The ability to read music is essential for students to have a positive experience in band. Unfortunately this is a challenge for some students, and can prevent them from making progress. It's best to help these students develop the tools to help themselves.
One approach that has worked for me is called Say it, Fingers, Play it. Students choose a small section of music and follow three simple steps:
Students should not move on until each step is done correctly 3-5 times. Usually if these steps are followed students play the selection perfectly on their first try. This method is effective because:
In my experience students often surprise themselves at how well they do. Some students are used to starting off with lots of mistakes and fixing them as opposed to starting by playing correctly. This approach leads to success and helps avoid bad habits as well. The challenge with Say it, Fingers, Play it is that it requires patience. Some youngsters are not used to doing lots of repetition, nor are they used to thinking before they play. However, the good news is that by following these steps students develop the skills to learn music faster and more accurately. Eventually the process speeds up and they will be able to do fewer repetitions, skip steps, or choose larger selections. BONUS TIP The best way to build confidence and develop reading skills is to do more reading! Use Sight Reading Exercises for Band for two minutes each day and your students will be incredible readers in weeks. This is a perfect resource for beginners or intermediate students to practice reading something new, and it only takes as little as 30 seconds. My students love using it since the exercises are short, quick, and always something new. Each chapter starts off super easy to build confidence and gets progressively more challenging. Ranges are limited so students can focus on reading rhythms. I usually do blocks of 5 lines at a time in class, and I have seen improvement literally in minutes!
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In my classroom we define staccato as "separated." In other words, there will be a space between the staccato note and whatever comes next. How much space? Well.... Too often students develop a mental image of staccato notes as "short," or "stabbed." This frequently leads to a sound that is not characteristically appropriate. To help students conceptualize what a staccato note should sound like I will draw this diagram on the board. Assume the column's width represents a beat in 4/4, the arrows represent sound, and the music has a staccato quarter note. Which of the following would you consider to be staccato? Students will vote for the arrow(s) they think are correct. Then I will ask "which ones are separated?" Of course arrow A is not, so clearly that is not staccato. But the rest are all separated to various degrees. So according to our definition, B through G are all staccato.
Next I will ask "which one is the correct staccato?" Again, students will vote for different ones, mostly C or D. This leads to a brief discussion of what makes a particular note=length correct. Most students would say that G is too short. But it might be appropriate in a latin-jazz tune for a note with a carrot top. Some might say that B isn't separated enough. But it might be a good choice for a staccato note in a slow, lyrical passage. We discuss the various elements that contribute to making a good choice (style, tempo, etc.). The conclusion is that any one of them could be correct depending on the situation. To drive the point home I will put on a metronome at a moderately slow tempo and try to sing or play a measure of each articulation. Students experience the space between notes expanding as they listen and try to match each other. At this point they have learned to put a great deal of thought into the length of each note. Summing it Up When staccato is taught this way students learn to think about it as a musical concept rather than a rule to be followed. Students learn that when they see a staccato in their music it represents an idea that is subject to interpretation. By using this approach you will encourage your students to be thoughtful, engaged musicians. |
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