What do you feel is the best way to warm up a concert band? What does your band director do?

I pose this question because my band director (a temporary one year replacement for our normal band director) refuses to let us tune. He makes us play a Concert Major scale every time, often one that many instruments struggle with. We are never given a tuning pitch. If we are, it`s to the tuba section. Mind you, this is a college band, at a small liberal arts school with a strong instrumental department.

All input given will be much appreciated!

It`s very interesting that you tune to the tubas, which themselves have lots of leeway for each note. Usually a concert band will tune to the oboe, if there is one.

Your director uses the scales because he figures that at the college level you should be able to adjust your own tuning; sometimes chorales are used for this purpose, any slow, whole-note type thing will do. It`s very time-consuming to have everyone tune individually, and at your level your ear should be trained enough to do this yourself.