The Growth From One Small Band                  
                  To A Full Program In 32 Years

An Interview With Wayne Markworth

By Linda A. Hartley

Since 1970 Wayne Markworth has directed the bands at Centerville High School (Ohio), which has three concert bands, a marching band, three jazz ensembles, pep band, and small ensembles, most of which are extracurricular, yet 10% of the school enrollment, 256 students, participate in the band program. "I have survived as a director because I try to learn from every experience and am not afraid to change."

For over 30 years Markworth has also led the marching band, which is called the Centerville Jazz because it plays only jazz-style music. This came about in the 1980s, when at the football games and competitions most high schools played a classical number, a jazz piece, and, a popular tune. "Our band always got the best results with the jazz number, so I decided to establish a trademark for us by playing jazz. Many people disagree with the broad definition of jazz we follow, but the band plays everything from Count Basie and Maynard Ferguson to the jazz-rock of Tower of Power and the funk of Earth, Wind, and Fire."

What characteristics do you try to incorporate into the band program so no one group receives more attention than the others?

The concert bands are the foundation of the band program and this is where the real training and musical development take place. The jazz ensembles and smaller groups spring out of the concert band program. The marching band gets the most publicity in the community because it has received national recognition, but in all of the bands, and especially with the freshmen concert band, the music comes first, and everything else is planned around this.

Many people in the community and at other area schools probably think of Centerville as a marching band school, and some are surprised to learn that the band doesn't march all year long. Because the marching band is extracurricular, the concert bands begin to rehearse in the first week of school, and they give a fall band concert in the last week of October along with the marching band.

What are some of the criteria or standards you use when selecting music that you think will be suitable for each ensemble?

With the symphonic band, our top group, I rotate the standard band repertoire over a period of four years. This way every student gets to play the Holst suites, and no student ever plays the same piece twice. The three middle school directors in the district are assistant directors at the high school and each selects the music he directs. The marching band staff and I listen to recordings, and in two to four meetings we choose pieces that students still want to play after six months of practice.

What combination of pieces makes for a concert that people in the audience will want to hear?

I believe that audiences enjoy music that students appreciate playing, so primarily I look for pieces that are educational and enjoyable for students. I want variety in each concert, so after a difficult contemporary piece I might also include a Sousa march and a lyrical work. The top concert band may play an occasional light piece but not many popular songs or Broadway show tunes. The fall program included Dedicatory Overture, English Folk Song Suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Molly on the Shore by Percy Grainger, and "Four Dances" from West Side Story. I'm rather conservative and will program something a little lighter after an esoteric piece. One program included La Fiesta Mexicana and Incantation and Dance, both of which are standards. Last year we played Johan de Meijs
Lord of the Rings and a European march with Whatsoever Things, based on the Northwestern alma mater, which was adapted from a Brahms work.

How do you keep the marching program educational and of musical value?

Because we compete regionally and nationally, our show always consists of solid, difficult music that a mix of 9th through 12th graders can play, but we push the freshmen pretty hard. This past year we played a symphonic jazz piece called Divertimento for Band, which is on the Ohio district contest list for concert bands and is a loose history of jazz in three movements. We programmed this together with Progressive Jazz by Frank Bencriscutto after looking through reams of music. Finally, we put together a program that was challenging for students and enjoyable for audiences.

How many concert band students do not play in the marching band as well?

Almost everyone in the top band plays in the marching band, but only two-thirds of the other two concert bands do. Some students choose not to be in marching band, but in the long run this is beneficial because the ones who stick with it want to be there.

How do the jazz bands fit into the music program?

My high school band director, Bob Kuite, believed that the quickest way to build a band program and to generate community support was by starting a jazz ensemble that gave a number of concerts. This was some of the best advice I received as a beginning teacher. I also found that a jazz group develops much faster than a concert or marching band.

Because the marching band takes up so much time and is highly competitive, I keep the jazz ensembles more relaxed. The groups practice two times a week after school, roughly from 3:15-5:00 p.m. We perform at a couple of festivals and take the bands on a two-day trip every other year. The top jazz ensemble plays at a grade-four level with a mix of grade five and grade three music. The second ensemble plays mostly grade three music; and the third ensemble, which is mostly freshmen, plays at a grade-two level.

Everyone in a jazz ensemble is required to play in a concert band, and that makes a difference. With 53 minutes of concert band rehearsals every day they work rigorously on fundamentals, which carry over to the jazz bands.

