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Successful Ensemble Playing
by Greta Haug-Hryciw and Nancy C. Grant
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Playing music over time with a group can be a wonderful musical and human experience. There are two main aspects to creating and maintaining an ensemble: the social component, and musical development.
Often, forming a group is just about inviting recorder-playing friends to meet regularly to play music that they like and to explore music that might be new to them. Making music together is a fun and socially rewarding experience.
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Forming or Developing a Group
Are you ready to start an ensemble, or are you already part of one? Do you play together to have fun sight-reading and to have an ongoing personal connection with other players? Do you all want to develop particular musicianship skills, dive deep into specific repertoire, or work toward playing for others?
If your ensemble is small (3-6 members) and wants to polish repertoire, the dynamics will be different than if the ensemble is informal and people can attend when they can to play from music that’s been collected by the group.
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Who will you invite?
Should everyone have a similar level of musical skills and ensemble experience, or are you open to a group of mixed levels? There’s an advantage to being inclusive, but keep in mind your purpose. If some players struggle to keep up it will not be a lot of fun for anyone. Playing with others of a similar skill level, even when everyone is at a lower level, can help the members to develop their skills and techniques at the same time, and grow as an ensemble.
Developing ensembles can benefit greatly from occasional coaching sessions from professionals. If you live in an area where there are no recorder teachers, consider the ARS Traveling Teacher Program to bring one to you… or arrange for an online coaching session with a remote teacher. There are many teachers in the ARS directory who are willing to teach via Zoom or Skype.
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Once you have players who can commit to regular meetings, there are a lot of things you can talk about and decide on together:
- Do you want to limit the size of your ensemble?
- How often will you meet?
- Does anyone need a ride?
- What repertoire do you want to play - will each member bring music to choose from?
- Who will host, and will there be enough space and accessibility for everyone?
- Do you want to perform?
- Will you have a paid coach from time to time?
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Kindness, consideration, and inclusion
Ensembles are formed by people, and things happen! Aging issues are creeping in for some of us. Hearing loss means we need to have very clear communication, and be aware of having each others’ attention, even be seated in the “right” configuration that fits your members best. Arthritis or other physical issues mean that some may not be able to play larger instruments or have other limitations.
Personal issues may arise, such as work or family responsibilities, that complicate your ensemble’s routine, so flexibility may be needed. Bring extra music with fewer parts if one of your members can’t make a meeting. Support of one another will be important for the health of your ensemble. Remember that one purpose of forming your ensemble should be to have fun playing together!
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Ensemble Skills Development
If your ensemble is not under the direction of a conductor, it’s important for every member of the group to see and hear one another, whether sitting or standing. This allows for good communication between the players, including visual cues. The best way for this to happen is to be arranged in a tight semi-circle. Let’s say you have 5 players. The configuration would look something like this, leaving space in between with room for multiple instruments.
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Of course, if the ensemble isn’t preparing for a performance (where the audience would want to see each member’s face), the players could sit in an actual circle to hear one another best. If it's a larger, informal group, adjust accordingly to the space available. | |
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Leading the ensemble without a conductor
Often the best ensemble experience can be had by sharing the leadership role for different pieces. This can be as simple as deciding who will start and end pieces. This may be different for each piece in your program, and can depend on who has a moving figure at the end of a section or the piece.
Our ensemble, SDQ (formed in 2004), often begins our sessions with a warm-up exercise devised by one of us, or learned from a teacher. Members take turns leading the warm-up at each meeting. All members are encouraged to contribute observations and make suggestions for improvement.
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Ensemble tips
Find a simple piece like a Bach chorale for tuning - tune to the instrument with the lowest relative pitch. Those that are sharper can adjust down by separating the head joint from the body a little bit to lower the pitch to match/blend.
Record yourselves as a group and listen back together. When making suggestions from your observations, be gentle and supportive. Critique your own playing as you listen and make note of what you want to improve in your own style or technique to blend with the ensemble.
When playing together it’s essential that everyone feels the beat at the same tempo. If playing falls apart at first, have one member drop out and be the timekeeper by either counting the beats aloud or clapping, acting as a human metronome. It’s perfectly fine to play passages slowly until everybody “gets” them. Beyond that, individual practice with a metronome will correct the problem. It’s okay to pencil in the beats in your music for any troublesome spots.
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If the piece has tricky rhythmic passages, study and decipher them together before trying to play them. Speak the rhythm together in staccato articulation to hear where it might be “off.” Members can help with corrections as needed. It’s beneficial for the ensemble for each player to work on these passages together no matter whose part they occur in. Typical causes for falling out of step are:
- Slowing down fast passages
- Speeding up “easy” passages (scalar figures)
- Dotted rhythms
- Miscounting rests or long notes
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Try to internalize the larger beat, or “tactus” (the main pulse of the music). The smaller beats within the tactus also can be internalized with practice, which will keep these divisions even. For example, a piece with 6/8 time signature generally has a tactus of 2, with 6 inner beats.
If you rely on tapping your foot to keep up, keep it silent and hidden (i.e., tap your toe inside your shoe), so as not to throw off the others. Note that it’s very easy for your foot to follow your playing instead of your playing keeping up with your foot. This can be remedied by alternating your feet (L, R, L, R, etc.). This mimics walking, which allows your beat-keeping to be regular and steady.
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When following a conductor
Whether you’re playing in a large ensemble or small, when a conductor is leading the group, it’s important to clearly understand what their gestures mean. For example, what does their downbeat look like from where you’re sitting? What note value are they counting? Possibly decide whether or not to sub-divide the beat for yourself throughout the pieces. Can you see the conductor’s eyes and hands? If not, scoot your chair or ask the conductor to be sure they can see every player.
Listen to the tuning of the other players near you. As the Dutch recorder professional Norbert Kunst would say to his (and workshop) recorder orchestras:
“Don’t play any faster than your neighbor, don’t play any slower than your neighbor. Don’t play any louder than your neighbor, don’t play any softer than your neighbor.”
In the end, it’s all about listening to each other as you play. Take visual cues from one another, and know who is the leader for each piece. Stick to the breath marks you have made. This will help you stay together better rhythmically and with phrasing.
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Ensembles with 3 or more members who belong to the ARS can apply for status as an ARS consort. Go to the “Form a Consort” page on the ARS website for more information.
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Many thanks to the SDQ Consort for their contributions to this article and many happy years of playing together through all of our ups and downs.
Resources:
“The Finishing Touch of Ensemble Playing” (Alamire, © 2000)
by Bart Spanhove (of the Flanders Quartet)
This book also contains excerpts and examples for precise ensemble practice.
American Recorder Society Consort Handbook
https://americanrecorder.org/consort_handbook.php
Norbert Kunst
Artistic Director, Ensemble Praetorius
| SDQ plays Lance Eccles’ “Solar Eclipse” at the SFRS Chapter concert November 17, 2019 (We’ve learned a lot since then!): | |
Greta Haug-Hryciw is a member of the ARS Board of Directors. She lives in California, teaches recorder for all ages and co-directs the Barbary Coast Recorder Orchestra with Glen Shannon.
Nancy Grant has been an ARS member since 2006, and belongs to the Barbary Coast Recorder Orchestra, SDQ, and San Francisco Recorder Society.
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