Acknowledgments Many inspiring mentors, family members, friends and colleagues have led me to be able to now say that I have finished my Masters. I would first like to thank my professors who each shared their time, knowledge, and skills to help me through each class. I would like to thank my committee members Dr. Thomas Priest, and Mr. Joseph Windsor who took the time out of their busy schedules to read all of my work. I would like to especially thank Dr. Vincent Bates who has spent hours prof reading my paper, giving me feedback, meeting with me to give me direction, and then listening to all my hair brained ideas until he finally helped me focus in and create the master project that is before you. I’d like to thank my husband who made me dinner, remodeled our house and tried to keep things clean while I dedicated my evenings to three-hour evening classes, and hours of paper writing. His sweet support and much appreciated help has been the rock that has gotten me through these last two and a half years. My last thanks would have to my to my Mom. She was my first teacher, and her patient constance throughout my elementary years gives me more gratitude now then I know my eight-year- old self ever could muster. Her hours of patient correcting, listening, teaching, reteaching, and guiding has never touched my heart more than at this point. It took my becoming a ten-year veteran junior high band teacher, with my master’s until I could really understand just a little of how much she must have gone through in teaching me, in my early years. So, thank you Mom. Thank you for getting me here. OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 2 Table of Contents NATURE OF THE PROBLEM.......................................................................................................6 Literature Review Literacy Advocacy .......................................................................................................................8 Disadvantages of Teaching Notation......................................................................................11 Ear Training Based Learning .....................................................................................................13 Disadvantages to an Ear Training Based Learning ................................................................15 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................17 METHODS AND PROCEDURES................................................................................................18 Developing the Band Book ........................................................................................................19 Challenges .................................................................................................................................26 Future Uses ................................................................................................................................27 CONCLUSION ..............................................................................................................................28 REFERENCES ..............................................................................................................................29 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................................. Appendix A: Teacher’s Manual .................................................................................................31 Appendix B: Student Manual .....................................................................................................65 OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 3 List of Figures and Tables Table 1. Pre and post test scores of children’s phonological awareness and their visual auditory learning abilities. ...........................................................................................................9 Figure 1. Bloom’s Taxonomy Chart ...........................................................................................22 OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 4 Abstract In music two main teaching methodologies have emerged. One focuses on an ear-based learning method, while the other emphasizes reading notation. Both methods have seen success in producing musicians who are competent and knowledgeable musicians. However, the debate is whether which method is better. My opinions are that neither carries all the benefits that are needed to be a successful musician. Only when both methods are combined containing the best of both methods could a truly well-rounded music student be produced. My masters project was a six-week supplementary beginning band method book, which was aimed toward building a well-rounded musician who has strengths in both methods. My hopes were that by building the student’s ear-based learning abilities, while not neglecting music notation a more well-rounded and more successful musician would be created. OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 5 NATURE OF THE PROBLEM Two major methods are found when teaching beginning band, one focuses on reading music notation and the other emphasizes ear training. The first method used in teaching beginning band, which focuses on reading music; the first concepts in the course are how to read the staff and how to count rhythms from notation. A heavy emphasis on sight reading is maintained with the expectation that students practice reading both the pitches and various rhythms at the same time without having to first hear the piece. The Essential Elements Book 1, for example, has 181 lines of notation that students learn to read, and many teachers often move on to the second book by the end of the year. Various drills are practiced to increase sight reading abilities, including scales, arpeggios, thirds, rhythm lines, and counting rhythm worksheets. After students reach high school, many auditions will include sight reading as part of their overall audition grade. A second approach to teaching beginning band students relies much more on aural training and on teaching students to listen and to play by ear. Students in these methods are often encouraged to listen to professional recordings as part of their practice time and are told to mimic the sounds they hear. Students are not given sheet music until they have first grasped a few key concepts. Some of these may include a characteristic sound on their instrument and applying that sound to various pieces learned by ear, by rote, or by solfege and hand signals. Call and response can be very important as students learn to hear what sounds they are producing as they compare it to the teacher modeling the piece. In the Suzuki method, for instance, it is encouraged to have the student listen to a professional CD of the music every night until they can copy what they are hearing on the CD. Songs are learned by imitating what the teacher plays, phrase by phrase. OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 6 Then after they have learned the piece by ear and through imitation they are given sheet music. These students are training their ears to analyze music at a deep level. The ability to pick out and play what they are hearing and what is modeled increases their abilities to recognize and interpret melodic patterns, rhythms, and intervals. By not using music notation, students are able to use their other senses and memory to play the music. When too much emphasis is put on either of these methodologies at the exclusion of the other, it can lead to certain valuable playing skills being missing. With deep aural skills training many students will not find reading notation necessary. While most musicians throughout the world play successfully without knowing how to read music notation, it is often a requirement for pursuing college degrees in music college music scholarships, pit musicians, professional orchestra jobs, and film soundtrack recording studios. While not all musicians will make these their goal, reading staff notation is a useful skill in many situations. Without being able to read music these students will always be reliant on hearing the music first; the ability to see a piece of music and just play it will be beyond them. On the other side, students who have put an emphasis on learning to read staff notation may lack aural or other skills. This can put them at a disadvantage in situations where they are asked to