrong one, and at some point (probably more than once), you will be correct in asking them to change mallets, but it needs to be because you know they don’t have the right one and it does not match the sound you have in your head that you want to hear. That’s what it should always come back to; What did they just play sound like? Do you like it? If not, why? Ask them to play it differently as to match the sound in your head. Shorter? Darker? Longer? Brighter? Softer? Louder? etc.
Add/Change/Edit/Delete
Ok, this is a bit of a hot take, but one that I got more and more comfortable with as my career went on.
Many composers are not percussionists. So, they do not always have the best way of describing what or how to achieve the sound they have in their head. It is OK (to an extent) to add, change, edit, or remove parts as long as it is done to better serve the ensemble’s performance. Add a SusCym roll at the end of a phrase, play cabasa instead of (or in addition to) the shaker, add a timpani part to the march if there isn’t already one, double the glockenspiel part on vibraphone, etc. Percussion has room for malleability whereas the pitch/octave of wind or string instruments do not.
PART 3: Elevate Your Percussion Section Through Action
Use Your Musician Ears and Speak To Them Like Musicians
Something I really started to appreciate in my younger years as a performer was when the conductor spoke to me in the same we he/she just got done speaking to the flute section. “No, make it more legato. I don’t want to hear pulses in the roll.” “DAH dih dih DAH dih dih DAH DAH DAH is what the brass play and you’re not matching that articulation on the timpani.” Even in my youngest years, I never appreciated hyberpole from the podium. “Louder. LOUDER. HIT IT SO LOUD IT BREAKS!” No thanks. The former spoke to me like I was a musician and made me think about the sounds I was creating to then intentionally help me do something different to try and match the sound the conductor put in my head. The latter just embarrassed me and diminished my musical efforts to “monkey hit drum. go boom.”
Another aspect of musical maturity that percussionists need to be challenged by is the ability to translate information from a wind perspective and apply it to their own instrument. Granted, this may be a bit later in their musical maturity, but still applicable at all ages. When you talk to the winds about articulation, note length, and note shape, that information can and should be given to percussion as well. They should develop their ears in order to hear that in their own sound and make good decisions on how to adjust those elements.
Do You Actually Hear It?
Do you? It’s OK to say no if you don’t. The most important thing is that if you hear something, say something.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of things that the untrained, non-percussionist ear should be able to obviously hear (and should annoy you when you do hear it…)
Timpani ringing past the release of the winds
Timpani that are out of tune (Cmon! Would you let a trombonist literally play the wrong note? Why let the timpanist?)
A tambourine getting picked up (that annoying little jingle you hear when they’re getting ready to play)
The speed of a triangle roll (Do you hear “dadadadadadadadadadada” or do you hear “daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” ?)
Individual stokes in a snare drum’s buzz roll (or right hand heavier/louder than the left, etc.)
** This all ties back to having a sound in your head to start. Know what to expect beforehand so you know here to guide them **
If your program is fortunate enough to have a percussion director (or a director on staff who’s primary instrument is percussion), don’t wait for or fully rely on them to address your percussion. Your percussionists need to know how to take information from the condictor and not exclusively from their percussion director. It’s the exact same thing as never speaking directly to your bassoonist because you don’t the fingerings (thumb-ings?) that well and the other director plays bassoon. So, they’ll figure it out. See!? That’s crazy talk. It’s your band and you’re on the podium :)
If you legitimately don’t hear anything or are completely lost and don’t even know where to begin, a good place to start is to bring in another set of ears dedicated to percussion. Ask your assistant to focus their ears and attention on percussion throughout the rehearsal and give notes afterwards. Make a recording and send it to a colleague for feedback. If your budget allows for it, bring in a clinician to focus on percussion as you prepare your festival concert. Do so in the context of a wind-band. Percussion clinics if/when they happen tend to be more geared toward drumline and percussion ensemble (rightfully so), but that doesn’t mean they have to be exclusively. If you’re interested in either in-person and virtual clinics, you can learn more about them here. I’d be happy to help.
Teach a Percussion Sectional
YOU should be teaching your percussion sectional. If you work a school that is fortunate to have a percussion director or a colleague who knows/focuses on percussion, so what! It’s your band. It’s your percussion section. They need to get better at learning from YOU. And if we’re being 100% honest with each other, you need this too. You need to better understand their challenges; see it up-close. You need to spend 40-50 minutes focusing on those 3-5 staves at the bottom of the score that you maybe (probably) ignore a lot of the time. And I’m not blaming you either! I get it and would probably do the same if I were up there, but you will be surprised at what you’l discover when you take ownership your percussion section. You’re going to hear new things you haven’t heard before. You might even see things you didn’t notice in the score before too. I’ve seen that happen more than once. Lastly, aside from all the musical benefits this would gain, you build more trust and respect with your percussionists. That’s a two-way road that needs investing in and is 100% worth investing in.
Get Curious
The best thing you can do is explore.
When you find yourself in a scenario where you something isn’t working, you don’t know what to say, you feel like you are saying the right things, but its not clicking for them, or any other challenge, that is where the real learning begins! Reach out to a percussion specialist and get context on the issue, try out their suggestions, and pick their brains on how to approach it differently.
You have help!
Percussionists LOVE to talk shop. So, reach out to them and start utilizing all the resources at your disposal.
PART 4: Resources
I hope this post is helpful. I want to give another huge shout out to my colleague Miles Locke in helping put this together and co-presenting with me back in 2023. We got a lot of positive feedback from non-percussionist directors who attended and I want to make sure that knowledge doesn’t live in a vacuum.
Below are additional resources to help you continue your journey in taking ownership of your percussion section.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me!
Percussive Arts Society
Group Membership (access to their archives)
PAS Day of Percussion
Facebook Groups
Percussion Solutions for Band Directors is moderated by Michael Huestis and is a great (safe) place to ask questions. TONS of percussionists chime in with answers or suggestions and there is a good history there so you can search for your topics and find previous threads
Method Books
John Bingaman’s Firm Foundations for the Beginning Percussionist is (in my opinion) the gold standard for setting up your beginner’s for success. John is a master-teacher and this book is a cleanly organized, well-thought-out testament to his years of consistently building some of the best high school players ever.
Kennan Wylie’s Simple Steps to Successful Beginning Percussion
Mark Wessel’s A Fresh Approach to the Snare Drum (and) Mallet Percussion
High-Quality Publishing Companies (with exclusive or substantial percussion libraries)
YouTube Channels
Other Resources from this Clinic (many courtesy of Miles Locke, co-presenter of this TBA Clinic) can be found HERE
PDF of the TBA Convention handout
Percussion Instrument Projection Chart
“Does this mallet work” Chart
Keyboard Ranges Chart
Timpani Cover Printouts
