Piano Blog, Play Piano Techniques, Piano Tips

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Sousa march. And watching a good marching band makes me marvel at the coordination, concentration, and effort the members are putting in.

Isn’t it difficult enough to play a musical instrument, without getting into a large group and doing it together, while moving around in complicated patterns? It’s pretty amazing, the kind of coordinated effort that people are capable of when they really try.

But if that’s all you think of when you hear the word “band” or “wind ensemble,” then you’re missing out on an awful lot.

It’s true that the band or wind ensemble evolved from military bands whose original goal was to keep an army moving briskly along in step. Eventually, when we had fewer marching armies, and began playing sports on large grassy fields, the bands changed venues.

Nowadays, when we think of marching bands (in America, at least), we think of football. Pre-game shows and half-time shows on the football field, to entertain the crowd while waiting for the football teams to leave the locker room. That’s what marching bands are all about these days, with maybe a parade or two thrown in here and there.

But a funny thing happened on the way from the battlefield to the football field. Some bands took a detour, came in out of the weather, and sat down. And thus was born the concert band, or wind ensemble.

Today, wind ensembles play repertoire that would be impossible to perform on a football field, using instruments that would have left the old military bandmasters scratching their heads in befuddlement.

The modern wind ensemble has been around for at least 100 years. In 1909, British composer Gustav Holst created what is arguably the first serious concert work for wind ensemble, the “First Suite in E-flat.” This classic of band literature is still performed with gusto by concert bands today.

Holst’s innovative “First Suite” was quickly followed by numerous other works for concert band, by composers from Britain, Canada, the U.S., and Australia. In addition to Holst, famous composers such as Percy Aldridge Grainger and Ralph Vaughan-Williams produced thrilling, challenging, and much-beloved works for wind ensembles.

In the mid-1900’s, colorful band leaders such as Frederick Fennell of the Eastman School of Music, and William Revelli of the University of Michigan, continued to shape and evolve the wind ensemble, concert band, and marching band. They, and their successors, also pushed for the commissioning of new high-quality works for wind ensembles. Much of the concert band repertoire today is as complex and worthy of respect as any written for the symphony orchestra.

As the name implies, the wind ensemble includes primarily “wind” instruments, whose sounds are produced by blowing air across or into the instrument. The wind ensemble also includes percussion, but no strings. Typical instrumentation includes woodwinds such as flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone; and brass, such as trumpet and/or cornet, French horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba. There is also usually a full range of percussion parts, from bass drum to tympani to xylophone to chimes.

As a pianist, why should you care? Well, because a number of works for concert band call for piano parts. Some of them even call for piano (or at any rate, keyboard) solos. For example, a concert band arrangement of the “Polka and Fugue, from Schwanda the Bagpiper” (sorry, it’s a goofy name, but it’s from a respected opera) features a substantial solo part for pipe organ.

Typically, when a piece for concert band calls for a piano part, it’s covered by someone from the percussion section. But as I discussed in an earlier post, not all percussionists play piano. If that is the case, then a pianist will be found to cover the part. And, who knows? Maybe that pianist will be you.

Electronic keyboards. Some piano teachers swear by them; others, at them.

Certainly the electronic keyboard is different from the acoustic piano. But, overall, do their differences add up to a lesser, or a better, instrument?

Pros of an electronic keyboard, compared to an acoustic (wood and wire) piano:
• Generally, much less expensive.
The top-end electronic keyboards, like the Clavinova, are still quite expensive, however.

• Smaller, lighter, easier to store and move.
Again, some of the top-end keyboards are not exactly what you’d call “portable,” and certainly wouldn’t fit in a closet; but are still smaller and lighter than even upright pianos.

• Not as sensitive to environmental conditions.
You don’t have to be as picky about where you place it. Temperature, humidity, heating & cooling vents, outside walls… No need to be concerned about these when deciding where to put your electronic keyboard.

• Less expensive to own, going forward.
Does not need to be tuned, adjusted, or otherwise maintained by a technician on a regular basis.

• Less bothersome to people other than the pianist.
Can be played in “silent” mode, so as not to disturb the neighbors. (Usually, the player wears headphones to hear herself practice.)

• Versatile in the sounds it can produce.
Can reproduce the sound of a wide range of instruments, not just the piano. This can come in handy in an ensemble.

• Recordable.
The top-end keyboards can be programmed to “remember” a performance and replay it at the touch of a button. This can be helpful, for example, if you want to accompany yourself singing, but are not quite sure you’re ready to sing and play at the same time.