improvise and interact with musicians not using musical notation. Students simply play what they read perhaps, rather than achieving stylistic qualities and a characteristic tone as compared with a professional recording. Deeper understandings of what a mature tone sounds like or the intricacies of the musical phrase, in other words, are not internalized. Learning to read music notation often allows students to learn music more quickly than by rote, but many of the higher thinking aspects of music can be lost in the process. OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 7 Band teachers need a clear comparison of these two approaches. Currently there are many biases between the two methodologies with some band teachers teach primarily in one way— usually through notation. In my own school district, for instance, there is a high emphasis on note reading in band, while learning by ear is emphasized in choir. I believe it could be beneficial to show the pros and cons of both and consider what might be best for student growth and lifelong participation. This literature review will explore the positives and negatives of both approaches as the basis for creating an integrated approach to teaching beginning band. Literature Review Literacy Advocacy The first beginning band approach that I will review focuses on reading staff notation. This method has become the standard in the United States and, due to its relative success in beginning instrumental classes, has continued as the standard (Klauss, 2018). Stewart (2003) conducted a study showing how much of a benefit reading music notation can have on the brain. Specifically, the study measured how the brain changes functionally when exposed to reading music notation. Two groups of students, learners and non-learners, were given brain scans. During the scan, participants were observed as they reacted to a series of numbers and were asked to press the marked corresponding keypresses. Prior to the study none of the twenty-four participants had any musical background. The learner group was scanned prior to the research and then again after a fifteen-week course of musical keyboard and music theory skills; the second group, the non-learners took the same test both times. Data gathered showed that “the common activation of superior parietal cortex across the two tasks reflects an effect which is specific to the acquisition of music reading skill and is independent of the particular tasks used” (p. 82). The study showed just how much one’s culture can affect brain function. OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 8 Another possible benefit of learning to read music is that certain skills may transfer to general reading abilities. Moreno, Friesen, and Bialystok (2011) researched whether music and visual arts training affect children’s pre literacy skills. Sixty children participated in a 20-day training program in which children were able to choose to participate in either visual arts lessons or music lessons. Before and after testing the classes, the children’s phonological awareness and their visual auditory learning abilities were assessed. The results showed considerable improvement in the post tests for both groups of students (see Figure 1, Moreno et al., 2011). However, the rate of improvement for the musically trained group was higher than the visual arts group: Our interpretation is that when preliterate children were trained on note to sound mappings in music, they gained experience with the use of symbolic representations. Consequently, their ability to understand that a symbol is an arbitrary representation of a concept was enhanced. This is the symbolic skill assessed in the visual auditory learning test and is an essential preparatory skill in learning to read. It may also be that music training helps improve children’s general ability to learn arbitrary mappings between symbols and concepts by enhancing general memory ability. However, our study does not allow us to differentiate between these possibilities. (Moreno et al., 2011, p.170) OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 9 Moreno et al. (2009) did another literacy study looking at how music affects linguistic abilities in eight year old children. In this study 32 non-musician children were studied for nine months. During this time children were randomly distributed into music or painting training. After nine months of training, error rates on reading exception words greatly improved after musical training and not visual arts training. Tupman (2007) also confirms this, suggesting that by learning to read music, and by having music instruction, children can become better readers and are better able to identify letters in the alphabet. Music advocacy is very important to music educators. In my own school district, music teachers receive letters reminding them that if their classes are small then the district is not under any obligation to guarantee a full-time job the following year. Coll (2011) points out “it would seem that many of them (policy makers) view the arts as a non-crucial element of a child's school curriculum. The pressure to build and maintain music programs is high for teachers and that means pushing music advocacy is of even greater importance” (page number). One reason teachers emphasize note reading may be that its benefits to students outside of music, makes a good advocacy argument. The following three ideas are taken from music advocacy papers typically distributed by music teachers to build their numbers and show parents the importance of music. First, Cole (2011) explains in a music advocacy paper how music develops the brain in ways that lead students to become fluent readers. Second, Wandell et al. (2008) share results from a study showing a link between the growth of the brain’s corpus callosum and reading. Their study showed “a relationship between reading fluency and the amount of music training a child has” (p.51). They also showed that musicians who started playing a musical instrument before the age of 7 showed an increase in the size of their corpus callosum. Finally, Miller (2017) discussed research done by the Royal Conservatory of Music showing the benefits OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 10 of early music education saying that it “speeds the development of speech and reading skills” (p.117). Disadvantages of Teaching Notation There can also be negative aspects to teaching with an emphasis on note reading. West (2016) brings to the forefront the idea that beginning instrumentalist can easily be overwhelmed when asked to learn to read music notation in the beginning just when they are learning so many other important ideas as well: “nobody would advocate teaching children to read a language before they can think and speak, but often in music education we try to teach students to read notation that they cannot yet audiate” (p. 56). West also points out that students are still physically trying to hold the instrument, how to properly form an embouchure and sustain sound; asking student to learn to read a language at the same time might not be the best possible solution. Being overwhelmed by having too much to learn at the beginning of learning an instrument is not the only deterrent for having an emphasis on music notation. West (2016) points out that learning by notation first creates an unconscious incompetence in a student’s playing abilities. This can mean that students will be playing a note or a duration incorrectly and will not be aware that they are playing anything wrong. West (2016) believes that this is because students were not taught to develop their ear before they were made to read music notation. He also points out that a student’s ability to play is only as strong as their ability to listen and hear. If a student is unable to hear their own mistakes then they will not be able to learn as quickly as compared to if they had first developed their ability to hear and understand that they are hearing. Another weakness seen in basing a student’s music education initially or primarily on notation is that it creates a very musically limited musician. When a student focuses on music OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 11 notation, it only seems to teach the student where to put their fingers. It does not necessarily build “an internal representation system that can