Comments on: The Art of Teaching Beginning Band http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/ Providing HOPE for educators since 2007 Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:59:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Joelhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-5808 Joel Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:15:47 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-5808 Angie, I like the way Accent on Achievement begins. In fact, I have used copies of the first couple of pages of AoA with students before even when we start in Essential Elements. The range on the first few pages is easier for most brass players when they start (starts on Concert D instead of F). I have no experience with students using Standard of Excellence, so I won't address it. Unfortunately, after Holiday Sampler, AoA goes downhill. Essential Elements has a better second half than Accent on Achievement, in my experience. Actually after page 5, I love Essential Elements. It introduces the right concepts in a straightforward way, and it just has some fun music for the kids. As far as the planned 1st concert, I guess pretty much all beginners books have that sort of thing now. I prefer to pick different music each year to help me grow more as a teacher, and also to be able to choose some stuff that might be more appropriate for the level of my kids. I like the full band music in Accent on Achievement, though. Angie,
I like the way Accent on Achievement begins. In fact, I have used copies of the first couple of pages of AoA with students before even when we start in Essential Elements. The range on the first few pages is easier for most brass players when they start (starts on Concert D instead of F). I have no experience with students using Standard of Excellence, so I won’t address it.

Unfortunately, after Holiday Sampler, AoA goes downhill. Essential Elements has a better second half than Accent on Achievement, in my experience. Actually after page 5, I love Essential Elements. It introduces the right concepts in a straightforward way, and it just has some fun music for the kids.

As far as the planned 1st concert, I guess pretty much all beginners books have that sort of thing now. I prefer to pick different music each year to help me grow more as a teacher, and also to be able to choose some stuff that might be more appropriate for the level of my kids. I like the full band music in Accent on Achievement, though.

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]]> By: Angiehttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-5807 Angie Fri, 05 Jun 2009 04:31:21 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-5807 Joel, Thanks for your suggestions! The Essential Elements 2000, I read somewhere that Book 1 comes with a planned 1st concert? Is that correct and if so does it actually include the pieces in book 1? Why would you recommend Essential Elements over Accent on Achievement or Standard of Excellence? Joel,

Thanks for your suggestions! The Essential Elements 2000, I read somewhere that Book 1 comes with a planned 1st concert? Is that correct and if so does it actually include the pieces in book 1? Why would you recommend Essential Elements over Accent on Achievement or Standard of Excellence?

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]]> By: Joelhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-4253 Joel Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:11:25 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-4253 The only ones that I've found that I would be comfortable using are Essential Elements 2000 (my personal preference), Accent on Achievement, or Ed Sueta's oooold band method. The only ones that I’ve found that I would be comfortable using are Essential Elements 2000 (my personal preference), Accent on Achievement, or Ed Sueta’s oooold band method.

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]]> By: Emilyhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-4077 Emily Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:09:14 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-4077 Angie - Currently I am the only music teacher at the school and that, too will will be a thing of the past as I did not get renewed for next year. In fact, they're dismissing the entire band program altogether and trying strings instead. Those parents in the program are REALLY mad and want me to be reinstated because their kids think the world of me and I'm their only band experience. So, the kids who were not in band this year but wanted to be next year, can't and those who started this year and want to continue, can't. My family was uprooted from PA in September 2007 to take this job. After spending our entire life savings to move here, I was expecting to have this position for at least five years but I guess God has other plans. The admin could've done so much more to ensure I would stay but they didn't help one bit. So, anyway, to answer your questions.... The only requirements I had for my first year students was that they were entering fourth grade and were willing to commit themselves to one year. The scheduling is handled mainly by the middle school principal. The 4th & 5th grades have something called an "Enrichment period" where those in band or orchestra go to rehearsal and the others will go to computer , art or drama. I think it works on paper and sorta in real life. I still had to put about two hours in after school for sectionals everyday. By the time leave school, everyone's long gone. the middle school band kids had electives this year which attributed to the # I lost earlier this year. I gained two sixth grade and lost 14 in 7th/8th. they're just at that age where they want to do all kinds of stuff. If our electives didn't meet four days a week or the kids could choose one other elective to go to during the week, I probably wouldn't have lost that many that quickly. Most students rent from a local music store but the school does own some old instruments which kinda work but by the end of the school year, most kids have convinced their parents to go rent a "real instrument". I've been using Standard of Excellence in my beginner bands but I'm leaning more toward Essential Elements 2000. It's just a better set up all together. However, I found that SOE's theory and History companions to be very good at reinforcing the basics. I also found that once to get about the middle of that book, it's sometimes easier to use band music to build concepts and the kids have a better time because they're actually playing music and not dorky little exercises in a book. Those are good if some of the kids are really struggling with a specific problem but not when you have 14 or so and they're all really good at what they do. It's almost insulting. Maybe that's part of where I'm going wrong, but really, my fifth graders and some of my fourth graders do so much better since we quit the book about two months ago. We'll finish sometime but for now our concert music is appropriate to what's in the book anyway. Angie – Currently I am the only music teacher at the school and that, too will will be a thing of the past as I did not get renewed for next year. In fact, they’re dismissing the entire band program altogether and trying strings instead. Those parents in the program are REALLY mad and want me to be reinstated because their kids think the world of me and I’m their only band experience. So, the kids who were not in band this year but wanted to be next year, can’t and those who started this year and want to continue, can’t. My family was uprooted from PA in September 2007 to take this job. After spending our entire life savings to move here, I was expecting to have this position for at least five years but I guess God has other plans. The admin could’ve done so much more to ensure I would stay but they didn’t help one bit. So, anyway, to answer your questions….