Why do some piano teachers consider electronic keyboards inferior to acoustic pianos?

Here are some of the Cons that make them say so:
• Lesser sound quality.
While the sound quality on high-end, modern machines is much improved from earlier efforts, it’s still an electronic tone. The richness, depth, and harmonic overtones produced by the acoustic piano’s physical wires vibrating cannot really be reproduced by electronic means.

• Less realistic “touch.”
This is the quality of the feedback the keys give to your fingers when you’re playing an acoustic piano. In an acoustic piano, there is in fact a direct mechanical linkage between your finger’s motion and the production of a note. It’s a subtle feeling, but a real one. Again, the electronic keyboards, while much improved, still cannot fully reproduce this experience.

Do these things really matter? To some piano teachers, they do. I know one piano teacher who insists that her students obtain a “real” piano for home practice, and won’t accept them as students if they plan to use an electronic one.

For many beginning students, the subtleties of tone and touch will be lost on them. And, for students who want to move on to contemporary music, such as a rock band, the electronic keyboard is quite well accepted in these genres. Later, if you end up performing in places where you don’t know if the venue will have a piano, or what condition or tuning it will be in, you might like to have a more movable instrument, so you can take it with you. You can’t exactly schlep an acoustic piano around in the back of your minivan.

On the other hand, if you really stick with your piano studies, eventually these issues of tone and touch will matter to you. When that happens, are you going to want to purchase a second instrument?

All of these issues need to be considered before you make your purchase. In the end, only you – in consultation with your own piano teacher – can decide which instrument to buy in order to reach your goals as a pianist.

Up to this point in your piano career, you’ve probably studied classical music. With any luck, you’ve learned to read music and play your scales. You’ve learned some etudes, a sonatina or two, maybe Fur Elise. So far, so good.

But isn’t there some little part of you – maybe deep inside, maybe right out on the surface – that wants to play in a rock band? Or some other contemporary ensemble? Now how do you make that happen?

The fact is, you’re not going to walk up to a local jazz club, whip out your Scarlatti, and sit down and play a sonatina. Let’s just say, that’s not in keeping with the style expected by the patrons there.

Contemporary music – jazz, rock, pop, country, and so on – is a discipline all its own. It has its own rules, its own conventions. And to be an effective pianist in a contemporary ensemble, you’ll need to learn a few new tricks.

For example, you’ll need to learn to read lead sheets (discussed in my previous post), and how to play in the chord piano style – that is, where you play the chords while another member of the ensemble has the melody. At first you’ll just play the chords as written on your lead sheet. But soon you’ll learn how to build an effective “chord progression” – that is, changing from one chord to another, in support of the melody – out of your own musical imagination. And that will lead you straight to improv.

You see, chord piano, chord progressions, accompaniment, and improv are all related skills. And, they all build on the basic knowledge of keys, scales, chords, and theory. (That’s why your teacher wanted you to practice all that “boring” stuff!)

Now chord piano sounds fairly simple when I describe it here, or in my previous post. You just play the chords as you see them come up on the lead sheet. And it is simple to learn the basic principles. It’s one of those things where it’s simple to learn the basics, but it takes a lifetime to master. There are always more embellishments you can learn to add. And each contemporary style of music has its own favorite chords and chord progressions.

For example, blues uses “blue notes” in its scales and chords. The same is true of the many contemporary musical genres that grew out of the blues – R&B, jazz, swing, rock, and so on. Country has its own style and favored chord progressions. So chord piano is not something you learn once and then move on. There’s always something new to learn.

And, to play in a contemporary band of any sort, you’ll also need to learn good ensemble manners. You’ll need to learn when to lead, when to follow, and when to get out of the way – and perform equally well in each of these roles. Remember, in a contemporary band, it’s not so much about you. It’s about the whole group.

And chances are, it’s the vocalist who will be in the spotlight much of the time. You’ll need to learn how to be a good accompanist, because you’ll often be playing an accompanying role. Sometimes you’ll be accompanying the vocalist, and sometimes one of the other instruments will be playing a short solo.

So, to succeed as a pianist in contemporary music, you’ll need to be able to…
• Read lead sheets
• Play chord piano
• Fit into the ensemble
• Play an accompanying role
• Improvise

Anything else you’ll need?

Enthusiasm! Confidence! You’ll need to love the music you’re getting into, and let that joy come out in your playing. And once you can do that, the rest will fall into line.