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Success Starts Day One
By Kelley TaylorPublished: May 2010
PDF Version AvailableThe first year of band is the most critical year for the teaching and learning that supports the success of any program. Great programs in middle school and beyond depend on the triumphs of the beginning year. I approach the beginning band year as a time to build strong players equipped with the tools and methods that prepare them for challenges beyond beginning band. I have often heard directors comment on how impressive it is for a middle school band to play what is considered high school literature, and for this to be possible much work has to be accomplished in the beginning year, before students ever become members of the more experienced groups.
From day one, I approach teaching beginners with high goals in mind, so that by end of the first year, they are prepared and eager to take on any and all endeavors a challenging middle school program can offer. From the moment my students walk into the band hall, I begin preparing them for what will follow beyond the beginning year. I have found that a successful first year is reached when band students achieve the following by the year’s end:
1) develop strong technical and tonal fundamentals;
2) embrace individual and public performances;
3) play the Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, G, C, F, and chromatic scales;
4) eagerly accept challenging music that pushes their technical limits; and
5) develop a familial bond with fellow band members and directors.
With these goals in mind, I work to help students develop these skills with a proven set of tools I employ each year.
Focusing on Fundamentals
Developing good fundamentals is absolutely necessary, and as students are pushed daily, I believe a strong foundation is inevitable. In my class, beginners start playing the second day of school. I don’t host a summer band where beginners get a head start, so as school begins, I move quickly. We play every day and for as much of the period as possible. Students are encouraged to hurry to class and be seated with their equipment ready before the bell rings. This even becomes a game of who is seated first.
In the first few weeks, I don’t give a lot of verbal instruction; instead I teach by rote. I demonstrate on an instrument, and a game of echo and response ensues. This formula supports a habit with students where they attentively listen for details and play, play, play. The key to students making good sounds is first to hear a characteristic sound, then work to achieve that sound by repetitive playing. The intense amount of playing builds muscle control, which leads to strong embouchures, physical dexterity, and tone quality. If students are spending the majority of the class time listening to the director talk, they are losing valuable time during which they could be playing. I also require students to submit weekly practice records; however, I strongly believe their best practice is done in the band hall where I can continue to challenge them.
Throughout the year I supplement beginning method book exercises with etudes from various instrumental methods. A beginning band method serves as a great foundation for a beginning class, but I find the technical challenges aren’t adequate to help them prepare for continued success in their future ensembles.
Practicing Performance
From the onset of beginning band I strive to have students embrace the ideas of performance by developing confident individuals who readily accept performance challenges they will face in the coming years. There are two types of performances, and we work on each throughout their beginner year: individual class performances and public ensemble performances.
Class Performances—After a few weeks of playing from a beginning method book, students are encouraged daily to volunteer or show off for the class. From the start, students are nurtured so that they feel comfortable and confident sharing their progress.
This sharing ranges from demonstrating a quality sound to playing favorite lines from the method book. I give clear instructions to the class, including limitations on their feedback. Students may cheer each other on, offer support, but no negative feedback is tolerated. This not only creates excitement for playing, but it also supports the bond between students that ultimately grows the program!
As a safe environment for student performance is established, students actually look forward to chair tests, which begin about six weeks into the year and continue throughout. The difficulty is gradual over the year, beginning with short tests, perhaps four measures long, to lengthier evaluations including complete 8- to 16-measure passages from the method book, scales, and/or excerpts from etudes studied as a class. At the end of each test students are ranked and seated accordingly. Again, this is to promote a desire for performance while also ingraining newfound confidence.
Public Performances—The beginning band has four public performances annually. The first concert is in October, after about ten weeks of playing. The “First Performance” concert is a demonstration concert where we show an excited crowd of parents what has been learned to this point. The band plays lines from the method book and a few sections may also be featured. For example, the trumpet section may play a line unaccompanied, and so on. I regard this first performance as an initiation for parents and students. The concert occurs early in the year when the newness of band hasn’t yet faded and serves to teach everyone about all the wonderful aspects of band. At this concert I typically address topics such as practicing at home, the importance of private lessons, parental support, and more. This early concert helps convince parents of the validity of the program and increases their trust in my guidance—it truly affects the remainder of the year. Other public performances will follow: winter concert, a concert contest in the spring, and a spring concert.