The only requirements I had for my first year students was that they were entering fourth grade and were willing to commit themselves to one year.

The scheduling is handled mainly by the middle school principal. The 4th & 5th grades have something called an “Enrichment period” where those in band or orchestra go to rehearsal and the others will go to computer , art or drama. I think it works on paper and sorta in real life. I still had to put about two hours in after school for sectionals everyday. By the time leave school, everyone’s long gone. the middle school band kids had electives this year which attributed to the # I lost earlier this year. I gained two sixth grade and lost 14 in 7th/8th. they’re just at that age where they want to do all kinds of stuff. If our electives didn’t meet four days a week or the kids could choose one other elective to go to during the week, I probably wouldn’t have lost that many that quickly.

Most students rent from a local music store but the school does own some old instruments which kinda work but by the end of the school year, most kids have convinced their parents to go rent a “real instrument”.

I’ve been using Standard of Excellence in my beginner bands but I’m leaning more toward Essential Elements 2000. It’s just a better set up all together. However, I found that SOE’s theory and History companions to be very good at reinforcing the basics. I also found that once to get about the middle of that book, it’s sometimes easier to use band music to build concepts and the kids have a better time because they’re actually playing music and not dorky little exercises in a book. Those are good if some of the kids are really struggling with a specific problem but not when you have 14 or so and they’re all really good at what they do. It’s almost insulting. Maybe that’s part of where I’m going wrong, but really, my fifth graders and some of my fourth graders do so much better since we quit the book about two months ago. We’ll finish sometime but for now our concert music is appropriate to what’s in the book anyway.

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]]> By: Angiehttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-4046 Angie Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:20:49 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-4046 Joel, What method book(s) would you recommend for beginners? Joel,

What method book(s) would you recommend for beginners?

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]]> By: Angiehttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-4026 Angie Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:09:21 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-4026 P.S. Emily - are you the only music teacher at your school? If so, how do they handle the scheduling of band classes? Like for example, what do the other students do while the band kids are in band? P.S. Emily – are you the only music teacher at your school? If so, how do they handle the scheduling of band classes? Like for example, what do the other students do while the band kids are in band?

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]]> By: Angiehttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-4025 Angie Thu, 09 Apr 2009 12:08:08 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-4025 Emily, Do you mind if I ask what some of your requirements for the students were? Sorry to hear about the drop in the # of students in your band program and the problems establishing a good program due to the faults of the prior music teachers. I guess, there was a misunderstanding. The admin. won't make band mandatory, mainly due to the fact that the school at this point doesn't own any instruments. I hope maybe by now you've received some clarity as to what it is you'll be doing next yr. Emily,

Do you mind if I ask what some of your requirements for the students were? Sorry to hear about the drop in the # of students in your band program and the problems establishing a good program due to the faults of the prior music teachers.

I guess, there was a misunderstanding. The admin. won’t make band mandatory, mainly due to the fact that the school at this point doesn’t own any instruments.

I hope maybe by now you’ve received some clarity as to what it is you’ll be doing next yr.

