During my last year of teaching I decided to take on directing the fifth- and sixth-grade after-school jazz band on top of my regular high school teaching schedule.
Tips For Your Jazz Band Guitarist
With very little background in playing guitar, and no background in jazz guitar pedagogy, many band directors find themselves at a loss on how to help their jazz band guitarist.
Instrumental Teachers in General Music: Teaching Outside Your Comfort Zone?
Let’s set the stage: you have an instrumental performance degree and a teaching degree in band or orchestra. After graduation, you find yourself working as a long-term substitute teaching band or orchestra.
Copyright and Your Marching Band
When planning a marching band show, one of the first decisions to make is whether to go with a stock arrangement, write a custom show, or hire someone to do so for you.
Improving Brass Tone Production
As the school year is now in full swing, let’s turn our thoughts to brass tone production. No doubt, your students are all playing a lot right now and are probably working the muscles more than ever before.
Blues-Based Warm Ups for the Jazz Ensemble
Blues represent a great way to warm up any jazz band. In addition to providing the foundation that jazz, rock, and rhythm and blues are built on, the blues progression is simple enough for beginners to explore.
Searching for a Unicorn: Balance and Blend in Middle School Band
When I was describing the content of this article to a friend, she inadvertently suggested the title in her response; “Balance and blend for middle schoolers?
The Jazz Band That Sings Together Swings Together
Tight rhythm and phrasing are hallmarks of any successful jazz ensemble. Singing is a great way to develop a collective sense of articulation and playing “in the pocket.” Singing through parts allows students to develop an aural sense of the music without the struggle of making it sound on their instrument.
Tuning Technology, Listening, and the Ancient Secret to Intonation
In our previous intonation post we shared tips on building a strong foundation (with proper embouchure and air support), ideas on harmonic and melodic intonation, and ways to help kids remember how to tune.
Middle School Band Intonation: Balancing Technique and Student Engagement
Intonation is an annual struggle in the middle school band classroom, but taking time early in students’ development to teach the concept will pay dividends for the rest of their lives.