How to choose a concert piece your wind band can really play

Picking music for a concert is one of the jobs I enjoy most and worry about most. Get it right and the band grows into the piece over a term. Get it wrong and you spend eight rehearsals patching holes, and the audience can hear it. Here is how I go about it with my own band.

Start with the players you have

Before you open a catalogue, write down who actually turns up. How many clarinets? Is there one horn, or none? Do you have a tuba every week or only at concerts? A piece that leans on a solo horn line is a gamble if your horn player misses rehearsals.

Then think about the weakest section, not the strongest. Your trumpets may be able to play anything, but if the second clarinets are three players in their first year, the piece has to work for them too.

Read the grade, then look past it

Most publishers give a grade or a level. It is a useful start, but two pieces at the same grade can feel very different. Look for:

• Range. How high do the first trumpet and first clarinet go, and for how long?
• Keys. A page of sharps will slow down a band that lives in flat keys.
• Exposed lines. A solo for a section of one is hard to cover if that player is away.
• Stamina. A loud march with no rests is tiring for brass players, whatever its grade.

Look at the score before you buy the parts

If you can see the score first, do. Ten minutes with it tells you more than any description. Check where the tune sits, who has the moving lines, and whether the bass end carries the harmony or doubles everything else. That is why the pieces in my shop can be bought as the score on its own as well as the full set.

Plan the programme as a whole

A concert is an evening, not a list. Open with something the band can play with confidence while the nerves settle; a march does that job well. Put the hardest piece in the middle, when the band is warmed up and still fresh. Finish with something people want to clap along to.

Mix the speeds and the keys too. Three slow pieces in a row will lose an audience, however well they are played.

Count your rehearsals

Count the rehearsals you have before the concert and be honest about how many will be full. As a rule of thumb, a new piece that stretches the band needs at least half of them. If you are short of time, choose one stretching piece and fill the rest with music the band reads well.

If you are not sure whether something of mine will suit your band, ask me. Tell me the line-up and the level and I will give you an honest answer.