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]]> By: Emilyhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-3701 Emily Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:04:19 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-3701 Thanks Joel! Perhaps my emotional state needs an overhaul. I had taken a lot of things personally that were more about the professional lifethan not. I agree with you on the first year band thing. At this point in the year, most of my fifth graders are about 3/4 the way through the first book and I don't plan on taking them further this year. We are concentrating on balance and concert repertoire. I think balance is one of the biggest things when teaching,as you had said in another article. By teaching the kids to listen for it and maintain their section's quality early on, they get a better sense of what I'm looking for and they sound better. Thanks Joel!

Perhaps my emotional state needs an overhaul. I had taken a lot of things personally that were more about the professional lifethan not.

I agree with you on the first year band thing. At this point in the year, most of my fifth graders are about 3/4 the way through the first book and I don’t plan on taking them further this year. We are concentrating on balance and concert repertoire. I think balance is one of the biggest things when teaching,as you had said in another article. By teaching the kids to listen for it and maintain their section’s quality early on, they get a better sense of what I’m looking for and they sound better.

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]]> By: Joelhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-3696 Joel Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:28:41 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-3696 What a golden opportunity to have a solid middle school program! I've seen band as a mandatory class (or as one of a very small number of electives) and have seen it work really well. It's all about communication. If they make it mandatory,be sure to inform the administration about the costs involved (get some numbers to back it up) and work with your local music dealer to find great quality used instruments that the school could buy to let those students who cannot afford it use. If they are attending a private school, odds are that most of the parents won't have <i>too<i /> many problems getting instruments. At the beginning levels, used instruments are a great option. It is always <b>much</b> better than rent-to-own. One concern I would have with 4th and 5th grade beginners are teeth. Heck, I still have 7th graders who lose teeth, and each lost tooth changes the embouchure. Here's how I would do it. I would start out by combining 4th and 5th grade classes. I'd have a woodwind and a brass class for both grades. 4th graders can ONLY play clarinet, trumpet, or euphonium. 5th graders can move to flute, alto sax, trombone. 6th graders can move to oboe, bassoon, bass clarinet, tenor sax, bari sax, horn, tuba, and percussion. If it's not mandatory, you would weed out the kids who don't want to read music (ie. drummers) and help the younger kids establish good fundamentals before moving them to more difficult instruments. 4th and 5th graders start out with how to hold their instrument and basic classroom discipline early on. Then you move to long tones and finally work to get the first five notes. You could push the 5th grade clarinets across the break at this point as well. That will help establish great tone as well as keep the 5th graders from getting bored out of their skulls. I would expect to get through an entire book in the first year with 4th and 5th graders, but if you can get them through about 100 lines or so, you'll be good. Then start the 6th grader classes out wherever they left off the year before, and try to get them through the book as fast as possible, and then go back and play everything in cut time. After that, spend the remainder of the year working scales, grade 1 music, and having fun!</i> What a golden opportunity to have a solid middle school program! I’ve seen band as a mandatory class (or as one of a very small number of electives) and have seen it work really well.

It’s all about communication. If they make it mandatory,be sure to inform the administration about the costs involved (get some numbers to back it up) and work with your local music dealer to find great quality used instruments that the school could buy to let those students who cannot afford it use. If they are attending a private school, odds are that most of the parents won’t have too many problems getting instruments.

At the beginning levels, used instruments are a great option. It is always much better than rent-to-own.

One concern I would have with 4th and 5th grade beginners are teeth. Heck, I still have 7th graders who lose teeth, and each lost tooth changes the embouchure.

Here’s how I would do it. I would start out by combining 4th and 5th grade classes. I’d have a woodwind and a brass class for both grades. 4th graders can ONLY play clarinet, trumpet, or euphonium. 5th graders can move to flute, alto sax, trombone. 6th graders can move to oboe, bassoon, bass clarinet, tenor sax, bari sax, horn, tuba, and percussion.

If it’s not mandatory, you would weed out the kids who don’t want to read music (ie. drummers) and help the younger kids establish good fundamentals before moving them to more difficult instruments.

4th and 5th graders start out with how to hold their instrument and basic classroom discipline early on. Then you move to long tones and finally work to get the first five notes. You could push the 5th grade clarinets across the break at this point as well. That will help establish great tone as well as keep the 5th graders from getting bored out of their skulls.

