Who Plays Lead? (2/1/2023)

Who Plays Lead?

Ed Dumas

 

Many years ago, just near the beginning of my post-secondary music education studies, our concert band one day was sitting and waiting for an outdoor performance to begin. We were already thirty minutes late, and our lead trumpet player was nowhere to be found. We could all see our conductor and the fact that his blood pressure was rising fast. We figured he was going to explode at any time, and everyone just wanted to stay out of the splatter zone.

Then, our lead trumpet player finally walked in with his Bach Stradivarius in one arm, and his girlfriend hanging off the other. He seemed to wander in slowly as if bewildered why everyone was already set up. He just didn’t seem to grasp that he messed up the start time, but we knew that soon he would figure it out.

Everyone in the group flashed eyes at our conductor and back, trying not to catch his attention while doing this. He was not a big man at about five foot six, but he was just a towering musician and everyone knew it. Finally, after watching our lead trumpet player slowly figure out that he completely messed up, our conductor had more than he could stand. He walked over to just in front of the offending trumpet player’s music stand and leaned in.

“No,” he said, “You don’t understand. From now on you play third. You,” he said pointing at me, “You play lead.” My first reaction inside my head was “What did I do to deserve this?! I was here on time!” Instead, all I could muster was “Okay.” We traded books right there on the spot, and I sight-read the lead part with no preparation for it and no practice on it whatsoever. I survived, but it was not a pleasant experience, to say the least. I am fairly sure the audience would have agreed, too.

Looking back at that event from over forty years ago, I have to say that I learned some very important lessons from it. These were things that have coloured everything that I have done with bands ever since. I have long ago gotten over any animosity toward our lead trumpet player from back then, but I have also tried to help students along the way become better prepared to be section leaders and lead players. Here are a few of the lessons that I learned that day, and have never forgotten.

Have More Than One Player on the Lead Part

If you have only one player playing the first part of any section, you are leaving the section, the band, and you as the teacher/conductor in a risky position. At any time something could happen to leave the entire group stranded because one person could not make it to the performance.

Now, this might not be for something as foolish as messing up the performance time. It could be for something far more mundane like a car that breaks down, or someone catching a virus. But try to be prepared for a disaster should it happen, and you stand a better chance of surviving without exploding.

Most often when students are feeling ill, I have found they have been far more dedicated to the task and completing the performance than they should have been. Usually, band students are more likely to be so committed to the group that they want to push through no matter what, even though they really should be at home as they have no strength or stamina to last through the performance.

I remember finding one player huddled in a corner of the band room shaking with pain and in tears as she suffers in agony from a raging fever and virus. She was so worried that her being away would mess up the group’s performance that she was just willing herself to push it through no matter the consequences to her health.

Just like any teacher today would do today, I naturally stepped in to call her mother to come to get her and take her home so she could rest and get better. More often than not, those are the kinds of situations you will encounter when you have only one player covering a critical part. The solution here lies with the teacher in advance, not the student on the day of.

Now, to be fair, you will not get two players for every section leader part that is in a concert band. Sometimes the best you can do is only one on a given part. But if your plan is to not have people alone on a part, more often than not you will be able to withstand the odd surprise event during a performance. You won’t win them all, but you will do better than the scenario of someone sight-reading a lead part in a concert.

Consider Character

Another lesson that I have taken away from my “Sight-Reading the Lead Part in Performance” event was that you should consider character when you are choosing lead players. The message that I heard that day was that hard work and reliability count - A LOT!

I was certainly not the most talented in that section, but I worked hard, and I always showed up where I was supposed to be. In the future, I tried to reward this more than mere unreliable talent with my students. Most of the time the ones that worked hard and showed up were also the ones that became the most talented, but hopefully, they understood their reward was for their effort over time more than their talent of that day.

Playing Lead is Not About Competition

I noticed early in my teaching career that when the graduating students left our senior band, the following year some students always felt like they were unable to take over and become the new lead player. They were just as talented as the grads were when they took over as the leader, and yet the next age down seemed like they could not do it. They needed a lot of convincing from me that they were capable and would eventually find out they could soon handle the new work as the lead player.

This convinced me that I needed to change my approach to the “Who Plays Lead?” question. That is when I started to encourage everyone in the section to take turns playing the lead. The question is, “How do you learn to be a lead player if you have never played lead?” My answer is, “If everyone has played lead in the past, then anyone can be the lead player today.”

The answer above came to me by watching adult community band musicians, particularly trumpet players where I was playing. There is almost a cliché in secondary schools that there is some kind of huge competition between trumpet players as to who gets to play the lead part.

