Marching Band Sectional Rehearsal

A marching band sectional rehearsal can be fun and still be productive. A section leader can play several games with his group to help improve issues specific to a saxophone player 's technique. Any activity that is part of a saxophone sectional should be specific to the instrument and help improve the player 's individual skill. Playing games unrelated to music should be avoided as they waste the band 's time.

Scale Contests

Have someone act as the time keeper. Each player in the sectional has to play all of their major scales as quickly as possible without mistakes. The goal should be to play all 12 major scales in under 60 seconds by the end of the year. Sixty seconds might not be possible for a brass player, but it is definitely

Ask them to hold the Eb without taking a breath. When a player has to breathe they must sit down and wait for the contest to end. The last person standing will win the contest. As preparation for the contest, talk about proper breathing from the diaphragm and explain how proper breath control will enable players to get a more consistent and higher quality sound. This exercise will help players increase their lung capacity and it is always fun to see who is the last one standing. Sometimes, the smallest player can have the biggest lungs!

Memorization Contest

Make a copy of each saxophone player 's music. With a highlighter block out a section of the music and then make a copy of that piece. Then, make another copy with even more of the music blocked out. Do this with two more copies until you have a total of 4 progressively fragmented pieces. The goal of this game is to help performers try and memorize their music. The final piece should have about 75 percent of the music blocked out. See how many players can play the entire piece from memory. If you find one of the copies is too difficult, then take a step back and let the players play from a more complete version.

Accuracy