I'm fairly sure a lot of people would love to conduct a band at some point.

However, it's not as fun when the band in question is the Linlithgow Schools Junior Concert Band - ie, thirty 10-18 year olds armed with instruments that the younger ones can barely hold, let alone play.

And as of today, I am the conductor of said band for the next year. They've been given two pieces for the next concert, which is about 6 practices away.

I had my first practise as conductor today, and it didn't go very well. I hardly knew what I was doing, and the kids knew that - I didn't have much control over them. Even worse, my peers who help out at the band (That's the 15-18 year olds) were talking over me and not paying attention either. Next week I'm definitely going to go for a more evil approach.

So I had them play over the first piece (Wallace & Gromit theme tune, huzzah. I'd been told to stick with that piece for today, since they'd already been playing it for a few weeks.) The last time I'd heard them play it, it was really quite appalling and terribly slow. But this time, they had it more or less up to speed, and I couldn't think what to ask them to improve on. I thought of a few things, and I got a bit of help from last years conductor, but it was still pretty awkward. Wasn't a very productive rehearsal, put it that way.

So I was wondering, is there anyone who's had any experience conducting a band? Or, indeed, anyone with any ideas for me What sort of things should I look out for? Are there any techniques I should try or avoid? And that sort of thing.

Thanks in advance!

I conduct high school bands and other ensembles like guitar and string orchestra. It was trial by fire in the early going when my first bands and choirs were in an elementary school with kids around 12 or 13 years old, and you have my sympathies. Classroom control is key, and the role of your buddies should be to set a good example of attentive cooperation under your direction, and then leadership in sectional practice. They can help the beginners pencil in their fingerings and remind them of their responsibility to practise between rehearsals. Don't fret about speed for now. You have limited time, so work on controlled intonation, deliberate breath planning (pencil it in) and ensemble blend. Know the score well enough to get your eyes off the music stand and onto the individual players so you can trouble shoot as well as identify successes and give praise. Face it: you can't work miracles in this time frame, so be realistic about what the group can accomplish. In the future, you might consider splitting the group so the older kids can add more sophisticated material without being held back by the beginners, and getting material for the beginners that has good rhythmic hooks as well as comfortable (not impossibly high) range. This discussion could go on forever, and that's why we have annual music educator conventions and workshops and festivals. If you think longterm everyone will have more fun. If you are too uptight about this one concert, the whole experience will be stressful and unenjoyable. It's not like political affairs and world conflict; it's just music, man. You have fun, everyone has fun, including the audience. By the way, who is the audience, and how did you get sucked in to this situation on such short notice? Doesn't the school have a professionally trained teacher for this sort of thing?

Urgh, only about half of them turned up this week for some reason, and hardly anyone showed me any respect - they started calling me "slipper lady" on the basis that my shoes apparently looked like slippers (I happen to like my dolly shoes, thank you very much!) and they were asking where the old conductor was, and cheered when he turned up to help out. Thanks guys, up goes my morale! I also only had one helper this week, at least until the old conductor showed up, so I suppose it can only get better.

I didn't mention that there's a two month break in between some of the practices - three more this term, then summer holidays, then two more after summer before the concert. So when they come back after summer, there will be new members and I'll hopefully have more helpers too. Unfortunately the rehearsal time isn't long enough to allow for any contructive sectional practice - they can only sit still for about 40 minutes as it is, and even that's a bit of a struggle!

Thanks for the advice as for what to work on, and I'll try not to push them too much for this one concert. I've got other stuff to be working on as well, I'm playing in the Senior Concert Band, plus I'm starting my last year of school with all it's responsibilities blah blah.

The audience is just going to be parents and friends and the likes. It's the yearly Autumn Concert. I don't think there is a specially trained teacher for it. The conductor changes most years, usually a music teacher, but some years they get a pupil to do it. I don't get paid or anything, but it counts as an extension for my Advanced Music class, huzzah. I had to start at such short notice because the last conductor, who has just left school, couldn't conduct it any longer as the rehearsals clashed with his drama rehearsals, and he has the lead in the show which is put on in three weeks, which is a reasonable enough excuse I thought!

Thanks again for the reply, that was a good help
One technique I've been wondering about. I remember about 6 years ago when I was still a beginner, I was one of the oldest ones in a similar ensemble. The conductor of that ensemble was trying to get us all to play a sfz note, with not much luck. So she asked me to play the note on my own as an example to the others of how it should be played. I've never seen this in any other ensemble I've played in. Do you think it's a good method to use, or should it be avoided? I can't remember if it worked or not...