Monday, October 25, 2021
My mother is a retired pharmacist from the Springfield area. As a child, I remember hearing stories of the challenges and stresses that my mother and her pharmacy staff encountered on a daily basis. Difficult customers, difficult doctors, difficult insurance companies, lack of funds, and daily problems all contributed to a high-stress and demanding work environment. As an ensemble director or associate director, does this environment sound familiar? Do you find yourself often being pulled in many directions at once? I remember my mother coming home stressed, but always relying on the fundamental principles she was taught in her profession. When moments were challenging, companies were buying smaller companies, and doctors were inflexible on needs of patiences, the fundamentals of her training kicked in and she became a consistent and reliable source of strength for her staff, co-workers, and patients.
"Consistency is Key" - For those of you that know her, this was one of Dr. Belva Prather's regular statements or as we called them: "Pratherisms." Learning over time from her wisdom, I began to modify her statement in my mind to actually translate as: "Consistent Fundamentals is Key." As an ensemble director (band, orchestra, or vocal) it is imperative that you develop a consistent routine of warmups that develop the specific fundamentals tailor-made for your students. Pre-made warmup packets are great...of course...USE THEM. But I encourage you to begin work on making and writing your own. You know your students best despite what anyone else says. You know their background, you know their needs, you know their goals, and you know what you need to meet your goals. Developing a solid and reliable warm up packet is the prescription your ensemble needs!
During my time as an educator, I had the privilege of teaching a wide variety of ensembles ranging from piano accompanying solos/ensembles, large choirs, marching band, concert band, jazz band, orchestra pits, and specifically indoor percussion productions. For each of my ensembles, my students knew how we would start each rehearsal and a specific routine was established to promote fundamental reinforcement of tone, timbre, technique, tessitura, tempo, and timing. Fundamental musicianship was at the core of my warm up packets. These packets were custom made "in-house" small books that myself and my staff developed. Each season we would modify, tweak, and adjust according to the musical and visual demands of the season's production. As each year passed, my students would personally discover their warm ups were different in many respects to other ensembles they heard at shows, competitions, and festivals. I found over time the warm ups themselves took on their own identity and were specific to the ensemble's identity...they actually liked playing all twelve major and thirty-six minor scales in warmups!
In conclusion, a close friend of mine once said (and I'm paraphrasing), "Quality music ensembles are just the implementation of well-developed and consistent fundamentals." Those groups that look and sound amazing take the time to implement a specific routine that works for their students. Turn the mundane into an identity for your ensemble and make FUNdamentals a priority.
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Born in Springfield, MO, Jordan Nimmo is a Southwest Missouri native. Jordan was the Associate Band Director at Kickapoo High School for 8 years (2013/14 – 2020/2021) and also served as Choir Assistant Director/Accompanist during the same time. Prior to full-time work at Kickapoo, Jordan was the lead percussion instructor since 2007 and continued as Percussion Director once joining the Kickapoo faculty. During this time, the indoor percussion program grew to be a nationally recognized competitive ensemble within the WGI circuit. The Kickapoo Indoor Percussion Ensemble was a WGI World Championships Finalist six times under the instruction of Mr. Nimmo and fellow retired KHS band director Mr. Troy Peterson. Under Jordan's instruction, the Indoor Percussion Ensemble was named MCCGA Percussion Gold Medalist Champions thirteen consecutive times (2009-2021). During a portion of his tenure as a faculty/staff member for Springfield Public Schools, Jordan served as percussion instructor at Central High School (2010-2013), under the direction of Mr. Chris Rohrbaugh, assisting with the Wind Ensemble's 2012 MMEA Convention performance. |
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