# of Students Taught: 9
Ages: 2 6th graders, 4 frosh, 1 junior, 1 senior, 1 adult learner
Instrument: 7 tenor trombones, 1 baritone, 1 tuba
Materials: scales, tunes, & ear training; etudes, recital repertoire, band music, chamber music
Fundamentals covered: playing as a chamber group, composition, stylistic interpretation of non-western music written in a western context, rhythms
Memorable moment: I coached a little chamber group today of frosh low brass players. They were working on a Schubert piece that they hadn’t really dived into yet. We started playing and while the first couple of notes were all unison, once it changed to chords it became a bit mushy (‘well, that was a hot mess’- one of the students). We worked on hearing what the composer and arranger had intended for that moment, and why it was so effective coming out of a unison line. We tuned up the chords and identified the important voices (all of them, in this case, but the first part lead the motion). By the end of the period we had a good little group going!
Takeaways: Chamber music is an important tool for developing not only our ability to play together but to refine our ears as well. We need to be ready to hear how our part fits into a smaller group, and not get lost or timid about making sure all the pieces fit together. It can be easy to hide in a big ensemble, but chamber music means you have to bring confidence to the table.
Lauren Husting, trombone 