Dance & Aux Forum

Today, I had a meeting with D. Rashad Watters to discuss how to improve my arrangements and to discuss my responsibilities as a member of Block Band Music and Publishing. For those who don't know, my name is Will Jung and I am an undergraduate student at UNC Chapel Hill. I currently march for NCCU. I will be posting "blog like" posts to keep you updated about my experience with Block Band.

During the beginning of our meeting, Rashad set out a rubric for what we were going to discuss:

1. Rhythmic Notation
2. Butler Method
3. Harmonic Series and Instrument Voicing
4. Instrument Choirs
5. Snare Drum Technique
6. Use of Percussion in Arrangements

Rhythmic Notation

Having no "real" instruction in arranging music, I've been arranging only through self learned experiences. The first thing that Rashad pointed out was how, although my music was "rhythmically correct," it was hard to read and even redundantly written rhythms at times. For example, there was a measure where I put a dotted quarter note in one measure and filled it with rests. Rashad pointed out that instead of putting a dotted quarter note, I can substitute a quarter note with a tenuto mark in it. We went through two of my arrangements and pointed the out notation "errors" that I could go back and fix.

The Butler Method

Although Rashad touched on this briefly, we never really discussed it in depth. I was told that it was a way of teaching how to read music. I expect to cover more details about the Butler Method in the future.

Harmonic Series and Instrument Voicing

We talked a lot about the woodwind section's involvement in an arrangement. It is often that the flutes and clarinets double the trumpet part, but Rashad told me about doubling the alto sax on the trumpet part because of the unique sound that the combination creates. Also, Rashad talked about how frequency plays a part of projection and that the human ear hears higher parts clearer than lower parts, so he suggested that if the low brass is playing the melody or a lick that you want to bring out, have the upper woodwinds double on it so their "higher frequency" can help carry it out on the field, or across the field.

Instrument Choirs

I usually double the flutes and clarinets with trumpets, alto saxes with mellophones, and tenor saxes with baritones. However, I learned that the brass parts are going to be heard regardless of the doubling of the woodwind instruments so that I should do more and be more creative with the woodwind instruments.

Snare Drum Technique

This was also a topic matter that we didn't discuss a lot. Rashad suggested that I learn to become more familiar with drum techniques to help assist my writing of percussion parts.

Use of Percussion in Arrangements

During our discussion of this topic, I was told how percussion instruments could be given the "same part" as wind instruments to assist with the projection of a particular part. For example, I noted that in some parts of a song, I hear bass drums playing the same rhythm as the tuba part and that it gives the bassline more "umph" to their sound.

Rashad also discussed how percussion parts can "overwhelm" the arrangement if misused. For example, instead of having quint toms play a crazy lick throughout the whole piece, have them play a lick in a pick up measure before the melody comes in so they can still "shine" without disrupting the flow of the arrangement. Also, Rashad noted that the percussion section shouldn't have a lot going on if the wind instruments have a lot going on, but when there are only a few "voices" in the arrangement, the percussion section can be more involved.

I learned a great deal just by sitting down and talking with Rashad. I feel that everything I learned will help me "recreate" my current arrangements so that their reincarnated versions will be even more musical than ever. This meeting itself makes me feel excited to be a part of the company as it is not only a learning process, but an opportunity to be a part of something new and fresh to the scene.