Achievement Series • Grade 2

3014412

Wise Warm-Ups for School bandGary P. Gilroy

Extra Part - P3014411

1 Full Score

8 Flute

2 Oboe

5 Clarinet 1

5 Clarinet 2

5 Alto Saxophone

2 Tenor Saxophone

1 Baritone Saxophone

10 Trumpet

4 F Horn

10 Trombone/Baritone/Bassoon

4 Tuba

2 Mallet Percussion

3 Snare Drum/Bass Drum

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Program Notes Wise Warm-ups for School Band was created for the youthful but serious concert band to offer a daily routine for warm-ups and technique building. The work coordinates the use of woodwinds, brass, mallet percussion and battery percussion for an overall exercise that can take only 2.5 minutes or can be used for extended technique building sessions. The “routine” starts out with long tones. It is Dr. Gilroy’s strong belief that good tone comes from a daily diet of long tones, each played as long as possible in one breath, and with a hearty crescendo and decrescendo. The conductor should stress that the students play these even before the band begins to play as an ensemble so that they can each develop and grow at their own rate. But this part of the warm-up should also be played with the entire ensemble under the watchful eye and baton of the conductor. Otherwise, some students may never get the experience they need playing their long tones with a good level of discipline. From measure eight until measure 22, the students are working in unison and octaves on open 5th l ip slur intervals while the percussion provides some stable rhythm in the background. It should be noted that the percussionists use the exact stickings indicated above the notes. Percussionists should also rotate through all areas of the section to grow as serious percussionists and not just drummers. Measures 23-43 offer the woodwind (and mallet percussion) players some chromatic fingering warm-ups while the brass continue their workout with slightly more strenuous lip slurs. The percussionists move through a series of stick control and accent patterns that will surely develop their skills. Again, the band director must continually check the students’ stickings to be sure that good technique is being practices. Measures 44-68 is meant to warm-up and develop good articulation skills while practicing simple scalar patterns in Bb Major. Percussionists are challenged with flams and paradiddles in this same section. Measure 69 to the end offers some very basic chords for harmonic tuning and blending purposes. This section brings together all the skills presented in earlier sections as well. It is suggested that at some point or another, the band director take each main section of this warm-up series and drill it extensively to produce a high degree of excellence, thus setting new standards for each particular skill covered. It is further suggested that the director have the students sing (loudly usually provides better pitch center overall) the last section so they can begin to develop their ears as musicians. This warm-up routine can set the tone for daily rehearsals. Students will move into a serious state of rehearsal in just a matter of minutes if they come to understand that the warm-up routine is the first part of every rehearsal. It should never become something to simply run through, however, and the director should insist that all performance of this simple warm-up is done with a high degree of excellence, thus ensuring the development and maintenance of excellent techniques in the band.

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About the Composer Gary P. Gilroy is a Professor of Music and Director of Bands at California State University, Fresno. In 1993 he was appointed Associate Director of Bands and Director of the Bulldog Marching Band. After 13 years in this position and having built one of the finest collegiate marching bands on the west coast, Dr. Gilroy became Director of Bands. Prior to this appointment he served for a decade as Director of Bands at Fred C. Beyer High School in Modesto, California where his band was awarded several national honors as well as the International Sudler Shield Award from the John Philip Sousa Foundation. Dr. Gilroy is active as a guest conductor and clinician throughout the United States. Most notably, he has served as guest conductor for the Oregon All-State JHS Honor Band and the California All-State High School Symphonic Band. His numerous compositions and arrangements for concert band, percussion ensemble and marching band, are published through the Arrangers Publishing Company, BRS Music, Inc., Daehn Publications, Kagarice Brass Editions, Matrix Publications, TRN Music Publishers, Warner Brothers, Wingert-Jones Publications, and CPP/Belwin Mills. He has been an ASCAP Composers Award recipient every year since 2001. Dr. Gilroy is a Past President of the California Band Directors Association and has served twelve years on that board. He is also a Past President of the Fresno Madera Counties Music Educators Association and currently serves as the Western States Chair for the National Band Association.

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