Leading the band: Running a pop ensemble

Last academic year, faced with a dwindling orchestra and a wealth of drummers and guitarists, our department decided to divide up some of our extracurricular provision into smaller, more focused ensembles. My colleague, a string specialist, formed a string orchestra (which is going from strength to strength) and I set up a small ‘soul band’. The majority of the music I play outside of school is either jazz or wedding band material, so I decided to draw on this for the new ensemble. The past few terms have been very successful and, while I don't think the experience would work for everyone, I feel I have learnt some lessons I can share.

Instrumentation

I was keen that, from the outset, the new band would be geared towards the guitarists, drummers and singers in our GCSE cohort who had not been served by the more classically-oriented ensembles we'd had in the past, and that the group would be seen as something different from the standard school band. As such I made the band GCSE and A level only to give the older students a sense of ownership.

Initially our line-up drew heavily on the Year 9 and 10 GCSE classes (our school offers a three-year Key Stage 4) with many students interested. I then approached several instrumentalists from outside the GCSE classes to fill some gaps, giving me the following:

• 3 × vocals
• 2 × guitar
• Alto sax
• Trumpet
• Piano
• Bass guitar
• Drums

Selecting the band rather than asking for volunteers definitely helped students buy into the group and we soon had a committed ensemble. This line-up stayed relatively constant through the following academic year, and we had a number of successful concerts (of which more later).

At the beginning of 2019–20, some of the now Year 11 pupils decided to scale back on their extra-curricular commitments, and we also had a number of new recruits.

The band changed slightly, growing to:

• 3 x vocals
• 4 x guitar
• Alto sax
• 2 × flute
• 2 × trumpet
• Tenor horn
• Piano
• Bass guitar
• Drums
• Percussion

Some fell away but, once again, we have a solid line-up and are looking forward to another year of concerts.

Repertoire

Having looked at some off-the-shelf arrangements and finding none that met our needs, I decided that producing my own would be the easiest option. For the first incarnation of the band, I kept to a roughly 60–70s soul theme with the following:

• ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)’ – Marvin Gaye
• ‘I Got You (I Feel Good)’ – James Brown
• ‘Stand by Me’ – Ben E King
• ‘One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks)’ – Blondie/The Undertones/One Direction
• ‘Feel It Still’ – Portugal. The Man

Writing my own arrangements meant I could tailor the arrangements to individuals in the band. While pupils really appreciated the more contemporary numbers we performed, I was surprised by the relish with which they tackled older material. I had taken for granted the breadth of knowledge they had of various pop music styles (this year's most popular tune has been ‘Africa’ by Toto!), perhaps a result of how young people consume music compared to when I was their age. I've also been made painfully aware that an adult's gauge of what is ‘current’ is probably at least six months behind!

While I maintained a final say over choice of repertoire, I was careful to involve the band in this. However, in future I will bear in mind that a guitarist performing a song the singer likes will probably sound better than the opposite. Singers need to feel comfortable, much more so than instrumentalists, so their vote carries a lot of weight.

Arranging

Our repertoire selections also hinged on pieces I knew I could turn around relatively quickly. I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to jazz ‘real’ books and the like, so these were my first port of call. When I had specific songs for which I was unable to find a lead sheet, I could usually find chord charts online (ultimate-guitar.com is an evergreen favourite) to give me a rough starting point.

For tunes where I was able to find a decent quality MIDI file (searching online for ‘[name of song] MIDI’ will usually bring up a few options), importing the file directly into Sibelius gave me a firm starting point. This can be a bit messy, so it's often worth working between two files, copying and pasting elements from the imported MIDI file into the ‘clean’ file.

In order to accommodate multiple guitarists, I've had to develop roles outside of what's conventional. In the first year, the primarily soul-based repertoire allowed for one guitarist playing a rhythmic strumming pattern (mostly with open chords) and another playing staccato rhythms (mostly emphasising the backbeat) with higher voicings. The band's original guitarists settled into their roles relatively quickly and became the bedrock of a solid rhythm section.

This year, with the addition of more guitarists, we've added an acoustic guitar playing a similar pattern to the open chord line for contrasting timbre, plus other guitarists playing lead lines as part of the horn section. Initially they struggled with this new role but found it much easier once I sat them among the horns.

When writing for school-level guitarists it is always worth checking which form of notation they prefer (tab or staff). For chordal parts I tend to produce lead sheets, giving the structure, rhythms and chord diagrams. For the lead lines I mostly use tab, often with staff notation alongside it as a covert learning opportunity!

Drum parts can be a significant stumbling block. As a drummer I am aware of the pitfalls of drumkit arranging and would strongly recommend that you put as little on the part as you feel you can get away with. Drummers usually need some indication of the groove for each section of the song but, other than that, most pop drum charts are effectively there to show the structure and any significant dynamic changes. Avoid notating drum fills (unless there is a recognisable fill that needs to be there, eg the crotchet triplets running into the chorus of ‘Africa’). Simply indicating where the fills need to be is enough. If in doubt, look at the notation used in drum lessons, but bear in mind that graded pieces often have more information notated on them than on professional charts. Aim significantly simpler!

Arranging for multiple singers can be tricky. I have been particularly fortunate in having a group of singers who are very proficient at developing their own harmonies; however, I've always tried to steer them towards songs with clear backing vocal parts (again, ‘Africa’). I've not felt the need to notate the vocal lines, though it has been beneficial to have additional ‘vocals only’ rehearsals.

Performances

Once I had the ensemble running well, I tried to find performance opportunities outside school. Our local music education hub put on some fantastic events across the year that I was able to involve the band in, allowing them to perform at local music venues and small festivals. We also have a long-running tradition of ‘open mic nights’, specifically geared towards allowing guitarists, singers and drummers to perform to a small audience of family and friends.