Thomas J. West Music

In a recent Music Education Chat on Twitter, the topic we were discussing was "What is your criteria for selecting great repertoire and weeding out poor repertoire?" In the midst of that chat, the discussion turned to the practice of allowing students to have input into the repertoire selection process. Many school band and orchestra directors allow students to have input. I certainly take suggestions from students on repertoire selection - sometimes, I even listen to them!

Students' favorite repertoire tends to be pieces that are from media that they are familiar with. Movie soundtracks, pop tunes, classic rock, and popular classical music (such as Ode to Joy or the 1812 Overture) tend to find their way into the students' requests. The problem with many student popular choices is that the repertoire they are interested in does not have enough musical depth to it to make it a good selection for teaching the ensemble to become well-rounded musicians. For lack of a better term, the music is "fluff" - a single-faceted composition with few opportunities to generate expression.

What Constitutes "Quality Repertoire"?

Any director of a school performing ensemble understands that repertoire selection is a critical part of the school year. Repertoire selection effects all of the following:

• Your general enthusiasm as a teacher (can you live with working on this piece for the next several months?)
• The general interest level of the students (they have to live with it, too)
• The perception of all stakeholders in the ensemble's performance (parents, administrators, community)
• The musical concepts that will be learned during the preparation period (including meter, style, harmony, mode, polyphony, form, technical skills, and balance/blend)
• Exposure to multiple historical periods and cultures
• Balancing a concert program with variety (openers, ballads, popular selections, "stretch" pieces, finales)

Simply put, the repertoire selection determines what the students will learn about performing music and whether or not they will continue to be motivated to participate in the performing ensemble in the future. Nothing turns a student off faster than repertoire that is too hard, too heavy, too intellectual, or TOO SLOW! Typical student complaints about repertoire selection include:

• "This is too hard!"
• "This is too easy!"
• "This is too SLOW! It's BORING!"
• "I don't like this kind of music."
• "I don't like my part."

Most of these complaints center around the individual students' perceptions of their own part. If they perceive it to be repetitious and boring, or too technically challenging, they will "hate it." Simpler, more popular repertoire choices are a sure way to keep student interest up and bring big compliments from audience members at the concert. Is it possible to have popular choices for repertoire that balances with music that has some depth?

Music that has artistic depth to it contains at least a brief moment of all of the following:

• Recognizable melodic material for the ear to follow, or at least an audible way for the listener to make sense of the piece and understand its intent
• A recognizable form that is predictable without being tedious (ed. note: TOO MANY concert band works are in A-B-A form and bore me to tears!)
• Harmonic progressions that generate variety past three chords
• Rhythmic variety that helps intensify the expressive intent
• Orchestration that makes use of all the possible colors of the ensemble (especially important in concert band scores where the tonal color possiblities are large)
• Opportunities for counter-melodic or polyphonic voicing
  
• Opportunities for expressive phrasing, either dynamically or temporally, or both

This is not to say that a piece that is missing some of these components is not of high quality. A perfect example of a piece that does not have all of these components but is still a quality concert band piece is Ralph Vaughn Williams "Flourish for Wind Band" - it has pleasant melodic and counter-melodic lines, a simple chord progression and modulation, and a simple form. It does not contain a great deal of rhythmic variety and only a few moments of dynamic contrast. It is still quality stuff, and great for teaching a young middle school or high school program how to play as an ensemble.

But will students enjoy playing "Flourish for Wind Band"? The answer is, "Maybe."

The standard complaints that students have about repertoire is directly related to the depth of experience they have as a well-rounded musician. To a young musician (in terms of experience, not necessarily in terms of age), "Flourish" may seem dull. To a performer with some background, "Flourish" has obvious merits, but also may come off as "quaint" or "simple." For pieces that are too technically demanding for many ensemble members, students will "hate" the piece because they can't play it and sound good after only two or three sessions. These kind of "stretch" pieces need time to mature, and directors must encourage students to "give the piece a chance to develop."

Another important point to note is that repertoire does not have to be technically challenging to be deep. There are excellent pieces with musical depth written for elementary string ensemble as well as high school orchestra. Many directors choose stuff that is just plain old TOO HARD for their students. Choosing something less technically demanding affords the opportunity to have some synapses left over to perform expressively!

The "Fluff Ratio" Theory

When it comes to programming for a concert, I invented for my student teachers something I call the "Fluff Ratio" Theory. Summarized, the theory states "The percentage of a concert's repertoire that can be considered "fluff" is inversely proportional to the age and experience level of the student performers." Each of the following descriptions is based on a concert program of 10 pieces. Adjust the totals appropriately for the size of program you are presenting.

