Diagnosing Intonation, Balance, and Tempo Drift in a Slow Chorale
You conduct a 62-member high school wind ensemble preparing a slow chorale for a festival three rehearsals away. The chorale is mostly half notes at quarter note = 72. Three problems keep recurring. At the final cadence the ensemble sustains a B-flat major triad, and the tuner shows the D a dozen cents sharp; the chord audibly beats. At measure 34 the horn has the melody marked mezzo-forte while fourteen clarinets sustain a countermelody also marked mezzo-forte, and the horn is inaudible. During the crescendo from measure 40 to 48 the tempo creeps from 72 to roughly 80, then snaps back when the passage ends. Your assistant suggests simply telling the ensemble to play softer and slower.
1. Give a specific rehearsal procedure for the cadence chord, and explain why the tuner reading is not the goal.
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A tuner measures each player against equal temperament; a chord is tuned against itself. In just intonation the third of a major triad sits roughly fourteen cents below its equal-tempered position and the fifth sits about two cents above, so a correctly resonant B-flat major chord can read 'sharp' on the D and still be in tune.
Procedure: have the roots and the fifth sustain a chord tone first, tune the root to a drone until the beats vanish, then fit the fifth against it. Only then add the third, and have that player bend downward slowly until the beat rate between the third and the fifth stops - that beat, not the display, is the target. Confirm the chord sounds locked, then check the tuner and name what it reads so the players learn the difference. Two additional moves: thin the doubling on the third, since a loud doubled third pulls the whole chord sharp, and have the players sustain the chord for a full breath so they can hear the beats rather than guess.
2. How do you solve the horn-versus-clarinets balance, and why is telling them to play softer probably the wrong first move?
Read the worked answer
The problem is probably not that the clarinets are too loud; it is that fourteen of them occupy the same octave and timbre band as one horn. Reducing their dynamic only makes a muddy texture quieter.
First try a scoring and placement fix: put the clarinets on the lower octave where the part allows, or reduce them to six players on that passage and mark the rest tacet. Move the horn physically - upstage center, or standing for the passage - so its sound reaches you and the audience without being filtered through the section. Ask the clarinets to play a more transparent articulation (lighter tongue, less accent) rather than less sound, since clarity comes from attack and spacing more than from volume.
A dynamic change is the last step, not the first, and it should be a marked one: a clear subito change in the parts so the ensemble can see the intent, not a vague spoken instruction. Rehearse the passage with the horn alone, then add the clarinets and stop the moment the horn disappears - this trains the ensemble to listen for the melody rather than to their own part.
3. What causes the tempo creep, and what do you change in the conducting and in the rehearsal plan?
Read the worked answer
The crescendo is the cause. Rising dynamic tension usually produces rising physical tension, shorter note values in the players' minds, and a more energetic conducting pattern - and the ensemble follows the gesture, not the printed number.
Conducting fixes: lower the pattern, enlarge the rebound less, and keep the ictus at the bottom of the beat so the crescendo is expressed through arm weight rather than through more motion. Mark 72 in your own score at measures 40 and 48 as checkpoints and conduct a subdivision you can hear in your head.
Rehearsal fixes: have the ensemble sustain the crescendo on a single repeated pitch at a fixed metronome marking, then add the actual passage without the dynamic change, then add the dynamic last. Have them count eighth-note subdivisions aloud through the crescendo so the pulse is verbalized rather than felt. Record one run and play it back with the metronome audible; hearing the drift is more persuasive than being told about it, especially with three rehearsals left.