be used independently of the instrument” (Davidson et. al., 1988, p. 69). This will mean that the musician is limited to what they can do when the focus is on the notation. Schlueter (1997) argues that the visual process, if not useful musically, is “musically unproductive”(p. 42). He believes that self-expression and the audiation of music is more easily developed when students first learn by hearing and playing rather than reading and playing. McPherson and Gabrielsson (2002) express that putting an emphasis on notation without performing by ear is a restriction to the overall musicianship of the person playing. Ear Training Based Learning The second approach to teaching beginning band students relies much more on aural training and on teaching students to listen and imitate. Starting with sound before sight is not a new concept. In fact, history is full of examples of very successful musicians and teachers who have taught and studied this way: Shinichi Suzuki (1898-1998), Carl Orff (1895-1982), Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967), Emile-Jaques Dalcroze (1865-1950), and Edwin E. Gordon (1927-2015). Each of these musicians and teachers saw great growth in their students when using this method and, in fact, the most widely applied elementary or beginning music approaches are named for these five men. Within this tradition of “ear before eye” or “sound before sight,” Varvarigou (2014) suggests that playing by ear is the foundation of a musician, that it is “the fundamental of all the performance skills and should be the first stage towards the development on applied musicianship” (p.471). This approach has many benefits and an extensive literature; I will explore a representative sample below. OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 12 One benefit of using this method of teaching is its ability to increase a student’s listening skills. Varvarigou (2014) believed that advanced aural skills can be increased significantly through mimicking and learning pieces of music by ear only. She believes that students can listen to the complicated layers of the music better and pick out what exactly is happening in the music if they have first developed their listening skills. Dynamics, ritardandos, and the extra parts of music are more important to them. The ability for the student to play by ear is directly linked in building their self-awareness in how they play. Priest (1989) argues that the ability to reproduce music by sound as well as playing creatively are at the very center of all instrumental musicianship. Mainwarings (1951) argues that reading music notation inhibits the player’s ability to listen in depth to the musical layers found in music. In observations found in a study done by Varvarigou (2014) students were taught private music lessons emphasizing learning music by ear. One student pointed out that she “saw new things” in the music “without the score in front of her” (p. 479). Varvarigou then argues that music notation limits musicians from seeing music more in depth. Students enjoyed participation in the study and credit was given to the ability students had of choosing the music they wanted to learn by ear. Students also enjoyed practicing and explained that the experience had the “feeling of just being a musician and playing” (p.480). This feeling was helped by the student’s need to practice with the recording, which mirrors playing with a real ensemble. Another benefit to an aural training at the beginning is that it can aide musical memorization abilities. Baker (2013) did a study with 12 students and 4 teachers over a span of 104 lessons. Two groups were made, in the first group student’s curriculum did not change they were given the pre and posttest. Teachers were then instructed to continue teaching them as they would normally do. Teachers in the second group were taught various ear playing strategies and OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 13 would then use them within their private instruction time with the students. The same pre- and post-test were issued to the second group as well. Data were measured and analyzed and found that post test results showed that over the twelve week study the second group, who had participated in ear playing strategies had made more progress than the group of non-ear trained students. A 14-year old piano student in Baker’s study even admitted, “Well, maybe [I now have] a longer memory, a playing memory. So, instead of remembering eight notes I remembered like 10 or 11 kind of thing” (All you need here is the page number). Disadvantages to an Ear Training Based Learning With all the positive feedback that an aural based learning instructions has, it also does have some negatives aspects. Public school orchestra directors have observed that Suzuki students are a mixed blessing to their programs: They play well but are sometimes deficient in reading music “and learning by ear becomes a crutch” (Brathwaite, 1988, p.44). Learning to play by ear with a strong aural foundation is excellent but it cannot be the sole center of teaching a well-rounded musician. Braithwaite (1988) explains that often students who were taught with a strong aural base are not able to fit in with the other members of the orchestra who have been taught traditionally. This is because their playing ability is much higher than other students, while their notation reading abilities are considerably lower. The difference between the two teaching styles can lead to conflict in learning. Braithwaite (1988) points out one mother who came to observe the orchestra class and asked if the other students in the class were good enough to play with her child. Extreme difference in playing abilities can be found in the way each student is taught during the beginning. Braithwaite (1988) writes that “traditional violin teachers introduce music reading earlier and place less emphasis on ear training in the beginning years” (p.45). This often leads to a wonderful tone and musical playing; however, a student’s note OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 14 reading skills are often behind their playing which leads to the inability to play well with a more traditional school orchestra program. One reason teachers may stray away from teaching music more aurally in the beginning is because fewer materials are available for teachers teaching aurally. West (2016) explains that teachers often gravitate to starting students on line one of their method books. However, teaching students new skills in which the method books sequence them is perhaps not the correct approach. Sindberg (2016) relates her experience in the classroom how she understood the desire to have a solid foundation of fundamentals but was wary of traditional method books. “I started to tinker with moving away from the book toward simple improvisation activities and playing (and learning and teaching) songs by ear”(p. 63). Sindberg (2016) goes on to explain her success with venturing away from the provided method books. To step away from provided curriculum may be a terrifying idea but as these teachers have related it can be successful. Many music students who were taught using either method are often missing certain valuable playing skills when too much emphasis is put on either of these methodologies. Braithwaite (1988) argues that there should be no set distinction between the two methodologies. Each system is trying to produce musicians with the same goals in mind. Braithwaite (1988) describes what the goal of each methodology is to have the ability to produce a performer who plays in tune with a mature and focused tone, and who can interpret music stylistically and musically. Braithwaite (1988) believes that the goal is that “the student's sensibilities are enriched by the encounter with music, and he or she is able to share the joy of music making with other musicians, students, and members of the orchestra.” When these two methodologies are combined, they can create a more holistic view into teaching music. Priest (1989) argued that traditional instrumental teaching methods have meant OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 15 that playing by ear has been undervalued, yet all playing can be viewed as “by ear,” even when notation is involved. This means that arguable with reading music you should still be using your ear to play. However, the