Almost inevitably some trumpet players will take the approach that “Since I am the best player, I get to play all the first trumpet parts.” The unspoken part of that statement goes something like, “Since you are the worst player, you only get third trumpet parts!” That just makes me want to cringe.

A typical professional group will choose how many trumpet players will be in their group’s roster, and then hire the musicians accordingly. As an example, if they want three trumpet players, one will be positioned on first, one on second, and one on third for ALL of their music. Most often those players will have a contract to play the part assigned to them, and that is just how it goes. The best will be positioned on the lead first, and so on down.

The trouble for our students, though, is that they are not professional! If you assume that our students are supposed to have equal opportunity in their learning, then you need to examine the learning possibilities with the various positionings of players. Not ever playing lead means that the opportunity to learn has been reduced for that player. Whether the affected student desires this outcome or not, it is just a fact that the player who is not allowed to play lead is also given less opportunity to learn and develop.

In contrast to that scenario, many adult non-professional groups have learned to cooperate better than that. Most trumpet sections in adult groups that I have sat in have learned to share the lead parts around, very often to the chagrin of the conductor who wants it all nailed down tight. But adult non-professionals have figured out that it is not a competition for them, and that cooperating makes a more developed section. As a result, when one player inevitably misses an event, the rest are quite ready to step in and cover without missing a beat.

There are always a few adult amateur musicians who never seem to get past the high schoolish “I am better than you so I should play all the lead parts.” These competitive people seem to make the section far less pleasant for everyone else. I have tended to move away from those kinds of players and find groups that are better at being welcoming and sharing. The lesson here for the community-minded folks is to encourage their various sections to share the parts around to be more welcoming to new players and less competitive. It is in the band’s best interest to do so!

Separate the Lead Part from the Section Leader

The section leader does not have to be the lead player or even the best player. I have learned to ask the section to choose its leader, rather than me appointing someone. Specifically, I would tell them that they should NOT consider talent here, but rather the ability to be organized and communicate. They should also make sure they choose someone they are all willing to follow as section leader in the non-musical things.

I would also suggest maybe an open vote is not necessarily the best way to choose a section leader either. The students can learn to cooperate and share the section leader role as well. The section should come to some sort of agreement as to how they would like to accomplish this task. Maybe one person in the first half of the year and someone else in the second half if they want to share it.

Once chosen, the section leader can then assign the parts in a way that gives everyone in the section at least some experience playing the lead (first) part. Students that are feeling a little uncomfortable with the first parts can be given the lead on some of the easier tunes in the folder, and can also be given the first parts in conjunction with another stronger player. Here is where the strong communication skills and organizational skills of the section leader come in handy by taking a load off of the teacher in organizing how this could work. This is an excellent learning opportunity for the section leaders as well!

Put a Strong Player on All Parts

Here is a secret that I have often told my students. Most bands want to take the best players and put them on lead parts with the next strongest players on second, and so on down the section. But the bands that sound best have strong players on the bottom parts too!

I have played my fair share of lead parts, and am no longer thrilled by always playing the melody. I have found for many years that playing the third trumpet challenges me in ways that the lead trumpet does not, especially for things like terrible cross-fingerings in the low notes coupled with the third valve trigger for better tuning!

I have also found that when I do play the third trumpet, this part can be heard “out front” rather than just buried like most third trumpet parts. The section then comes together better, and the band sounds fuller. Imagine what could happen if all the sections of the band followed those ideas and spread out the strong players onto all the parts.

The important idea here is that all players in a section need to get used to playing all the parts within that section. They need to know that playing the third clarinet part is different than playing the first clarinet part. The third clarinet players need to understand that always playing only low notes is not sufficient and that they must learn to play over the break. There is nothing like sitting and watching some notes go by on first clarinet to make you understand that you cannot avoid playing over the break!

At the same time, the students who most often play first clarinet need to understand that playing third clarinet means that they must learn to blend and they must learn to project in a way that supports the upper clarinet parts without “passing” them.

Students that always play third and no first will tend to hide, while students that always play first and no third will tend to dominate. Both need to be brought into a more section kind of sound, and there is no better way than by playing ALL the parts at some point. Doing this is true learning, and that is what we are supposed to be about since our students are NOT professionals!

Where Should the Lead Players Sit?

This has been a subject of great debate for years, and I doubt I will solve that debate for anyone here. Some groups want all the lead players in each section to sit to the inside of the band with all of the lower parts sitting to the outside of the band. That way, the lead sound comes straight through the centre of the band to the conductor.

Some conductors want the reverse with all of the lead players on the outside of the band so that they project to the audience better. The lower blending parts then tend to blend better inside the band.

