Long Tones in the Caribbean
(any time of year...especially when you're sick of the cold)
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I wrote this one because sometimes we all need a quick vacation to somewhere warm to escape the cold. This follows a similar formula to all the other series, a of basic exercise for the youngest players, the Bb scale, then chromatically one octave. And where the first couple of exercises are some island grooves, I went a little overboard on the latter ones. You'll hear many Hans Zimmer references as we navigate all the pirates in the Caribbean. Thankfully, band people are good a monitoring and adjusting. Also, extra credit if you can name the Easter egg music reference at the end. Hope this adds some fun to the band room!
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PART ONE
First Fundamentals & Foundation Warm-Ups
First Fundamentals and the Foundation Warm-Ups Series are designed for the youngest players. I've been careful to scaffold these exercises flow well with beginning band methods. My main goal is to give you OPTIONS: Options to vary instruction...options to create engagement...options for students to enjoy practicing beyond the classroom. Hopefully you can find some materials that will help you build strong fundamentals and a foundation for much music making.
First Fundamentals
The Very Beginning
The Very Beginning
These warm-ups/fundamentals are designed to accompany the very first days of playing. These come with drone and metronome exercises, cinematic accompaniments, and more to help facilitate great habits from the very beginning.
Foundation Warm-Ups
Very, Very Easy
Very, Very Easy
The Foundation Warm-Ups Series is a supplemental set of warm-ups that takes young musicians from the first five notes through their first years of playing. Each set is scaffolded to match the general progression of most beginning band methods. Complete with drone + metronome tracks and cinematic accompaniments, these progressive fundamentals are a great addition to the young band curriculum.
PART TWO
Complete Warm-Up Sets
Below you'll find several different full band warm-up sets. There is a varying degree of difficulty and exercises, though all focus on the essentials. As we all know, fundamentals make a huge difference. These following sets will hopefully give you some resources to help the rehearsal flow and student achievement. As always, if you catch a mistake (I'm my own editor) or have a suggestion/request, send me a note and I'll see what I can do! (Contact click HERE)
Young Ensemble Warm-Ups
Easy - Medium Easy
Easy - Medium Easy
The Young Ensemble Warm-ups are a great resource to have in the band folder. These are designed to take the full band through the warm-up process. Exercises include Long Tones, Flexibility Exercises (lip slurs, register slurs), Articulation Exercises, and Chorales. There are plenty of idiomatic percussion parts to accompany the wind parts. Check em' out!
Below is the 2020 Edition to the Young Ensemble Warm-Ups. I've made extensive revisions... They are a little more difficult in places, so this may be a good "next step" from the first edition. If you find any mistakes, please let me know! I'm my own editor and am definitely not perfect!!
**Note: the original version has the horn offset a fifth during long tones and flexibility to put it in a more comfortable range. I had doubled those pitches with the alto sax and tenor sax parts to give horn players reference pitches for helping find partials. If you would prefer to have all the parts in unison, use the adjusted set below **
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Symphonic Warm-Ups
Medium Easy
Medium Easy
These warm-ups are very similar to the Young Ensemble Warm-Ups, but have some slight differences. I wrote these when I was a good bit younger, so they're not as polished as some of the newer resources. All that being said, these warm-ups got me to my first superior at festival! Have fun!
Comprehensive Ensemble Warm-Ups
Medium Easy - Medium
Medium Easy - Medium
This warm-up set is geared more towards the developing high school ensemble, though advance middle school ensembles may find use as well. This warm-up takes the band through much of the fundamental process during every day rehearsal. It contains long tones, flexibility/lip slur exercises, articulation practice, range development, multiple full ensemble chorales, and dynamics practice. There are plenty of engaging and technical percussion parts as well. Good luck!
** Note: the long tones sequence works with the Cinematic Long Tones**
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Build-A-Warm-Up
Build-A-Warm-Up is currently under construction and will allow you to have an à la carte approach to using the resources. It will have tons of exercises for you to pick and choose from, allowing you to vary it up from day to day. Each exercise will have it's own accompaniment video. This way, you'll be able to build your own accompaniment order by making a custom Youtube playlist. (I.E. - "today we're playing Long Tones #1 A, B, Flexibility #1 C, D, E"....etc)
Just a quick warm-up in Bb or C. I used video that "flows" to give a type of visual representation/sensation of a good, steady airstream.
OR.. one octave descending chromatically from F to Bb, then ascending F to Bb.
PART THREE
Another Approach to Ensemble Warm-Ups
Medium Easy
We all know the importance of warming up and developing warm-up routines. Some individuals need more routine than others; some ensembles need more routine than others. In some pedagogical discussions with colleagues we determined that the warm-ups above (Young Ensemble and Symphonic) may not be the best for some ensembles. Rather, we discussed having different sets of warm-ups that can be done on different days or only certain segments are played each day. The idea is to keep students engaged in the warm-up and not have them become complacent about playing the exact same thing every day. So... here are three different sets of warm-up types that can be mix-matched however you please.
**Also, there are plenty of percussion parts to keep your percussionists engaged as well.**
**Also, there are plenty of percussion parts to keep your percussionists engaged as well.**
Side note: I am also a huge proponent of students learning how to warm up properly on their own. Because of how these are constructed, students can easily see the different types of warm up exercises. Students can also see how their playing is affected after doing each of the types.
PART FOUR
Band Basics
Band Basics has moved to the "Fundamentals" page in order to help improve load times.
PART FIVE
Marching Band - Hornline Warmups
Medium
Here's a great set of hornline warm-ups that will take you successfully through marching band season. Everything you need to get the ensemble ready to play is included: long tones exercises, flexibility and lip slurs, articulation exercises, technique exercises to help "play the horn," a solid tuning sequence, chord progressions (to help with sustain, blend, balance, intonation, loud playing, etc), and of course, a Bach chorale. There's enough material to keep you busy through band camp on into the school year. Take your favorite exercises to warm your group up before the football game or competition! The best part is that they're free!!
Hornline Warm-Ups - for Two Levels of Playing
These warm-ups came from having a wide level of skills in my marching band. Since we have seniors in the top band (of three) ranging to middle schoolers, it became apparent that the warm-ups tended to either be too easy or too difficult. To solve this, I wrote some warm-ups that had built-in multiple skill levels, mainly on the flexibility exercises. This system allowed each individual to better prepare themselves for rehearsal and performance.
Note: since these are primarily marching band hornline warm-ups, I did not spend a lot of time tailoring the percussion parts to be ideal for concert band. There is a snare/bass part and a mallet part. Percussionists can still develop necessary skills, but this is nothing like my Comprehensive Warm-Ups in regards to percussion.
Note: since these are primarily marching band hornline warm-ups, I did not spend a lot of time tailoring the percussion parts to be ideal for concert band. There is a snare/bass part and a mallet part. Percussionists can still develop necessary skills, but this is nothing like my Comprehensive Warm-Ups in regards to percussion.
PART SIX - EXTRAS
Chorales
Many visitors requested chorales, so I've cleaned up a set I wrote a while ago. As we all know, chorales are fundamental to getting a great sounding ensemble--balance, blend, intonation, phrasing, musicality, listening--the list goes on! These chorales should be ideal for late middle school and up.
Just Intonation Practice
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I decided to make an accompaniment track/video where individuals and ensembles could practice long tone chords that had been adjusted for just intonation. It's always a great moment when students first learn to "lock in" with an in tune chord. This also allows for a bit of theory development too, since the sequence goes through the circle of fourths. If you use this resource, let me know how it goes... especially since it's a little different than many of the other things I've created. My hope is to help everyone play better in tune :)
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