The Overloaded Clarinet Section
Your middle school band has 52 students: 16 clarinets, 4 flutes, 2 alto saxophones, 1 tenor saxophone, 3 trumpets, 1 horn, 2 trombones, 1 euphonium, 2 tubas, and 4 percussionists. You rehearse 45 minutes three times a week; the winter concert is in five weeks and includes six pieces. One piece has a prominent oboe solo, a horn countermelody, and a flute descant; another is a march that depends on a strong low-brass ostinato. The clarinet section is strong but top-heavy, and the single horn player is a beginner who can play only whole and half notes reliably. The principal asks that every student have a meaningful part and that the program not be watered down. You have one 30-minute sectional per section available before the concert.
1. How will you redistribute the oboe solo, horn countermelody, and flute descant while preserving balance and giving all 52 students meaningful parts? Explain your transposition and timbre reasoning.
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Start with function, not instrumentation. The oboe solo is a reedy, penetrating line; assign it to one strong clarinetist, transposing up a whole step from concert pitch, or to an alto saxophone, transposing up a major sixth, if the sax timbre is closer. Do not give it to all 16 clarinets. Keep the flute descant on two or three flutes and add one clarinet only if the descant sits in a comfortable clarinet register; otherwise the clarinet chalumeau will obscure it. For the horn countermelody, write a simplified horn part using whole and half notes on chord roots for the beginner, and cover the moving line with tenor saxophone or euphonium, transposing from horn in F to the appropriate key. This preserves the beginner participation without exposing unplayable rhythms. Reassign the remaining clarinets to inner harmony and add dynamic markings so the clarinet section does not cover the soloists. In the march, keep the low-brass ostinato on tuba, euphonium, and trombone; do not double it with clarinets. Check balance in the room, not just on paper.
2. Design the five-week rehearsal sequence, including the 30-minute sectionals, to bring the march and the solo piece to performance level. Identify what you will rehearse full ensemble versus in sectionals.
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Use the five weeks as a diagnostic-to-performance sequence. Week 1: read all six pieces slowly, record the full ensemble, and identify three priority measures per piece. Use the first sectional for clarinets on solo transposition and inner-voice balance, and for horn on the simplified part. Week 2: sectionals for low brass on the march ostinato and for flutes on descant tuning; full rehearsal on transitions and tempo. Week 3: full run of the solo piece with the reassigned soloists; rehearse balance at marked dynamics and record. Week 4: run the march and solo piece in concert order; use the recording for student listening and fix only two spots. Week 5: dress rehearsal, no new notes; run the program, then spend remaining time on entrances and endings. The principal concern about watering down is addressed by keeping the original lines; the only simplification is the beginner horn part, which is an accommodation, not a curriculum reduction.
3. What evidence will you collect to show the principal that the program is not watered down and that students have meaningful parts?
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Collect three evidence types. First, a pre/post recording of the same two excerpts, scored with a balance-and-blend rubric. Second, short part checks in sectionals, where each student plays two measures of their assigned part; this documents that every student has a real line. Third, student self-assessment naming their role and one balance adjustment they made. Share the recordings with the principal and explain which lines were reassigned and why. This shows meaningful participation for all 52 students while preserving the composers essential lines. Avoid using only the final concert as evidence; it is a single, high-anxiety event and does not show growth or the reasoning behind the reassignments.