I have preferred to focus on the section IF I consider seating AT ALL. Considering the trumpet section as an example, I have often found that the best arrangement for the section is to have the firsts in the middle, with the seconds to one side and the thirds to the other. That way, all the players have a better chance of hearing the lead players. This arrangement helps to keep the section together better but is a compromise when it comes to the band sound.

But then, when you consider that all the players will have some experience on all of the parts, the seating will then naturally become all messed up across the various tunes in the folder. My response to that is, “Fine!” Since we are not dealing with pros in our secondary schools, we should not be overly concerned with applying pro standards of performance. The opportunities for everyone to learn how to play lead and harmony roles are more important to me than how the group sounds in performance.

If you are still overly concerned with seating in performance, you can have that problem worked out for the few individual tunes that you take into the concert. For those, you may want to assign specific seating in the section, but for others in the classroom, let the students mess it up so that they can learn how to play all the parts. In other words, in a classroom setting, is it that important that the first clarinet player be in the front row of clarinets, or could the first clarinet player in class do that job from the third row of clarinets to learn on this piece how to play lead? I will take learning over performance any day.

Have Lots of Music Selections in the Folder

I strongly encourage music teachers to have lots of music selections in their band folders. In the previous article Sight-Reading 101, I talked about the need to sight-read lots of music for the benefit of your students. At the same time, have lots of music that you can quickly return to so that you are not always doing just the same two or three tunes. Having a bigger folder means you have more opportunity to give experience to all your players on all the parts within the section. If you have 18 clarinet players, like in my Ultimate Concert Band, then you will need a fairly large selection of tunes to give them all at least a little bit of time playing different parts in the section.

Not everything that is in your folder needs to go into the performance. You can easily have 8 to 10 selections in the folder, but when it comes to concert time choose your best two or three. Not everything needs to be performed. But when you have 5 minutes to kill and they are just “done” with the piece that you have been working on for the last 30+ minutes, you have something that you can just play through for fun. Just don’t tell them they are learning from this too!

As a side note, consider also that most students these days practice only their band music. If all they are learning is only what is available to them on two or three concert band charts, that is significantly limiting. If they have a dozen selections, they have more to practice. Maybe not all, but some will take you up on that and practice a bit more.

What About the Sheet Music?

Finally, consider the problem of the sheet music, and how it is rather mixed up in students’ folders. They should have some firsts, some seconds, and some thirds. This kind of randomness can drive some band teachers a little Obsessive/Compulsive. I get it!

I have noticed this trend again in the adult community bands. These bands very often create folders that are labelled something like “First,” “Second,” and “Third.” Then the music is placed into each folder according to the label.

But when the folders are then handed out, the musicians take control of a single folder and then consider it as “Mine.” The trumpet section is again usually the first to figure out that we can just exchange the music around and no one will know. Maybe it is because the trumpets are always farther away from the conductor, so can get away with a bit more. So now my folder will contain some firsts, seconds, and thirds even though the outside will be labelled as “Third.” My question here is, “Does it really matter that they are not following the label?”

Why label it anyway with the part number if you are encouraging the students to share the roles around? How about just labelling it with an instrument name and a number, such as “34.” It is the thirty-fourth folder in the band and happens to be for a trumpet player. Let the players work out which parts go inside.

When I hand out new music, I would usually just hand all of the trumpet parts to the section leader. It is the section leader's job, then, to decide who plays first, second, and third on this particular chart. The students will happily work it out if they know the ground rules in advance.

For secondary school students, I have usually asked them to purchase a vinyl folder that stayed with them throughout their years in the program. The folder would have on the outside their name and the school’s name. Then if they switch parts around, or even switch to a completely different instrument, the folder still has value. AND, you won’t start twitching from OCD!

So, Who Plays Lead?

So, to answer the question “Who Plays Lead?,” the best answer for students is “Everyone.” Also a good answer is “No one.” No one person sits on lead all the time to the detriment of everyone else. Everyone gets an opportunity to experience the learning that comes with playing lead.

Also, no one sits on a third part hiding under the band to their own detriment. Everyone gets to experience and remember what it means to play a supporting role as well as the lead role, which also happens to have a huge benefit in developing some musical humility.

 

 

Ed Dumas is a retired band director who taught his entire career in the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows School District. Ed is now living with his lifelong partner Laurie, and their little dog Sprocket in Parksville, BC.  Ed & Laurie also work as Mid-Island reps for Tapestry Music while enjoying making music in retirement.

You can find Ed’s other writings for the MusicED Blog at: https://www.tapestrymusic.com/news.aspx

 

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