All directors find their own ways to best help their beginning band students get started. As I did in my previous woodwind post, below I’ve shared some beginning brass approaches that have worked for me.
Maximizing the School Counselor’s Impact
The secretary. The custodian. The counselor. These people in your building play an often behind-the-scenes, yet vitally important, role in your program’s success.
Traveling with School Music Groups
Traveling with school music groups has a multitude of benefits – both musical and non-musical. Many times the nonmusical benefits far outweigh the musical benefits.
Engaging Students after the Spring Concert – and Every Day
Are we playing today? What are we going to do for the rest of the year? Why do we still have class?
Improve Your Large Ensemble with Chamber Ensembles
Imagine a perfect world. Imagine a world where your students bring greatly improved attitude, sound, rhythm, confidence, and listening skills to your rehearsal.
Fluency and Music
Music performance, at its best, must be fluent. Listeners expect to hear uninterrupted lines that include clear communicative information. Listeners desire accuracy and true competency from performers.
3 Science-Backed Tips to Keep Your Students Motivated
As a music educator, the way in which you manage your classroom can have a major impact on students’ success.
National Core Arts Standards: Meeting “Creating” Requirements in Rehearsal
I have always felt that introducing students to composition can dramatically improve their ensemble experience. NAfME agrees. The following is from the NAfME website pertaining to the National Core Arts Standards on the “Opportunity-to-Learn Standards as Needs Assessment for Ensembles at the Elementary and Secondary Grades” page:
The curriculum emphasizes the Performing process but also provides experiences in Responding and Creating to enable students to understand these two processes and their components, allowing them to transfer what they have learned in the area of Performing.
The Dallas Brass: Helping Students Switch to Tuba
Change happens. Students move, graduate, or are abducted by aliens. Whatever the reason, at some point you’re going to need some students to switch to tuba.
Building Community with Your Holiday Concert
We wanted to do something special for last year’s December concert. Among our goals was to increase attendance by attracting some new audience members.