Learning Outcome 2

Musical Ensembles

Forming an ensemble can be a tricky task - finding the right combination of people who will click and in turn write and play well together. There are many different types of ensemble.

One type is a string quartet. String quartets are formed of a first violin, a second violin, a viola and a cello. They mainly play classical music written specifically for that setup. Choosing musicians for a string quartet comes mainly down to playing ability, as character and personality will not affect a string quartet performance.

A rock band can have varying amounts of people or instruments and is more open to interpretation and experimentation. It is important to find people who are not only good at the instrument, but have good personalities and stage presence. Typical instruments of a rock back are electric guitars, electric bass, drum kit and singer. However, often rock bands have other instruments such as keyboards, string sections, brass sections and so on.

Jazz bands again can vary depending on the genre of jazz, be it gypsy jazz or big band jazz. Jazz instruments are often piano, drum kit, saxophone, trumpet, double bass, electric bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, violin. It is quite open to interpretation. Jazz players should be very good at communication with one another as a lot of jazz is improvised and based around listening to the players around you.

When choosing repetoire as a band - whatever type of band you are, it is important to ensure the repetoire is  varied so that you do not do too much of one thing while neglecting another. For example, it would be good to order your pieces so that you have a heavier song, followed by an acoustic song, followed by another energetic song and so on. This breaks it up and varies the performance. As a string quartet, it would be unwise to only pick Mozarts most well known repetoire. It would be a good idea to play a mixture of composers, and not only well known ones. Listen to CDs, search the web and see if you can find interesting material that might not be so well known, but would fit your performance perfectly.

It is a good idea to get sheet music if you want to perform a part accurately. As an ensemble you should make sure you are organised and get stuff like music sorted out.

The front person of a band should be good at converging and talking to audiences. If the front person has a great persona and is very positive, energetic and generally likeable/funny, then people will enjoy your performances much, much more.

If no member of your group is a natural leader, it might be an idea to get a band manager, as they can really help keep a band in order. Other people you might want to consider getting help from are administrators, publicists or choreographers - if your group type requires it.