level that you use your ear is still debatable within each method’s complexities. West (2016) relates Jerome Bruner’s learning sequence to music. The idea that learning begins with first an action-based approach, this then becomes integrated with images which finally become language based. A metaphor for this is that before a child learns to spell the word dog they first meet a dog, they experience what it means to be around a dog. The dog has fur, a wet snout, and a wagging tail. This is the action based or enactive learning. After this they meet an image of a dog such as a stuffed animal or printed image in a story book this learning experience has grown into the image-based portion or iconic. Then finally the child learns to read and spell the word dog which is a symbolic experience. West (2016) integrates this into learning to play a musical instrument in a way which combines an aural based methodology with a notation-based methodology. West (2016) explains how this might look in a classroom. We would first listen and perform rote pieces of music (enactive). After this would be to move to the iconic step, which would be drawing signs of how the music sounds. The last step called the symbolic step would be when we finally find the tune we already know in musical notation. West (2016) argues that method books have created an “efficient” way to learn to read music notation, however striving for a more “meaningful” method leads to students play more musically. Conclusion Two major music education methods were discussed, and both were found to have positives and negatives aspects in their curriculum. The conclusion is that both methods are missing a piece that can be found in the other. A heavy emphasis on notation reading can neglect OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 16 the student’s ability to listen and self-adjust problems (West, 2016), while an emphasis on aural skills can lead to students being unable succeed in the classroom due to the inability to read music notation (Brathwaite, 1988). Both methods are striving to create a talented musician and I believe that this literature review has shown not who is right in teaching their chosen method but what is right in each of these methods. Method and Procedures This project was to create a method guide that blended both an aural-based learning approach with a sight-based approach in the beginning band setting. While much research has been done on the benefits of both of methods (Varvarigou, 2014; Schleuter, 1997), few beginning method books use both methods in their design (West, 2016). For beginning band teachers to use both methods in their curriculum, they often must create their own materials (West, 2016). This project will create materials that beginning band teachers can use in the first six weeks of teaching a beginning band class and that emphasizes both approaches. Specifically, this curriculum project focused on the first six weeks of beginning band. I created the warms ups, tunes, and exercises on aural-based learning for the first four weeks, and the following two weeks I began to introduce music notation. A teacher’s guide was created with all the warm ups, tunes, and exercises. Included with the teacher’s guide was a student handbook that allowed room for students to write down ways to remember the warm ups and exercises taught in class. Daily lesson plans for the teacher were included in the guidebook that include various exercises. Some such exercises were learning a tune by rote, student composition exercises, group composition exercises, and improvisation exercises. During the last two weeks, when students begin to learn notation exercises, ways to blend the aural training with the sight-based learning were included. Students will learn a piece by rote, and then create a personal OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 17 music notation to help them remember the piece. Students will need to show that they have fully grasped the idea of what music notation is and what it needs to include: rhythm, pitch duration, and pitch range. Then students will be introduced to actual music notation and will be guided through how to correctly write the rhythms and exercises they have been playing every day in class on paper. This method will be thorough and perhaps slower than current method books. However, students will be able to become accustomed to creating music and learning to properly produce a sound on their instrument before mastering reading music notation, and will be able to understand an in depth approach to reading notation. This will help students become a more balanced student as both an aural based method and notation-based method are combined holistically. Developing the Band Book The idea of creating a supplementary band method book “Training Eyes and Ears in Beginning Band,” came from seeing two styles of teaching that have worked well for many teachers, which created the desire to use the best of both in my own teaching. This book is designed to be an easy to use supplementary method for beginning band students that includes a course outline to everything I believe is needed in merging these two methodologies. The course outline is developed in a way to introduce music that uses sound before sight without forgetting that it is also important to develop the ability to read music notation. The first pages show a course outline for the book. Every day is detailed showing the teacher what warm ups, scales, ear training, games, and songs to teach the students each day. The student manual also includes this same outline so students know what they did and will do in class every day, and can practice and prepare for class at home. Each day builds on the last until, by the end of the six weeks, the students have a very impressive knowledge base and have developed considerable foundational skills. The first warm up goes through how to properly OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 18 sustain a concert Bb. This will develop the students’ ability to sustain longer notes needed for the future and how to begin learning breath control as the Bb has a fermata over it. Students are to hold the note as long as they can in one breathe with good tone. As soon as the tone begins to weaken, they are to let go of it and repeat. Each tone exercise contains repeats, and I remind students that the repeats are included so we can do it again but better. The next warm up section 2A introduces the tongue as students tongue three concert B flats which will challenge them to sustain the good tones they were just practicing while now using their tongues. Warmups 2B, 2C, and 2D are slurred. The reason for this is that students can learn to apply the steady airstream they were just practicing on their long tones while their fingers are moving. Many method books wait to introduce slurring until much later in the book. I believe this is a mistake. Teaching students to maintain and hear that their air stream is unsteady is an important skill to practice on moving notes. It is a challenge even for third year students to play with a connected and even tone while changing notes. This could be because their very first lessons on tone and breath control are often on either one long tone or on quarters notes while tonguing. If slurring is delayed, then tone exercises which include tonguing are given for tone development, but these are tonguing and tone exercise, not specifically tone exercises. To strive to develop a steady tone while changing fingerings is extremely difficult. Instead, slurring tone development exercises give students the chance to practice steady air streams and create successful tone habits right away. The next items introduced to students are the first five notes of the Bb, F, and C scales, the Bb blues scale, and half of their one octave chromatic scale. The handbook explains that each scale is clearly written out in the same half note pattern. Just like a parent would teach a child a new word clearly and slowly, so should we for our music students. Only after the parent has said OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 19 the word slowly and clearly to their child, would they then repeat it back to them expecting the child to mimic the word. One might think of parents attempting to teach their child to speak the word “Dad.” In that same way, we should strive