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Wait... free!?!? Yes. Free. We're all in the trenches trying to teach our students with what we've got. It makes me very happy to know that others are able to use these resources. Please download, use with your students, send it to your colleagues, etc. If they've helped you, send them to everyone! (just don't remove the copyright) Now go teach some notes! |
Let's Read Music
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This series is videos and worksheets for the earliest stages of reading and understanding music. Meant to supplement all of the great resources out there for beginning theory and especially to supplement the theory in method books. Sometimes students just need a little more. My thoughts on this series is to teach the concepts at school, then use the videos and worksheets as some extra reinforcement beyond the classroom!
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The follow-up section is all about "ensemble theory." Originally titled "band theory," the topics covered are much more universal than just for "band." These are concepts to help with mastery of various concepts like the order of flats, constructing scales, key signatures, and other important (but often neglected!) topics.
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Warm-UpsBand Directors know the importance of warming up. A great warm up is essential to having a rehearsal (or just a great playing day in general). In the Warm-up Section of the free resources, you'll find a number of different sets of warm-ups for the developing band. Included you'll find several sets of warm-ups that work for full band, as well as for individual sections. There are various sets of long tones exercises, lip slurs for the brass, register slurs for the woodwinds, and various other techniques and basics exercises for a physical and mental warm-up. There are also loads of percussion parts for each set (each exercise has a snare and bass part, one or two mallets parts, and an auxiliary percussion part). We all know what happens when percussionists are not engaged! Also, I've written a "apply to everything" percussion technique practice as well.
This section definitely evolves the most, so check back frequently!
Sight-ReadingIn the world of band, sight-reading is extremely important. Here's some free exercises in two different formats. Some of the sight-reading is for help with honor band or all-state auditions. The other is to help the full band prepare of festival sight reading. I've used all these resources with my students for years and it has helped tremendously. Over the years, I've certainly learned that frequent sight-reading really helps.
GamesOkay.. so how do we make band engaging to students?? Well, we play games of course. We take a roll of tape and make it into a ball and use the trombones to play baseball in the band room (or band hall depending on your band-dialect). Please don't actually do that by the way... check out this section for some games that won't get you called into the principal's office.
Strings!The strings section will definitely be "under development" for the foreseeable future. I'm a band guy and don't spend too much time with strings (in a pedagogical sense). These resources will grow though. Some will be a strings version of a band thing I wrote, but there will increasingly be "strings only" resources and videos.
Miscellaneous ResourcesHere you'll find some resources that didn't find a home elsewhere. Fingering charts,
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Scales and TechniqueIn this section you'll find various scale sheets and exercises to help your students master technique. I've found that the more resources students have, the better. I like to have students read scales (and even just visualize/from memory) in numerous varying forms. Sometimes the scales in the back of the book don't click with all students. Here you'll find different ways I've written out scales and technique exercises to expand students' technical prowess. This section is also evolves a good bit.
ArrangementsI only have a few things up here, but definitely check it out if you need some organized notes to play!
Jazz CenterI love jazz. I love listening to it, teaching it, and learning about it. Whenever we bust out the jazz band at school events, the crowd always loves it (especially if you're playing some Herbie Hancock). So in this section, I'm exploring and creating resources for you and your students to better experience jazz. I'm not an aficionado, so I can't be as in-depth as I do on the concert side of things... but I definitely think kids are better off having access to jazz!
On a side note, if you have ideas of things I could write out and make available, let me know! (Contact) Recruitment MaterialsWe all know that we need to get student into the seats. As I've piddled and figured more on Adobe Illustrator and After Effects and such, I've been able to create some decent materials for recruitment. Check this section out and maybe you can find something of use!
PostersI love making posters of all sorts to put up around the band room... leadership concepts, theory, basic motivation, everything! Just download the file and take it to your preferred printer and slap it up on the wall!
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