Up until a month ago, if you were to walk into the music room before school, you would see one of the bands or the string ensemble facing the white board as if it were a future audience. For the past month, we have been rehearsing “in the round.” During band this rehearsal method has the wind players face the percussion players, which significantly improves everyone's ability to see and hear what the other section is playing. This arrangement of band members puts emphasis on the fact that they are a team, and they are working together to synchronize pitch, rhythm, and tempo. When we are in this formation, the musicians are less reliant on the conductor to maintain the pulse of the music, which frees him up to do more individual spot-assistance throughout rehearsal. Once we have marched into April, our Crestview instrumentalists will continue this and more traditional methods of practice, and they will begin testing new repertoire to find the best sounding music to perform at Grandparent's and Special Friend's Day and the Spring Concert.