to teach band students to play their scales, slowly and with repetition, expecting them to mimic in some form or fashion the word that was just said. Scales are the foundational “words” of playing an instrument. Equivalent words a toddler might use are words like “hungry,” “please,” “thank you,” “hi,” and “bye.” Once a student has their scales mastered they would begin putting them into different settings and eventually would be able to play these scales in many variations, just like a human child being able to add emotions and context to their first words. Rhythm games are highly encouraged to challenge students with their scales. Children mimic and challenge themselves in their speech every day as they add varying speed, feeling, and dynamics to their speech. Possible rhythmic variations in music could include quarters notes, dotted eighth and sixteenth note, sixteenth note and then a dotted eighth note. The possibilities are endless, especially because students can mimic much harder rhythms then they can read. Once they have mastered the rhythm materials in this book, their teacher should start showing them what the rhythms they are playing look like. Students shouldn’t be expected to be able to read these rhythms right away, but much like a parent reads to their child every night, so should their teacher first read rhythms to them. Then with time students will slowly begin to read on their own. Their beginning band teacher must be the student’s musical parent in a sense, and their musical first grade teacher before students can progress onto more advanced reading concepts. After the scales, daily rhythm tunes are introduced. Concert Bb is recommended but any pitch can be used; for example, the teacher can pick the new note of the day and use that for the OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 20 exercise. Once students have grasped the general rhythm, the teacher can change the style, speed, and articulation. One idea is to swing the beat and to make that more exciting; using a Bb blues back track, if accessible, can be a fun challenge for students. Many of these rhythms may seem too advanced. But, in my experience, students will grasp the more advanced concepts when mimicking. Teachers should not be afraid to try some of their own more advanced rhythms. Next are improvisation exercises. Various ideas for getting students to learn to improvise are included in this section and should be practiced at least twice a week as outlined in the practice plan. As students learn to improvise, they are learning to listen and to feel freedom in music. This exercise can be both therapeutic and beneficial to all well-rounded musicians. Six tunes were picked to be the mimicking tunes for this book. Each one builds upon the last one, adding a new concept each time, and each is apt to be an enjoyable tune that will encourage repetition. A lot of repetition will be needed as students begin each song. Muscle memory of proper hand positions, posture, and embouchures have not yet been made habitual. This will mean that by having students practice easier pieces repetitiously, they will be better able to focus on the technical fundamentals of playing their instrument. Self-evaluation is critical to playing an instrument. Students learn to correct and recognize their own mistakes when repetition and mimicking are used to teach. Mimicking without given notes is higher on the Bloom’s taxonomy then simply reading and producing given pitches. This entire book is designed for students to use primarily the top tiers of Bloom’s taxonomy, thereby challenging not only the student’s ear but their higher cognitive levels: creating, evaluating, and analyzing as picture below (Bloom,1956): OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 21 The first mimicking song chosen was the Jaws theme, which is made up of half steps. The chromatic scale is the first scale students are learning in this method. A unique aspect to this book is that instead of the Bb scale being the fundamental scale of this band I picked the chromatic scale. A student’s flexibility and knowledge of all the notes chromatically is critical as students are exploring mimicking and trying to find correct pitches. The closer they can come to the actual note when searching, this will hopefully help students in their search for the correct pitch. Another benefit is that students will also be more comfortable with sharp and flat fingerings. These enharmonic ideas of flat and sharp fingerings are usually very challenging for students to grasp. However, I believe if they first learn the chromatic scale then they will be more prepared when the concept appears in their music. This song can also become more OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 22 advanced on different levels as we add “scary” dynamics or as we apply an accelerando for faster speeds. The next song is Hot Cross Buns. I call it the three-note song so students will have a reference point as they being trying to mimic the piece. I think it’s a good hint and will help them try to find what combination of those three notes in turn make up Hot Cross Buns. This pass off is also tongued, which will be an excellent chance for students to practice precise tonguing as the song has eighth notes. We will begin learning this piece by singing the words. Once students have grasped the tune and the words to the song we will then begin learning by rote, imitation through short pieces of the tune that add on to the whole song. This piece will also be on my blog available as a recording for students to practice with and to listen to at home. Through all of these combined strategies most students should have a proficient grasp on this piece by week two. Characteristic sounds of their instruments should even begin to be recognized through imitation of the recording. The recordings will begin with just a piano playing all of the pieces. As I use this program more my plan is to contact local professional musicians and educators who would be willing to be recorded playing each of the pieces and replace the piano with those. Students will likely be excited to practice the third piece as they will easily recognize the Youtube sensation, Baby Shark. Rhythms are tricky and will be a superb tonguing and rhythm test for them. However, singing the words to the song will aide in mastering the difficult rhythms, and the notes are not hard to figure out as there are still three main notes in the theme. As a side note, the key change is recommended to be left out and returned to in the future when students are more ready for a more advanced concept. The fourth pass off is Mary. I thought this was a good tune to pick. There will need to be diatonic ear mimicking where short sections of the piece are used in the echo warm ups previous OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 23 to actually learning the piece. The benefit of this piece is that on average it is already in their ears. One other large struggle will be the alternative ending which will is a good test to see if the students are listening to the way I am playing the tune for them as opposed to how they’ve heard it all their lives. The fifth piece has three options: Star Wars, Hand Clap, and Jurassic Park. All three songs can be taught at this point, or it is also an option to pick one and come back later to finish the rest. If Star Wars is chosen then the hardest challenge is the high concert Bb found in the second measure. Method books often wait until students are three quarters of the way finished with the method book to even introduce these harder pitches. Clarinets will need to go over the break, horns will need to go into their high range, for most beginners this note is a challenge. I have found that giving students an exciting taste of these higher notes early is a good way to get them ready for it in the future. They will be more confident and progress faster in their scales if by week four to six they are able to reach an octave. The final piece, Happy Birthday, also has that high concert Bb and Star Wars would be a great precursor to that. Finally, Happy Birthday will be a great test to show the accumulation of the past six-week program. It is another reinforcer of the high concert Bb, it is their longest piece yet, and will be a great introduction to the key of concert Eb. After the final pass off I have gathered