Dear Colleagues,

In Tip 12: Empower Your Section Leaders 1, we discussed the benefits of creating a section leadership system, as well as the challenges that may arise for both you and your students.

In this Tip, we'll take a look at section leaders' specific responsibilities. I've written this Tip as if it were a memo from you to your section leaders. If you like, please feel free to paste this list into your own memo to your section leaders. And if you have any others, do let me know so that I can add them to this Tip for the benefit of your colleagues. Thanks!

BEFORE THE REHEARSAL

1. Know your part thoroughly! When you do, you'll be able to concentrate on the conductor and your section's playing, not the notes.
   
   
2. Make sure all members in your section have their pencils and parts. For string players, ask if there are any questions about bowing or fingering.
   
   
3. A good way to get your section focusing on the music right away is to review comments the conductor made at the last rehearsal, and ask if everyone has marked them in their music.

4. Another way to pull your section together for the rehearsal is to play or sing together a passage that was problematic in the previous rehearsal. Make sure to lead the play-through slowly enough so that it can be played or sung easily (a quick review of Tip 1: No More Mistakes! - would be good in this regard.)

1. When you hear that your section hasn't played or sung something correctly, wait until the conductor stops to make a comment to another section, and then bring your section's attention to it.
   
   
2. If you need to speak to your section but the conductor is about to begin, just ask him or her if s/he could wait a moment so you can make your point. Don't be afraid to ask for this - most conductors will be grateful for your desire to get it right.
   
   
3. If you feel that your section needs help with a certain passage, ask the conductor if s/he could rehearse that passage by itself or, if that passage involves other sections, with those sections.
   
   
4. If the conductor indicates something that's not printed in the music (e.g., a faster or slower tempo, or a different quality of expression) ask your section: "Did you see that s/he wants to go a bit faster/slower from measure 9 to 16? Let's mark it." "S/He indicated that we need to play/sing louder six bars after G; let's change the mf to f."
   
   
5. For strings: watch the other section leaders to make sure that bowings match when they should. Make sure that your section members ask questions about bowing to you, not to the conductor.