For some reason my band leader makes us play parts in pieces taht are marked as mf, mp - and then parts that are marked mp, p. So obviously when its marked as pp its virtually impossible to play and for me its so annoying !!

Do any of your band leaders have certain ways they like you to things that really do your head in ?

Only really when he yelled at us in the interval of a concert........

i have had problems with that, i would say, go allong with the mf-mp, and the mp-p. and just play the pp as quietly as you can, they have be angry with you when your doing your best!!

I'll hazard a guess that your band is quite large xEmZx06. Getting the band to play dynamics one notch lower than written is a way of preventing the band from 'overblowing' (i.e. playing too loudly). I always think of it as 'a solo mezzo forte is louder than a tutti mezzo forte'. As a regular wind band musician, I can tell you that listening to a large band playing a section of music pianissimo is really amazing (as well as being tricky to do!)

The band leader you have certainly has his/her reasons for doing this - I would do the same thing.

Several bits of our pp band music have "1 only" written over them, or "ssshhh" which we know means only one of us is to play that bit, quietly, to keep the volume down (as opposed to "solo" which means one of us has to play it loudly...) - we take it in turns working down the line, a couple of phrases at a time, or have a hasty whispered discussion about who's going to play which bits, so that no-one gets too bored.

Hazel

I'm in choir, not band.
My conductor always scolds the choristers when we're too noisy.
Though its hard to keep totally quiet when there's 80 of us in a small room.
Sometimes its just annoying when this male figure shouts at us when we girls are busy gossiping about some interesting thing.
What a bad end to a lovely conversation.
All these do not happen during practice, it happens before it!

Making sure that there a good graduation of dynamics when you are conducting is hard. Inevitably, there will be some players who feel that the pp they are being asked to play is too quiet especially if they are wind players as playing that quietly is difficult. Similarly, if everything is too Loud, you can not get a suitable contrast for ff, and some poor violinist wonders if their instrument and bow will cope with playing any louder.

I have been known to ask trumpeters to play louder (a rarity) simply as it was "their moment". As an oboist, I understand the difficulties playing quietly, but if you are directing an ensemble, you have to think of the big picture, and make sure you have the correct balance.

Its extremely small actually, but i understand what you're saying

I know the pianissimo is quite hard for a band , but if it was well adjusted , the result will be superb ...

I hate it most of all when you're trying your best to be quiet, but the conductor is still like "Clarinets! you're still too loud!" and then when they say about staccato tonguing "The flutes can do it that fast! why can't you?"