three more advanced selections that can be used at any time for a good ear training challenge. Teachers and students could also be looking for other pop tunes, folk tunes, movie themes and more that will be fun ways to challenge mimicking in the classroom. Following these pieces are supplementary materials in the “Plus One” section. These are an accumulation of a variety of ideas and tools. It is recommended that these be used at least once a day to supplement the rest of the book. OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 24 The student manual is in reality a notebook that students will need to use for note taking, practicing, and quiz taking. It has their practice outline in the beginning and has places for students to write notes and to keep track of the things they’re learning in class. At the end of the six-week program these handbooks will be handed in and graded. They will be handed out digitally to each student and submitted via Google classroom. Challenges In writing this supplementary band book, challenges were varied. One challenge I faced was in picking the music. I wanted to find music that would be fun for the students, not too hard, had few new notes, was in a reasonable range for all instruments, and ones which would allow the students to play the piece in complete unison. This was nearly impossible with the classical genre of music I was first looking at using. It was my intention to completely skip the traditional tunes used in most methods books such as Mary Had a Little Lamb and Hot Cross Buns. In my searching I went straight to famous classical pieces such as the William Tell Overture, Carmen, O Mio Bambino Caro, Pavane, and others. In that search I found it a challenge to find pieces that could be put into a key that would work well for each instrument at the beginning level. Trumpets and clarinets were a huge problem. Often it would be too high for the clarinets but too low for the trumpets. Tuba parts also showed great difficulty as the music would be in reasonable ranges for everyone else, but the tuba range should have been about a third higher to be comfortable for a beginning tubist. This also led to a unison problem as I could not write parts truly in matching unison if one section had to adjust to a higher octave in the middle of a line of music. In the end I was forced to use traditional tunes. I kept a few advanced classical pieces to be used later in the year or to even be used in their second year of playing. OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 25 Another challenge was in the schedule. Knowing how much time to give to each piece was difficult. In the past I’ve taught students up to ten lines from the book in one day. This schedule instead begins with one piece and during the course of six weeks progresses to six short pieces. The band method books I’ve used in the past have hundreds of lines, and many band teachers go through two books in a year’s time. In contrast, the Suzuki beginning flute book has seventeen lines and it’s used for one to two years. I anticipate that students will have a better foundational level then in the past as we repeat these six songs more, this will leave more class time for other great musician building skills time as included throughout the book. Improvisation, composition, learning their own songs by ear for extra credit, are all aspects included in this methodology that usually beginning band classes don’t make time for. However, this method could also be a challenge in the classroom setting. Next year I have fifty-two beginning band students and as we learn these pieces by rote it will be a challenge to find individual mistakes among such a large class. I am hoping that by introducing these pieces by sound first that students will be able to go home and begin to find some of their own mistakes earlier than normal. Future Uses My plans for this book are to use it for the next few years in my beginning band classes, refining and adding things as I go. Once I have settled on a way that works well for me, and that I have seen good results while using, then I plan on posting it on my Google site and letting other band teachers try it out. I will share a Google doc that they can copy and edit on their own without affecting mine, and I will only ask that if they make any large changes that they please share it back to me so I can benefit from their ideas. I would love to present this book to a few band method classes at local universities and share my knowledge and advice with future OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 26 educators. I would have loved to have someone do that for me and I think sharing this book with them would be a great tool they could use in their first years teaching. Conclusion This project taught me a lot about what I personally believe is the best way to teach beginning musicians. It is surprising how opinionated someone can become the more they research and practice certain methods. In fact, the more band directors I meet the more aware of how extremely opinionated someone can be on how to properly teach a musical concept. Each band director teaches the same basic concepts however, there are infinite ways of teaching each concept. I believe that we as teachers find a way that works for our teaching style, and we find comfort in that, and we stick with it. When a teacher finds a method that works for them and decides to keep it, it doesn’t mean that it is the only right way, it just means that the teacher found a way that worked, and with that we as teachers create a safety net of teaching methods. Being unafraid to try something new, and to be okay most importantly with failing, is needed as good teachers. However, asking someone to fail at something that they’ve been successfully teaching one way, to just try something new, that someone else is succeeding at, is a challenge. I believe the best teachers are the ones that still try new concepts. These teachers aren’t necessarily trying new concepts every day, all the time, but they are always learning, and always willing to take a risk on trying a new method that sounds like it might be better for their students. This keeps the teacher more open minded and, in my opinion, a better teacher. I have learned much in doing the literature review and then in applying that knowledge in a method book form. However, I think the real learning is about to begin. Applying these ideas and concepts in an actual classroom will be the ultimate lesson, and test to see if these are truly the best practices. OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 27 References Baker, D., & Green, L. (2013). Ear playing and aural development in the instrumental lesson: Results from a “case-control” experiment. Research Studies in Music Education,141– 159. doi:10.1177/1321103X1350825 Bloom, B. (1956). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Retrieved from https://carleton.ca/viceprovost/blooms-taxonomy/ Brathwaite, A. (1988). Suzuki training: musical growth or hindrance? Music Educators Journal, 75(2), 42–45. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3398060 Cole, K. (2011). Professional notes: Brain-based-research music advocacy. Music Educators Journal, 98(1), 26–29. doi:10.1177/0027432111416574 Dalby, B. (1999). Teaching audiation in instrumental classes. Music Educators Journal, 85(6), 22–46. doi:10.2307/3399517 Davidson, Lyle S., Larry Scripp, and P. Weish. (1988). “Happy Birthday”: Evidence for conflicts of perceptual knowledge and conceptual understanding. Journal of Aesthetic Education, 22(1), 65–74. Dosman, N. A. (2017). Why music matters in urban school districts: The perspectives of students and parents of the Celia Cruz High School of Music, Bronx, New York. Arts Education Policy Review, 118(2), 67–82. doi:10.1080/10632913.2015.1009223 Miller, N. (2017) .More than fun music isn’t just recreation-it’s education. Canadian Musician, 39(4), 46–47. Moreno, S., Friesen, D., & Bialystok, E. (2011). Effect of music training on promoting preliteracy skills: Preliminary causal evidence. Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal,29(2), 165-172. doi:10.1525/mp.2011.29.2.165 OPITMAL BEGINNINGS 28 Priest, P. (1989). Playing by ear: Its nature and application to instrumental learning. British Journal of Music Education, 6(2), 173–191. doi:10.1017/S0265051700007038 Schleuter, S. L. (1997). A sound approach to teaching instrumentalists: An application of content and learning sequences. New York: Schirmer Books. Sindberg, L. K. (2016). Thinking in music from the very beginning: Introducing an after-school band project. Music Educators Journal, 102(4), 62–66. https://doi.org/10.1177/0027432116645654 Stewart, L., Henson, R., Kampe, K., Walsh, V., Turner, R., & Frith, U. (2003). Brain changes after learning to read and play music. NeuroImage, 20(1), 71–83. doi:10.1016/s1053- 8119(03)00248-9 Suzuki, S. (1996). Nurtured by love. Miami, FL: Warner Bros. Publication. Tupman, D. F. (2007). Research confirms the added value of music study. Canadian Winds / Vents Canadiens (Fall), 3–4. Wandell, B., Dougherty, R., Ben-Shachar, M., Deutsch, G., & Tsang, J. (2008). Learning, Arts, and the Brain. New York, NY: Dana Press. West, C. (2016). Sound foundations: Organic approaches to learning notation in beginning band. Music Educators Journal, 102(4), 5–61. doi:10.1177/0027432116636941 Varvarigou, Maria (2014) ‘Play it by ear’—Teachers' responses to ear-playing tasks during one-to- one instrumental lessons, Music Education Research, 16(4), 471–484, doi:10.1080/14613808.2013.878326 Training Ears and Eyes in Beginning Band By Jessica Graham Jessica Graham Masters in Education from Weber State University, Bachelors in Music Education from Brigham Young University- Idaho and 10 year teacher. I have taught beginning band 24 times since my first year teaching and it’s a terrifying and awe inspiring experience every time you teach it. Every year during the first month I have to remind myself “they will get better” and you know what they do. However, is there a way we could help them more at the start then we already do? Are the methods books enough? I say no. I have found that about 70% of my teaching is from my own knowledge. These are exercises that I have found work for me and the subject most left out of today’s method books? Ear training. We want it in our classes but we also don’t want too much. This method book is exactly that. It is a supplement that strives to develop the student’s ears for the four weeks of band then at week 5 it begins to add activities that blend together to slow add in music notation naturally and methodically. So many of my student’s metacognitive abilities are very very low, and are the first couple of years in band. I propose and have found that if we first teach the ear first then everything else falls into to place. So here is my six week program for developing that ear and then slowly bringing in music notation so that the student can still learn to read. Table of Contents ● Pg. 4,5,6 Daily 6 week practice plan for in class ● Pg. 7 Long Tone Warm up #1 ● Pg. 8 Long Tone Warm up #2 -A,B,C,D ● Pg. 9 Warm Up 3 -Tuning, Scales Intro ● Pg. 9 Scales ● Pg. 10 Chromatic Scale Sections A,B,C ● Pg. 11 Bb Scale, C Scale ● Pg. 12 F Scale, Bb Blues Scale ● Pg. 13 Daily Rhythm Tunes (DRT) A-D ● Pg. 14 DRT E-I ● Pg.15 Improv Exercises ● Pg. 16 Mimicking Tunes (M.T.) 1 Deep Dark 2. 3 Note Song ● Pg. 17 3 Baby Shark ● Pg. 18 4 Mary ● Pg. 19 5 Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Hand Clap ● Pg. 20 Final Test 6 Happy Birthday ● Pg. 21 7 Jupiter ● Pg. 22 8 Pavane ● Pg. 23 9 Fur Elise ● Pg. 24 Performance Song and Supplementary MAterial Section (P.S.) Supplementary #1 ● Pg. 25 Supp. 2 ● Pg 26-34 JZ’s Rock Teacher’s Manual Practice Plan Weeks Practice session 1 Practice session 2 Practice session 3 Practice session 4 Practice session 5 (Test Day)? 1 ● Warm up 1. 2A ● Scale section A ● DRT A ● Improv. #2 ● M.T #1 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B. ● Scale section A,B ● DRT A,B ● Improv.#2 ● M.T. #1 ● E.T #1 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2 -A. B. ● Scale section A,B-Bb ● DRT A,B,C, ● Impr. #2 ● M.T. #1 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B. ● Scale section A,B-Bb ● DRT B,C,D ● Impr. #2 ● Review M.T. #1 ● M.T #2 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B. ● Scale section A,B-Bb ● DRT C,D,E ● Impr. #2 ● Review M.T. #1,#2 ● Test M.T. #1 ● P.1 2 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B., ● Pre Test 4a ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb ● DRT D,E,F ● Review M.T. #1 ● M.T. #2 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B., 4a ● DRT E,F,G ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb ● Review M.T. #1 ● M.T. #2 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B., 4a ● DRT F,G,H ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb ● Review M.T. #1 ● M.T. #2 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B., ● Test Warm Up 4a ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb ● DRT G,H,I ● Review M.T. #1, #2 ● M.T #3 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B., ● DRT A,B,C, ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb ● Test M.T. #2 ● P.1 3 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C. ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb, C ● DRT B,C,D ● Review M.T. #1, #2 ● M.T #3 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C. ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb, C ● DRT C,D,E ● Review M.T. #1, #2 ● M.T #3 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C. ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb, C ● DRT D,E,F ● Review M.T. #1, #2 ● M.T #3 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C. ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb, C ● DRT E,F,G ● Review M.T. #1, #2,#3 ● M.T #4 ● Supp. 1,2 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C. ● Scales Chrom. A-C, Bb, C ● DRT F,G,H ● Test M.T. #3 ● Supp.1,2 ● P.1 4 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C. ● Pre Test Warm up 4B ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F ● DRT G,H,I ● Review M.T. #1, #2,#3 ● M.T #4 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C., 4B ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F ● DRT A,B,C, ● Review M.T. #1, #2,#3 ● M.T #4 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C., 4B ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F ● DRT B,C,D ● Review M.T. #1, #2,#3 ● M.T #4 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A.B.C. ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F ● Test Warm up 4B ● DRT C,D,E ● Review M.T. #1,#2,#3,#4 ● M.T #5 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C. ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F ● DRT D,E,F ● Test M.T. #4 ● P.1 5 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● DRT E,F,G ● Review M.T. #1,#2,#3,#4 ● M.T #5 ● Sup.1 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● DRT F,G,H ● Review M.T. #1,#2,#3,#4 ● M.T #5 ● Sup.1 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● DRTG,H,I ● Review M.T. #1,#2,#3,#4 ● M.T #5 ● P.1 ● Supp. 1,2 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● Warm up #3 ● DRT A,B,C, ● Review M.T. #1, #2,#3,#4,#5 ● M.T #6 ● Supp. 1,2 ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● DRT B,C,D ● Test M.T. #5 ● Supp. 1,2 ● P.1 6 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Warm up #3 ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● DRT C,D,E ● Review M.T. #1, #2,#3,#4,#5 ● M.T #6 ● JZ’s Rock ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● DRT D,E,F ● Review M.T. #1, #2,#3,#4,#5 ● M.T #6 ● JZ’s Rock ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● Warm up #3 ● DRT E,F,G ● Review M.T. #1, #2,#3,#4,#5 ● M.T #6 ● JZ’s Rock ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● DRT F,G,H ● Review M.T. #1, #2,#3,#4,#5 ● M.T #6 ● JZ’s Rock ● P.1 ● Warm up 1, 2- A. B.C.D ● Scales Chrom. A-C,Bb,C,F, Bb Blues ● DRTG,H,I ● Test M.T. #6 ● JZ’s Rock ● P.1 Ear training tone warm ups To be played by teacher -students mimic Explain the sound they are trying to achieve, a steady, unwavering clear tone. They should hold onto the note as long as they can with good tone and in one breath then release the note -Always repeat, remind students they can always do something better the second time. Long Tones Warm up #1 Warm up 2 Warm up 3 Tuning Pass the note is a great way to teach tuning and to teach students to listen to intonation issues. One student will play a note and will pass it onto the next student without a break in sound. It will need to be explained to students that the note should pass seamlessly almost as if the 1st person were still playing it. This in turn will help them