Beginning
Jim Hunt
Retired Band Director
Puyallup School District, WA Band
Building The Foundation
Reprinted from Washington State Voice
attention and focus of the class, Sometimes foremost, it is important for the beginning
H
ere we go. Write everything
you have learned about teach-
I would have to remind myself that they are band teacher to know how to play all of the
ing beginning band for 42
here to play the instrument-it is my job to instruments to at least a third- or
years in one article. Of course I said yes-but
teach them while they are playing. fourth-year level. The embouchure, hand
then the next question is “where do I
Other techniques I used for motivation and instrument position, and unique prob-
begin?” I’ve been thinking about this for a
included: lems for each instrument need to be under-
while now and decided that I will approach
• Having as many students as possible stood before they can be taught. The funda-
this from the standpoint of what has
play in ensembles in the spring. mentals are those things we expect from our
worked for me. I will include the areas of
• Challenging each student to the best of young musicians every day. They cannot be
recruitment and motivation, fundamentals,
his or her ability with the ensemble accepted one day and not the next. Those
the first few weeks of teaching, method
choice. Providing an extra lesson or fundamentals that can be taught to a group
books, daily routine and staying active.
help for each section of the band at var- include posture, breath support, reading
ious times. Providing a district honor music and rehearsal behavior and expecta-
Motivation
band for the more advanced students. tions.
• Working during lunch and recess and To help the student produce proper
Getting students motivated to join
occasionally before and after school tone and intonation, all of these fundamen-
band recruitment was always an ongoing
with students. tals must be constantly monitored and rein-
process. It included the standard things
• Offering a “scale” reward system for the forced. Another fundamental for me was to
such as inviting bands from the junior highs
students to help encourage them learn teach foot-tapping to help with rhythm. I
to perform for the students, using junior or
their scales. I borrowed an idea from know that not all band teachers use this as a
senior high students to help with instru-
Greg Allison that was very successful tool, but it did help many students.
ment demonstrations, and talking as much
for me: For each of the five scales I had
with the students individually as I could
students learn, they received a little Getting started
throughout the year. I also used a beginning
laminated scale fish. When they got all
band aptitude test that helped me place stu-
five of the laminated scales, they The first few weeks of teaching the
dents on the instruments that would pro-
received a plush fish from Oriental instrument, usually six to eight days for me,
vide the greatest likelihood of success. A
Trading to put on their case. PTA at all were when so many fundamentals were
bonus benefit of the placement test was that
of my schools loved to help with this introduced. I always felt these days set the
it dramatically increased interest in joining
type of activity. tone for the entire year, and they were per-
band.
• Having the sixth-grade band provide a haps the most important part of teaching
Recruitment and motivation at the
springtime “demonstration” for the the student to play properly. I did not use
beginning of the year is fairly easy for most
next year’s beginners. any method book during the first few days
teachers; the students are excited to begin a
• Rewarding students for going to junior because I did not want it to get between the
new adventure. The trick is to keep them
or senior high concerts, going to a students and me. It is during these days that
motivated throughout the year and to build
parade and writing a little about the posture, rehearsal behavior and expecta-
the year so that they are as excited at the end
bands they saw, and taking piano les- tions, breath support, embouchure, listen-
of the year as they were at the beginning. I
sons or private lessons. ing and so many other important things are
had many things that I used to help me
I found that giving praise was easy to first taught to the students. With no book
keep students motivated. Most important
do and rewarding for both the student and between us, I did a lot of roaming around
was to keep the lessons interesting. I arrived
me. the class and gently encouraging correct
at each rehearsal ready to teach a new con-
playing from each student. I also did a lot of
cept and focused on keeping the lesson
Fundamentals demonstrating on each of the instruments
moving. It is important to work with indi-
and took a different instrument with me to
viduals, but we must also try to not lose the
The teaching of the fundamentals is an class every day. Basically those first few days
area that could fill many books. First and looked like this:
TEMPO 36 MAY 2009
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