Last night at band practice we chunked out a couple of phases in two small 6/8 marches that needed work. In “A Hundred Pipers“, 2nd part 7th measure, there is a tachum. This is shown in the picture above. The issue was that many pipers were already on the Low G before I had made my G gracenote on the B. As a result, the phrase sounded frantic and muddy.
We pulled that measure out of the music and turned it into an exercise. I first set up the metronome at an appropriate speed. Then I had the pipers play the 7th measure but not complete the tachum. We stopped with the G gracenote landing on the B exactly on the beat. The G gracenote lands on the beat. Not before. Not after, but right in the center of the beat. We slowed things down and went over and over this until people understood what the goal was. There was also some retraining of fingers.
After a spell, we completed the measure with the remaining notes. Then we went back and repeated the G gracenote on the B landing on the beat and then stopping. We went back and forth with these two approaches several times. There was improvement.
The bigger lesson here was to understand the goal and how to practice effectively. If you have a particular measure that is challenging, don’t simply run over it and think it’s going to improve. Stop the insanity! Pull the measure out of the tune. Make an exercise out of it, and then practice effectively at home.
I also asked everyone to set up their metronomes (at home) and record themselves doing that little exercise. Listen critically to the recording and make adjustments as required. Then put the measure back into the tune and see if you can execute it correctly.
The band is making huge gains. It is important to understand that progress is sometimes slow but if you practice correctly, improvement is inevitable. As a very wise man once told me, “Hurry along slowly!”
There’s another part to this story. If you weren’t at band practice last night, you missed this important lesson. Grrrrrrr!