Elementary Ensembles: For elementary ensembles (band, strings, or choral), the primary goal is to get students "hooked" on performing while establishing good fundamental music skills. The challenge of mastering their individual part while learning to listen and keep pace with an ensemble is a big enough challenge for most students. Arrangements should be kept to simple melody/accompaniment or melody/ accompaniment/bassline forms and homophonic textures should prevail. Melodies should be catchy and easily identifiable. At least 1/3rd of the repertoire should be pieces the student have previous knowledge of and will undoubtedly enjoy.

In a concert program with 10 pieces,  at least 4 should be songs they know, an additional 2-3 should be catchy tunes that they will enjoy performing, and the remaining 2-3 could be "stretch" pieces that introduce them to a more advanced concept, such as tempo changes, dynamic changes, meter changes, or minor/modal tonalities.

Middle School Ensembles: As students mature into middle school, they are capable of performing and understanding more complex skills and aspects of musical composition. They are still, however, not mature enough to be open to large challenges that take them too far outside their comfort zone. Students at this level tend to be capable of much more than they allow themselves to achieve - they play it safe. Although many of them are "beaking out" into adulthood and want to be treated more maturely, they also tend to cling to childish ways, particularly in their social interactions and musical tastes.

In a concert program with 10 pieces, 2-3 should be songs they know, an additional 2-3 should be catchy tunes that they will enjoy performing, and the remaining 4-5 should be "stretch" pieces that help the ensemble develop more mature playing skills and concepts (both individual and ensemble).

High School Ensembles: Once students reach high school, if they have received consistent training through their formative years, they are ready to delve into the rich history of repertoire for the chorus, the orchestra, and the ever growing tradition of the wind band. By ninth grade, students should be capable of playing major scales and tonic triad arpeggios and understand the basic concepts of tonal control, balance, blend, form, melody/accompaniment, and intonation. High School is the time to really "see what's out there" in terms of quality repertoire for the kind of ensemble that they perform in.

In a concert program with 10 pieces, 1 should be a song they know, an additional 2 should be catchy tunes they will enjoy performing, and the remaining 7 should be "stretch" pieces that expose them to the highest quality repertoire available for their type of ensemble.

Adjusting the Ratio for Your Environment

Obviously, what works for one school music program will not work for another. A music program can only do what the community it serves is willing to support. It is imperative that every music educator know the expectations (or lack thereof) of the community they serve and adjust these ratios accordingly. Many public school music programs are built from the top down - all of the funding, support, and on-the-clock instruction time goes to the high school level instead of building strong fundamentals at the elementary level. Many high school programs are hampered by poor feeder programs where freshman coming into the high school are marginally more capable musically than an elementary student. Some have the opposite problem - amazing things happen at the elementary level, but the student enrollment drops off in secondary for a myriad of reasons.

Each music educator in charge of a performing ensemble understands (after a year or two) the culture, work ethic, and status quo of the community they teach in. Making a program grow is a team effort, and in many cases, the music educator has to plant the seed of higher quality repertoire gently and then allow the experience of working hard on the repertoire to give the students a long-term investment in aesthetic growth. Eventually, mature students find the "fluff" to be the boring stuff and long to delve into meatier repertoire.

Variety is the Key

Within these descriptors of "familiar, catchy, and stretch" are a nearly endless combination of genres, historical periods, styles, and technical considerations for repertoire. It must be mentioned that as you select repertoire, you want to consider the following:

• Are you performing at least one historically significant piece (a march for wind bands, an overture for orchestra, a sacred text piece for choral)?
• Are you including music selections from multiple cultures?
• Are you programming selections from operas or musical theater?
• Are you programming more than just "the latest piece from XXX composer"?
• Have you considered a piece of contemporary pop music that has a bit more substance to it?
• Is your high school ensemble being exposed to the "standard repertoire" works that have stood the test of time?
• Are you programming music that you as a teacher can be passionate about (or at least live with for the students' tastes to be considered)?

Notice also that in providing variety, you are bound to have at least one piece in every concert program that appeals to someone in the audience. Trying to program a concert based on your perception of what your audience of parents will enjoy is an exercise in futility. Variety in programming will take care of everyone's tastes, and in most cases, if the teacher is passionate about the repertoire and the students grow to respect and appreciate what they are playing, most parents will be satisfied.

One last note: in considering repertoire, also keep in mind the actual amount of on-the-clock preparation time your ensemble has before the performance. The technical and ensemble demands of a piece must be taken into account in terms of how much time it will take an ensemble of your caliber to master it.

As stated at the beginning of this article, repertoire selection is one of the most important decisions a music educator makes. It is a topic worthy of discussion, debate, and careful study.

This article (c) 2010 by Thomas J. West. Please contact the author before republishing on or offline.

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