I would expect to get through an entire book in the first year with 4th and 5th graders, but if you can get them through about 100 lines or so, you’ll be good.

Then start the 6th grader classes out wherever they left off the year before, and try to get them through the book as fast as possible, and then go back and play everything in cut time. After that, spend the remainder of the year working scales, grade 1 music, and having fun!

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]]> By: Emilyhttp://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/the-art-of-teaching-beginning-band/#comment-3687 Emily Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:17:41 +0000 http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/?p=481#comment-3687 I I also teach at a Christian school with 580 total students K-12. I currently have 46 total in the program. We started the year off with 60 and well I lost most of my second year students due to the fact I set some standards and goals the kids didn't feel like rising to. So the admin decided to go against their own "rules" by saying the "middle school is a time for exploring different interests.And if they don't feel like continuing in the music program, they don't have to." Of course I pointed out that if this trend continues, we won't have a quality band, ever.The other problem is, they've had huge turnover as far as music teachers go in this school and no teacher has ever been there more than two years at a time. This also has taken its toll in the department. Every teacher that comes in needs to "clean up" from the last teacher. The teacher that preceded me was in the students' terms: bipolar at best and she didn't teach squat. Therefore, most of the third year students aren't any better than my beginners except that they get a better sound out of their instruments. Most of my students rent instruments on their own. The school own about thirty instruments to rent out. Which I'm happy to say, most of them are rented out this year. How on earth can the admins make band mandatory? What if the kid really doesn't have a knack for it?They're gonna lose families and yadda yadda yadda. I just hope they don't blame you for that decision.My situation is right now not a super duper one. Because tings haven't come even close to what I wanted to do this year, I may not be returning next year. Like I said, most music teachers don't last more than two years at this school. I wish they would help fix the problem rather than just move onto the next. I had a meeting back in October with both of my supervisors and the superintendent. stating that I was on the fence with my job because the kids were being jerks and there wasn't any control in my classes. Chaotic at best is what my middle principal said. They made some suggestions but so far, they haven't really come in to help me since and now my contract is in limbo for next year so I can't make any plans for new students or my continuing students. I'm asking God to make it crystal clear what I should be doing over the next two months so that I can either continue to improve the band program at this school or take a year leave and teach privately. Something I don't really want to do since I've made so many friends with the families and I relocated my family across the country because of this job. Anyway, sorry for dumping. Just a lot on my mind. I I also teach at a Christian school with 580 total students K-12. I currently have 46 total in the program. We started the year off with 60 and well I lost most of my second year students due to the fact I set some standards and goals the kids didn’t feel like rising to. So the admin decided to go against their own “rules” by saying the “middle school is a time for exploring different interests.And if they don’t feel like continuing in the music program, they don’t have to.” Of course I pointed out that if this trend continues, we won’t have a quality band, ever.The other problem is, they’ve had huge turnover as far as music teachers go in this school and no teacher has ever been there more than two years at a time. This also has taken its toll in the department. Every teacher that comes in needs to “clean up” from the last teacher. The teacher that preceded me was in the students’ terms: bipolar at best and she didn’t teach squat. Therefore, most of the third year students aren’t any better than my beginners except that they get a better sound out of their instruments.

Most of my students rent instruments on their own. The school own about thirty instruments to rent out. Which I’m happy to say, most of them are rented out this year.

How on earth can the admins make band mandatory? What if the kid really doesn’t have a knack for it?They’re gonna lose families and yadda yadda yadda. I just hope they don’t blame you for that decision.My situation is right now not a super duper one. Because tings haven’t come even close to what I wanted to do this year, I may not be returning next year. Like I said, most music teachers don’t last more than two years at this school. I wish they would help fix the problem rather than just move onto the next. I had a meeting back in October with both of my supervisors and the superintendent. stating that I was on the fence with my job because the kids were being jerks and there wasn’t any control in my classes. Chaotic at best is what my middle principal said. They made some suggestions but so far, they haven’t really come in to help me since and now my contract is in limbo for next year so I can’t make any plans for new students or my continuing students. I’m asking God to make it crystal clear what I should be doing over the next two months so that I can either continue to improve the band program at this school or take a year leave and teach privately. Something I don’t really want to do since I’ve made so many friends with the families and I relocated my family across the country because of this job.

Anyway, sorry for dumping. Just a lot on my mind.

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