Matt Christensen

MUSE 375

Dr. Hourigan

10-13-20

Chapter 9 Summary

Chapter nine focuses on repertoire. A music teacher must select repertoire to

have successful concerts and to meet classroom goals. Acton Eric Ostling judged the

quality of repertoire by using ten criteria. 1. The composition has form. 2. The

composition reflects shape and design. 3. The composition reflects craftsmanship in the

orchestra. 4. The composition is sufficiently unpredictable. 5. The composition is

completely direct and obvious. 6. The composition is consistent in its quality. 7. The

composition is consistent in its style. 8. The composition reflects ingenuity in its

development. 9. The composition is genuine in idiom. 10. The composition reflects

musical validity.

There is a debate in education about the difficulty of repertoire. Some composers

make music that sounds harder than it really is. These pieces are designed to promote

better scores at contests. Some people argue that this repertoire is not quality and will

never be used outside of the realm of music education. Others argue that this repertoire

helps bands that have inconsistent instrumentation and quality of players.

Balance, difficulty, presentation, and technical considerations for the ensemble

are all important factors when selecting repertoire. The book lists suggestions for

balanced concerts such as using an opener, a multi-movement piece, a feature, and a

closer. When preparing for a concert, a director must keep comprehensive musicianship
in mind. This means that a director should prioritize the education of the students above

performance readiness.

The book lists different historical and cultural styles as well as compositional

styles and techniques that a director could choose from. A director should teach these

styles to the students, as well as explain the form, structure, and theory that a piece

contains. A director should also use the music as a way to connect band class to other

classes that the students take in school. Discussing the historical context when the

piece was composed is an example of an interdisciplinary topic. As with everything else

in the classroom, the students need to be assessed on this information. Using a study

sheet is a useful tool to hold the students accountable for what they have learned.

The chapter provides the reader with a very helpful list of resources for finding

quality literature. It is wise for a director to keep a log of all the music that has been

performed. These logs can help colleges and future directors navigate through the

music library and make more informed decisions when choosing a piece. When judging

the difficulty of a piece, a director should consider the range, the interest level of the

ensemble, the contrapuntal density, the voice density, and doubling. In some cases, a

director may need to make changes in the score to better suit the current ensemble.

In the wind band community, there is often a debate of whether or not to play

arrangements of pieces that were not composed for a band setting. Some purists say

that the original works should not be altered. Others say that exposing people to

wonderful pieces of music is a good thing no matter what instruments are playing it. Pop

music is also debated. Some people think it has no place in the classroom but others
see the benefits of pleasing the audience with familiar music. A director should program

no more than one high quality pop arrangement per concert.

Reflection

I think this chapter will be very beneficial to me in my first few years of teaching.

Until now, I always thought the style of each piece and the difficulty were the only

factors when choosing repertoire. These lists of all the factors to consider will help me

make better decisions when choosing music. I often hear stories of awful programming,

specifically concerts that are too difficult, from young teachers. I hope I can avoid this

pitfall.

My band director only taught us performance readiness. Even though I was one

of the better musicians in the ensemble, I still did not know very basic musical concepts

coming out of high school. Even at my age I was too embarrassed to take the music

theory placement and just elected to start in the beginning theory class. I think I will be

good at teaching interdisciplinary topics in the classroom. I really enjoy history so I think

it will be easy to incorporate that into the lessons. However, I will need to work harder

on incorporating math, physics, and business into the lessons.

I think all the debates about what music should and should not be played is a

little ridiculous. My argument is if education is prioritized above the repertoire, then it

matters very little what the repertoire is. Maybe my views will change overtime, but I feel

that arguments such as these are why the rest of the world views musicians as snobs.