Reply To: Very small numbers in a group

[nafmeadmin]

This is a wonderful chance to get into alternative ensembles! A trumpet, sax, and percussionists. That sounds to me like a slightly modified jazz band or even a way to incorporate ska. Doing literature for small ensembles can really be beneficial in the sense that they’ll get attention that enormous ensembles miss out on. They may be in a class called concert band, but that doesn’t confine you to only working on concert repertoire. As long as they’re learning music and being challenged, the class is a success! This would be a good chance to get your percussionists (who should have familiarity with mallet percussion) into other keyboard instruments like piano. They could learn how to do simple block chord progressions and the wind players can improvise off of that! They’ll go into high school jazz band ahead of the game and giving the sophomores a run for their money!