I play in several adult community bands, most play challenging music with very skilled players (ie music majors and current/former band directors) and one is a group of adults who are more into pep tunes and playing at fun local events (ie former high school and college players having fun playing in the adult years), than tackling classical pieces. both types of bands are great for my playing soul and fill needs I have for different types of music and performance experiences.
I am noticing that the pep band director is focusing intonation attention on the clarinet section, ie spending excessive time addressing very minor clarinet tone issues (there are 3-4 of us) and ignoring obvious tuning issues in other sections. It has gotten to the point of ridiculous. It almost dims the spirit of having fun playing in this kind of a band setting.
The flip side of this is that when I play in other bands, who have much more skilled players and play much more challenging pieces, there is not a peep from the director about clarinet intonation, in fact one director tunes to the first chair and will tell brass sections that if they can't hear the clarinets, to play softer so that is possible. This dichotomy of literally being called on the carpet and being nearly ridiculed for intonation issues at practice on one night, and then having high praise for being so in tune the next evening at practice is really a bummer to deal with.
The pep band clarinets have used tuners in warm up and work together on that, but still get this ridiculous attention about being out of tune. The tuners were recommended to the whole band about a year ago, and when we use them, the director tells us not to tune to the tuners, tune to the band, which we understand. Might also be interesting to note that this band director enjoys telling us that he wears ear plugs to "protect his hearing" during practice. "Yes, we have a recipe for disaster.
Any thoughts on politely dealing with a community band director, who has a preference for brass instruments, and how to let them know we sound fine? Other players in other sections are even commenting about the extreme tuning exercises we go through as a clarinet section.
I am noticing that the pep band director is focusing intonation attention on the clarinet section, ie spending excessive time addressing very minor clarinet tone issues (there are 3-4 of us) and ignoring obvious tuning issues in other sections. It has gotten to the point of ridiculous. It almost dims the spirit of having fun playing in this kind of a band setting.
The flip side of this is that when I play in other bands, who have much more skilled players and play much more challenging pieces, there is not a peep from the director about clarinet intonation, in fact one director tunes to the first chair and will tell brass sections that if they can't hear the clarinets, to play softer so that is possible. This dichotomy of literally being called on the carpet and being nearly ridiculed for intonation issues at practice on one night, and then having high praise for being so in tune the next evening at practice is really a bummer to deal with.
The pep band clarinets have used tuners in warm up and work together on that, but still get this ridiculous attention about being out of tune. The tuners were recommended to the whole band about a year ago, and when we use them, the director tells us not to tune to the tuners, tune to the band, which we understand. Might also be interesting to note that this band director enjoys telling us that he wears ear plugs to "protect his hearing" during practice. "Yes, we have a recipe for disaster.
Any thoughts on politely dealing with a community band director, who has a preference for brass instruments, and how to let them know we sound fine? Other players in other sections are even commenting about the extreme tuning exercises we go through as a clarinet section.