Succeeding with Scales
By the end of the year, all students should be able to play the Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, G, C, F, and chromatic scales. In my early years of teaching I taught only the Bb, Eb, and F scales as these were the keys the band would encounter most and I surmised the other scales would be taught later or in private lessons, but this simply didn’t happen. I realized that students will learn whatever I emphasize in class. Even if a private teacher teaches additional scales, the student will not embrace them if the director has not deemed them important.
When directors are restricted to repertoire because of the limitations established from the beginning, a band program is trapped and can never progress. It took me several years of teaching to realize this, and, once I did, things became much easier. However, learning scales has never been exciting to students. To help them embrace scale study, I made learning scales a high priority and created rewards for learning and performing scales.
Each spring the beginning band attends a concert contest at a small amusement park. Students have to earn the opportunity to participate by demonstrating that they can play their scales. To go on the trip, they have to earn enough points. Points are earned by performing scales for the class, and certain scales are worth more than others (e.g., a two-octave scale is worth more than a one-octave scale).
Students also earn points by turning in weekly practice records on time. They may also play for points with a director’s challenge in which I offer students the chance to play lines from the method book that have proven difficult for the class. Still, the best opportunity for earning points remains scales. This has become an effective means for promoting their importance.
Another activity I use to promote scale study is a Scale Off held at the end of the school year to keep students engaged. This contest allows everyone to compete for the title of scale master! I match up students so that everyone has a competitor of like ability. A pair comes to the front of the room and takes turns playing the scale I name. After each has played, a winner is declared. After each round, the winners are paired up to play until we end with a winner. The students love this activity!
I’m always looking for means to help students embrace scale study. Scales lead the way to playing challenging music that pushes the technical limits of woodwind and percussion players, and stretches the range of brass players.
Building Confidence
I want students to feel confident about playing in front of an audience and facing criticism, just as they will face in an audition or solo contest situation, so I encourage students to play in front of the class throughout the year in various activities. And everyone loves a good contest, so as the popular show American Idol airs each February, the contest also kicks off in beginning band class. This is a great project that excites and engages the students.
To begin, everyone in class must audition for the show (depending on the class size, this can take a couple of days). Students choose what to play—whatever shows off their talent best—and play at the front of the room for the class. Once everyone has played, I choose the finalists. After this initial audition, a round is held weekly where the finalists play the same exercise one at a time at the front of the room (typically something I’ve taught the class that week). After each finalist plays, I give comments while the voting public, their peers, who are active listeners, vote for one player to “go home.”
Rounds continue for several weeks until we finally end with a winner. Every year I’m amazed at how students embrace the project! The class listens attentively, while the finalists get better each week, really focusing on their stage presence, and it’s always interesting to see which students emerge as real contenders. Of course, I offer a grand prize for all this with the winner taking home a coveted trophy!
Advancing Through Auditions
By the close of their beginning year, students should be prepared to tackle difficult literature, such as the etudes they will encounter in Region auditions the next year. I interject difficult etudes, as appropriate, throughout the year and make a point to use the audition at the end of the year as another opportunity to expose students to challenging music. The audition each year consists of a brief excerpt from a difficult etude and scales, just as a student will encounter in an audition situation the following year.
Fostering a Family
A wonderful byproduct of the beginning class atmosphere is the feeling of family among the students. This feeling of belonging and importance has a great impact on student retention and the camaraderie begins even before students arrive. At the end of each year, current beginning students write letters in class to incoming beginning students. I set the parameters of the letter and proof them before mailing them, but in essence it is a welcome letter from one student to the next—a very powerful tool. Typically 90% or more of the beginning band class members continue band the following year. As students grow close to one another and develop a loyalty for band, it is then difficult—even unthinkable—to give up band for any other activity. As students face many electives choices, making band important to students is critical to membership.
The activities and methods described here outline a typical school year. The result is a student who is well-prepared, trained, and ready for the challenges a strong program will offer them the following years. The first year of band is absolutely critical for the development and growth of any program.
Kelley Taylor is Director of Bands for Brandenburg MS in Garland ISD. When she began there a decade ago, 87 students made up the entire program and the band had never earned a UIL sweepstakes. After using the approach she describes here with beginner band, she has seen the program grow to over 300 and the advanced ensembles consistently earn superior ratings at local and area contests.