Developing Musicianship within the Ensemble

              After reading Brandt Schneider’s Creating Musical Flexibility Through the Ensemble, I was encouraged by the possibility to implement such a program with students, especially at lower levels. I strongly agree that good musicians should be able to complete the activities described in the article. Playing by ear, singing parts in solfege, transposing to various keys and creating accompaniments are skills that all musicians should possess; indeed, most professional musicians are required to demonstrate these skills daily. Unfortunately, many of us forget to require these skills of our students. We are used to band and choir rehearsals in which we learn pieces for the purpose of performing them in the cumulative concert. We have to be careful that we are not just teaching students to sing or play the five songs that will be performed. We need to make sure we are teaching musical concepts through the concert repertoire, so that students will carry these lessons on to future musical situations.

             Many music educators tell their students that music is more than what’s on the page, meaning historical contexts, phrasing decisions and personal interpretation contribute to music-making. But what if we told students that music is not on the page at all? Instead, sheet music is a graph of the sounds occurring over time, and music exists in the air while it is being performed. Although it rarely happens in traditional ensemble situations, we need to take students away from notation and help them experience music “without the ink.” If we approach music as an art in time, not on a page, and give students daily opportunities to develop solfege, transposition and ear playing skills as described in Schneider’s essay, students will be less anxious to perform these tasks and greatly improve their musicianship.