TromboneChat

Not that I want to tackle such a thing, but if I wanted to cobble together a good wind symphony from scratch to assure a high-level of playing over the years, how would I go about it?

What I would want to avoid at all costs is the kind of creeping mediocrity caused by players growing roots in their chairs: if you're not the best player, you would not play lead trombone in such a group, and I would not have 10 trombones when 4 would do...

Check out the Heisey Wind Ensemble - https://heiseywindensemble.org/

We have done this exact thing. 41 years now. Audition only. Hardest thing is money and percussionists.

Make every decision the best decision you can make.

Doug

Once you audition, are you done auditioning?

Clarification, please: “…and I would have 10 trombones where 4 would do…”:

Do you mean that you believe having surplus trombones is a good thing? If so, why? How would you handle 10 trombones covering a piece that has 4 parts?

Or did you intend to write “…and I would NOT have 10 trombones where 4 would do…”?

I ask because I play in a wind ensemble with more than double the necessary number of trombones to cover parts. Sometimes it’s thrilling; sometimes we get in our own way.

Just looking for some ideas on best practices

Thanks!

Not have... complete overkill after 1 to a part, trombones have no problem projecting.

Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.

I'd assume funding for renting or purchasing music, practice space, and performing space would be first concerns. Can you borrow percussion equipment? Borrow stands and chairs? If not, where to store that equipment? How are you handling moving equipment for practice and performances?

As much as I prefer closer to one to a part with wind bands as the blend usually stays clearer and less heavy, you'd have to consider having subs on call to cover parts if someone quits, gets sick, or has an emergency.

One idea would be to line up the best possible lead players and give them free rein to run and rehearse their sections as they see fit, so you have maybe 10 or so people attending to things...

Maybe if you got funding, each of them could be paid, and be largely responsible for getting players and subs?

For better or for worse, these ensembles generally seem to lack any kind of mechanism for assuring sustainably high levels of performance: Once you're in, there's no accountability to speak of.

Many have talked about collecting players but no one has talked about a reason to collect them... is there an audience eagerness for a wind ensemble where you are?

In the 90s I was part of a new wind ensemble here in Dallas. Strong players were recruited for all the parts, fine music was rehearsed and well-played and there was much excitement about the possibilities.

But after about two years it was becoming clear that audience interest for this sort of thing was too small to justify all the work that went into preparing it. By three years it was over as too many essential players found other things to do with their time.

I hear you, more at the "what if" stage at this point, Hell, I had a top-notch big band in Chicago with ringers in every chair, and we still couldn't play out more than 1x per month!

Really, players-growing-roots is one of the last problems you will have.

I don't mean least-important, I mean chronology-wise. Encountering that problem means that somehow you have overcome all the other problems that kill off an ensemble long before anyone has been around enough to outlive their expertise.

If you're John Philip Sousa and you sign all the checks, you can tell Joe when it's over.

Not many wind ensembles are today run on that financial model, however.

If you're wanting to get rid of Herb, who's been there since the beginning and who is a big reason for the ensemble's initial success and whose grand kids are a third of your audience every time you go out... that is a trickier calculation.

You could go full-on Lord of the Flies and poll the musicians at the end of every year as to who they want retained. Give each person 10 ballots that they can write one name on. The five people appearing on the least ballots each has to face an individual vote on whether they should be retained.

Just don't say I didn't warn you when they vote you out of your own ensemble.

JTeagarden wrote: Thu Oct 16, 2025 8:36 am Once you audition, are you done auditioning?

Yes. You are a member until you retire, leave town, or if needed we have a process to remove someone from the ensemble. But typically if someone is serious enough to audition, they know when it is "time."

The removal process is in the groups By-Laws, which are on the website.

Doug