Allowing our ensembles to play/rehearse ‘un-conducted’ is a brilliant way to pass ownership and responsibility on to our students.  It develops ensemble listening skills like no other exercise.  In fact, it proves that they can be more in-charge of music making then they ever believed possible.  And, it frees us from the need to ‘keep time’ allowing us to get on with the business of inspirational musical direction!  I seldom conduct the first 20 minutes of my rehearsals. This portion consists of Ed Lisk’s “Alternative Rehearsal Techniques”, scale/arpeggio exercises, rhythm vocabulary studies and finally, chorales: all un-conducted!   

At first, your group might really struggle to play without you – give them time to adjust. (This is great evidence of previous inadequate listening/understanding and unhealthy reliance on visual assistance). Besides, the transfer of personal ownership and accountability can, at first be daunting!

Resist the temptation to beat time, cue players in, or even look at them before they enter. Their correct entry is evidence they are engaged in the sound while they are ‘resting’. Rehearsing in scattered format is even better for this! The key for beginning together without you is found in 'listening for the breath'. Breathe together to start together. 

Coach the student’s listening attention toward the most active part, listening to the internals, sideways as well as to the bass line and harmonic progression.

Hand over responsibility for keeping the tempo to those with the most active part. Energise the long notes! These are important principles to transfer when you do conduct again.

In many textures, there is a ‘metronome’ role played by someone in the ensemble – assist them in finding it.

This strategy works; even through changes of tempi and with fermati; with, and without caesura! 

Make allowance for things to come apart – let them! Give your students permission to restore order on their own – you will need this skill in performance.

Allowing your group to perform perform without you allows one to hear more, or not, of what is happening. Move around your rehearsal space, getting further away to check the balance as the audience hears it.

When you are satisfied that you can trust your ensemble enough, plan to have your them perform something without you. This is a great way for personal discipline in your rehearsal style; enabling students take greater responsibility for the success of the performance, thus receiving the positive recognition, which should be theirs.

You will find that over time, the sound of the group matures as they adapt to self-directed exercises. Synchronisation and balance improves, as does tone and intonation.  They should now be ready to appreciate how this exercise improves ensemble intonation and integration.

When your students begin to self-correct their own pitch, balance and rhythm errors, you will know that these strategies are beginning to pay dividends on your investment in this exercise.    

I recently received a question in regards to using chorales for wind band:

Dear Monte,

I would like to get your advice, and hopefully a tip or two on the use of chorales for a concert/wind band. 

I am co-conducting junior symphonic band have read that a lot of people play chorales in the early stages of rehearsals. Easy to play note wise but the conductor can develop a lot of different areas of the ensembles playing etc. 

So I guess my question is have you used chorales throughout any of your rehearsals and if so what band packs or titles could you suggest?

Yes, I use chorales in every rehearsal and have done so for many years.  Here are some chorale resource recommendations for younger bands: 

66 Festive and Famous Chorales - Frank Erickson - Alfred Music.   
Chorale Warm-Ups for Young Bands - Sandy Feldstein and Larry Clark - C. L. Barnhouse
Eight Chorales for Elementary Band - Quincy Hilliard – FJH Music Company
Bach and Before For Band- David Newell - KJOS
Symphonic Chorales Series: Young Concert Band - John Moss - Hal Leonard

However, remember to stay with your band method book as well as using chorales. The unison exercises are great for instilling pitch, vertical alignment and proper note length, among other essentials.  

The book is designed to work sequentially, from exercise to exercise, and page to page.  Each exercise is designed to introduce and reinforce certain concepts, such as counting, rhythm acquisition, articulations, syncopation, sub-division, new pitches, phrasing, intonation, terminology, fingerings, sticking, slide positions, etc.  In fact, we need to help our students find the targets implicit in each and every exercise (generally we should not focus on more than three points).  

We don't, in fact teach the method book, we show the students how to use it at home.  We supply the strategies on how to learn, show them that when they use the strategies they can achieve successful outcomes.  Remember to focus on goals, which can be achieved in the short term, say 5 minutes as a good starting point. The learning is theirs, along with the rewards of daily successes.  Individual consistent achievement is what keeps students practicing and participating.  They need to have ownership of their learning.  

If we want our students to get the most out of chorale study, they need a grasp of the fundamentals provided by consistent use of of their band method as listed above.  Chorales assist in acquiring harmonic sensitivity, stable intonation and imaginative phrasing.  

Thank you for asking!