What methods do you use to teach music fundamentals?

We have a standard warm-up for all ensembles that begins with long tones, scales, rhythmic exercises, chorales, and dynamic exercises. Too many band directors skip the warm-up because they don't think they have time for it, but I think that no one has enough time to skip it. I'm fanatical about warming up.

Are students' grades based in part on their basic skills?

Students are evaluated individually at the end of each quarter, and I try to focus on how much each improves. Freshmen arrive with a wide range of abilities, but we give them regular assignments that they are expected to keep up with. Each student works through one book from the Music Theory and History series by Kjos per year leading up to a senior-year theory project.

Because the jazz and marching bands are extracurricular programs, I can remove a student who has discipline problems from an ensemble. In the jazz ensembles, which often have only one instrument to a part, every student needs to be there. If someone has an attendance problem, he is replaced, and I make that clear from the start. We're a competitive band, but we don't have a cut-throat attitude, and that's a point I emphasize with students. What is most important is that students play their best not only at every performance but at every rehearsal; it is not a matter of winning first place.

What methods do you use to spark interest in private lessons?

Although I strongly encourage students to take private lessons, not as many students take them, as I would desire. In the top band probably half of the students take lessons, and about three-fourths of them have taken lessons at some point. Four or-five private teachers give lessons in our practice rooms during and after school, and we let students out of band once a week for a lesson. The band boosters also award scholarships for private lessons.

Some students do not take private lessons but practice like crazy and do well. Still, getting students to study privately is the age-old problem of band programs, and there is no easy solution. Next year students in the top band will be able to get honors credit for the course and earn an extra point on their grade point averages, and they will be required to take private lessons, teach younger students, and participate in a festival band.

In your 32 years of teaching how has the music department changed?

The band facility has been renovated three times while I have taught at Centerville High School. The first band hall was inadequate, even though there were only 48 students in the band when I started here. The program grew slowly, and it took nearly four years to create a second concert band and another eight years for the third, but the concert bands have always been the center of the program.

When I first started teaching at Centerville High School, three or four parents did all the work, but the program has grown tremendously since then. In talking with the band boosters I focus first on their financial support, which is essential, but their organizational and logistical help are important. The boosters haul all of the equipment with a semi trailer, handle the uniforms, and take care of many other jobs. I think parental involvement is one of the reasons the band does so well.

My student-teaching adviser warned me to draw a line in the sand between the boosters and the directors. The boosters should only settle finances and organize equipment and logistics; the director and staff are in charge of performance decisions. We reached an agreement that I won't cross the line and tell them how to run a fundraising program or balance the budget, and they won't complain about the music or the soloists I choose. Anything that has to do with the musical performances is none of their business. I'm not mean about this, but I am frank. This arrangement has made for a comfortable relationship because many parents are accountants and lawyers, and they know how to deal with financial issues.

I'm more efficient, talk less, and have gotten better at adding variety to rehearsals instead of pounding one piece to death. The biggest mistake I made as a new teacher was to program music that was too difficult. Young teachers often become frustrated that students cannot play a particular piece. As young teachers team from experience or if they ask the advice of a veteran, they team to choose pieces students have a good chance to play well. I probably still program music that is too difficult, but I would rather create excitement and challenge students than program music that is too easy. This can be a hard call to make for a concert that is six weeks off, but I find that students learn a great deal more and improve when they team to hear and correct mistakes.

What have you learned about managing students over the years?

I used to have pages and pages of rules, but I have narrowed these down to three: show respect, be on time, and be prepared. I'm not a yeller or a screamer, but I do promote self-discipline. Because I'm a patient person, I hardly ever talk while the students are talking. Instead I wait for them to be quiet. A common problem among young directors is that they hurry to fix a problem, which many students cannot hear because others are talking. Now when I finish a phrase and give a cutoff, I hold my position for two or three seconds of silence before moving on to the next problem or selection.

In the past I have given demerits, made students run laps, sat them out, and assigned pushups, but I no longer have any standard punishments. Most of the time I will look hard at a student or talk to them after class. Usually students misbehave just to get attention.

The student squad leaders and four or five section leaders meet every two weeks. I talk with students about discipline, performance, or nerves before a concert. All directors try to step away from the music at times, but many of them simply throw out a comment before or after a rehearsal. I find it helpful to take 30-45 minutes each week or two to focus on these issues. Students often tell me in their year-end evaluations that these sessions are an important part of the band program.