to learn to match pitch. Warm up 4-Long Tone challenge A. Concert Bb- hold a Concert Bb for as long as you possibly can with one breathe. Drop out when you can’t sustain a note any longer. B. Sizzling - Same as above except for not you sustain a “sizzle” sound and you keep your hand raised until you can’t sustain the sizzle any longer and have to drop out. Scales- Each scale is clearly written out in the same half note pattern. Just like a human parent would teach a child a new word clearly and slowly for their child to then repeat back to them. I.e the word Dad. Think about the first time you tried to get your child to say that. Just the same way you will teach your band students to play their scales. These are the foundational “words” of playing an instrument. I.e hungry, please, thank you, hi and bye. Once you have these words mastered you can begin putting them into different settings and eventually will play these scales in any and every variation possible. Rhythm games are highly encouraged to challenge students. Human children mimic and challenge themselves varying speed, feeling, and dynamics to their speaking. Possible variations quarters notes, dotted eighth and a 16th note, 16th note and then a dotted The possibilities are endless and students can mimic much harder rhythms then they can read them. Once they’ve mastered the materials in this book start showing them what they look like. Don’t expect them to be able to read them right away but much like a parent reads to their child every night so should you first read to them and then they will slowly begin to read on their own as you teach them. You must be their musical parent, and their musical 1st grade teacher before you can progress onto advanced reading concepts. Chromatic - Have students figure out what the last part of section C is Bb Scale C Scale F scale Bb Blues Scale - try having students figure out what note is missing at the end Daily Rhythm Tunes (DRT) Concert Bb is recommended but you can use any pitch. I,e pick the new note of the day and use that for the exercise. Once they grasp the general rhythm, try changing the style, speed and articulation. You can Swing the beat and make it more exciting by using a Bb blues back track if accessible. -side note many of these rhythms may seem too advanced. In my experience students will grasp the more advanced concepts when mimcing. Don’t be afraid try some of your own more advanced rhythms. A. B C D E . F G H Mimicking Tunes (M.T.) These will be the student pass offs, less is more with these lines. Work on style, tone, how to hold the instrument but still playing recognizable or enjoyable tunes that they don’t mind repeating. Recordings of these are on the drive. Students should have access to all mimicking tunes throughout the course that way they are still able to practice at home without the teacher. 1. Deep Dark 2. 3 Note Song 3 - in the future review mary and have an assignment where students have to figure out Mary starting on a different pitch. 4. 5. Jupiter optional extra credit idea- if students figure out more of the piece 6. Pavane 7. Fur Elise You’ve been practice the chromatic scale everyday for 4 weeks. Now it’s time for the students to really apply what they’ve been practicing. Performance Song and supplementary material (P.S.) Supplementary (Supp.) #1 #2 Jz’s Rock Plus 1 Section (p.1) The following are ideas that can be added in at the teacher’s discretion. It is recommended that each day at least 1 item from the following are used in class. Improvisation Exercises (Improv.) 1. Five note song. Students figure out five notes of any song by ear. 2. Call and Response -Students all improvise a short call using concert Bb of which the rest of the class will respond to. a. This also works will with woodwinds calling and brass responding on mouthpieces. 3. Use a back track and allow students to take turns improving. Assign the notes at first. I.e using a Bb blues track have students improvise using Bb and Db. Then Bb Dd Eb and so on until they any use any note in the scale. -Also encourage students to improvise with their rests. 3. Challenge the students to add a tune to their improve. I.e a few recognizable notes from another song. It can be any song. See if they can fit it in their solo somewhere. Composition Exercises (Comp.) 1. The add on game: students in groups of 3 to 7 will compose a short song. One person will start with a short repeating melody or rhythm, the next student will add on with something they think sounds like it goes with it, this will continue until the whole group has added in then students will compose an ending. a. The add on game but with rhythms only b. The add on game but using only specific notes c. The add on game using any notes they want d. The add on game but you must start and end on the same note e. The add on game in varied meters f. Add on game with varied keys 4. Two note game-students in groups of 2-5 create their own song by each student adding two notes to whatever was played last. They go around in a circle adding on their notes to the song until they’ve gone at least once or twice around the circle and have a song. 5. Students compose a song and then create their own notation to remember it. Supplementary Worksheets Worksheet 1 Name that tune 1. Is the second note higher, lower, the same? a. b. c. d. e. 2. What is the next note? a. This song uses the following notes. 1=Concert Bb,2= Concert C, 3=Concert D,4=Concert Eb,5=Concert F For My Instrument 1= 2= 3= 4= 5= What is the order? Use- 12345 b. c. d. e. f. Worksheet 2 1. Is this second note sharper or flatter then the first note? a. b. c. d. 2. What words match the following rhythms Draw a line to connect the matching rhythms A. Pop Tarts B. Hot Cocoa C. Chicken Nuggets D. Pork Tenderloin E. Carrot Sticks and Dip 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Worksheet 3 1. Compose a song using your full name for the rhythm. 2. Compose a song and find symbols to represent it. 3. Write down the notes for hot cross buns in a way someone else could read it too. Explain it to your neighbor Training Ears and Eyes in Beginning Band by Jessica Graham Student Manual Table of Contents ● Pg. 3 Practice Schedule ● Pg. 4, 5 Warm up Notes ● Pg. 5 Scale Notes ● Pg. 6 Daily Rhythm Tunes (DRT) ● Pg. 7 Mimicking Tunes (M.T) Notes 1. Deep Dark 2. 3 Note Song 3. Mary ● Pg. 8 M.T 4. Happy Birthday 5. Jupiter ● Pg. 9 M.T. 6 Pavane 7. Fur Elise ● Pg. 10 Performance Song and Supplementary Material (P.S) Supp. 1, Supp.2 ● Pg.11 JZ’s Rock ● Pg. 12 Supplementary Worksheets Worksheet #1 ● Pg. 13 Worksheet #2 ● Pg. 14 Worksheet #3 Schedule The following is your note section. You will be expected to practice what we do in class. In order to do that you will need to develop your own way of writing music in order to remember how to play the songs. Total Score___/220 pts. Each Note section is worth points. To receive full points you must show detailed notes of each of the following exercises that we do in class. You should be using this in your daily practice at home to remember what we did in class. Warm up Notes - /10pts ● Long tones Warm up 1 ● Warm up 2 A B C D ● Warm up 3 A B Scales Notes /10pts Chromatic Scale Concert Bb Scale Concert C Scale Concert F Concert Bb Blues Daily Rhythm Tunes /10pts A B C D E F G H I Mimicking Tunes /10pts Notes 1. Deep Dark /20 2. 3 Note Song /20 3. Baby Shark /20 4. Mary /20 5. Pop Tune /20 6. Happy Birthday /20 Performance Song and Supplementary Material Notes /30 Supp.1 Suppl. 2 Jz’s Rock Supplementary Worksheets Worksheet 1 /15 Name that tune 1. Is the second note higher, lower, the same? a. b. c. d. e. 2. What is the next note? a. This song uses the following notes. 1=Concert Bb,2= Concert C, 3=Concert D,4=Concert Eb,5=Concert F For My Instrument 1= 2= 3= 4= 5= What is the order? Use- 12345 b. c. d. e. f. Worksheet 2 /9 1. Is this second note sharper or flatter then the first note? a. b. c. d. 2. What words match the following rhythms Draw a line to connect the matching rhythms A. Pop Tarts B. Hot Cocoa C. Chicken Nuggets D. Pork Tenderloin E. Carrot Sticks and Dip 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Worksheet 3 /15 1. Compose a song using your full name for the rhythm. 2. Compose a song and find symbols to represent it. 3. Write down the notes for hot cross buns in a way someone else could read it too. Explain it to your neighbor