Beginning Band

Check with principal/department head - What is your teaching schedule? | Who sets the teaching schedule for the building? | Who schedules music calendar? | Who schedules facility use?
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Tone and intonation are two aspects of instrumental playing that are most often left to develop on their own. This "approach" comes from the misconceived notion that as long as one continues to play the notes (the more and faster the…
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Obviously, maintaining a music program that is of the highest quality and offers numerous opportunities for involvement is one key to attracting and keeping students. Kids will not develop a long-term relationship with your program if they…
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The tangible result of the instruction in the music classroom is the concert performance. In the preparation of music for a performance, we often overlook the details involved in the logistics to make the concert happen. To make sure your…
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Our nation has undergone vast changes during the past sixty years, and so too has the concert band music written during those years. The repertory from the mid-1950s to today reflects the social and political customs of each decade. As the…
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Band conductors need to constantly look for music that is artistically interesting and of educational value. I have written about this in some detail in the past and would urge readers to consult previous issues of Tempo if interested.
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When practicing, it is important to be warmed up. When you are warm, just like any athlete, your muscles and reflexes are ready to go, you are loose and agile, under control, ready for anything that any piece of music or any band…
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Playing in tune is a skill. It must be taught, developed, and polished as our students mature as musicians. Too often, particularly in young bands, good pitch is either left to chance or is so director and tuner centric that students are…
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In between curriculum development, running after-school groups, department management, and individual student considerations, music teachers and department leads are increasingly needed to fill in the blanks where funds are missing from…
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Several years ago the Traverse City School Board was considering eliminating the sixth-grade beginning band program to balance the budget. Band director, John Campbell, waited until the end of the lengthy discussions before addressing the…
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Once the plant breaks the soil we need to tend to the seedling to ensure its growth. We must carefully fertilize, water, protect it from spring frosts and weed around the plant if we expect it to grow into the beautiful flower we need to…
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The MOST important part of any band program is the beginners. I think all band directors will agree with that statement. Agreement with that statement and implementation are sometimes miles apart. For a band program to reach the highest…
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Whether your band’s instrumentation is stable or the loss of players through population mobility causes gaps in part coverage, there may be occasions when you’ll want bandsmen who can play more than one instrument.
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This is the second in a series of articles evaluating literature for band. Recently, the Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band at Rutgers started a new recording project for Mark Custom Recording of repertoire for the developing band. With this…
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