Band Class Summary

Students perform on their instrument, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music. They demonstrate proper procedures for assembling and maintaining the instrument and will perform with proper posture, playing position, and good breath or stick control. They perform with a tone quality characteristic of their instrument and will be able to demonstrate tuning procedures for correcting intonation.

Students perform music representing diverse genres and cultures, demonstrating appropriate articulation and dynamics for expressive interpretation representative of the particular culture. They define and demonstrate an understanding of standard notation symbols for musical concepts such as pitch, rhythm, expression, dynamics, tempo, and articulation.

Students demonstrate an understanding of musical notation, composition, and improvisation. They read whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and dotted notes and rests in 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 3/8, and alla breve meter signatures. They complete a melody by filling in missing notes, compose or improvise an ending to a given melody, and compose or improvise a variation on a given melody.

Students evaluate the quality and effectiveness of their own and others’ performances, composition, arrangements, and improvisations by applying criteria appropriate for the style of music and offer constructive suggestions for improvements.

Beginning Band

Text:
Standard of Excellence Comprehensive Band Method, Book 1 (Pearson)

Supplemental Materials:
Concert Band music for winter and spring concerts. Materials vary from year to year.

Methods:
Beginning band is taught as a mixture of a small amount of lecture with mostly full-group, hands-on experience. Students learn skills, which often require one-to-one instruction. They demonstrate the playing skills learned individually on a regular basis.

Advanced Band

Text:
Standard of Excellence Comprehensive Band Method, Book 2 (Pearson)

Supplemental Materials:
Concert Band music for winter and spring concerts. Materials vary from year to year.

Methods:
Advanced Band uses the method book for acquiring specific skills but supplements it to a greater extent than is true of Beginning Band with concert band literature appropriate for middle school bands. Each student is expected to demonstrate mastery of skills. A higher level of proficiency is expected of students with more experience in band (i.e. eighth or ninth graders) than those with less experience.