The basic structure of a school band was set during the school band movement in 1920’s. You can refer to my posting “History of the School Band” posted on Nov. 15
I visited Mr. Everette McConn, the director of Fort Clarke Middle School Band, Gainesville, FL, who taught two of my kids. He kindly explained to me the ideal instrumentation with the pyramidal sound diagram in his white board. According to Mr. McConn, there are no set rules for the instrumentation. If you want a balanced sound band, you want the certain numbers of the instruments in each sound tier. The pyramidal sound diagram and the instruments of each sound tier are as follow. The ideal numbers of the instruments are parenthesized.
Directors want considerably more clarinets than any other instrument in their bands. Clarinet music is divides into three parts for the first, the second and the third clarinet. Clarinets can cross over between the soprano sound and the alto sound depending on the music. Bassoons cross over between the tenor sound and the baritone sound. A total of fourteen different instruments forms a school band. With one teacher, seventy students and their instruments will make beautiful harmony this year, too. Check your local middle and high school bands’ schedules for the Christmas concerts!
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