Darlington Middle School

Class Description

There are three levels of band. Those are Beginner Band (6th grade), Intermediate (7th grade) and Advanced Band (8th grade). Students MUST begin band in 6th grade.


The 6th grade Beginner Band class is for students interested in learning to play an instrument as well as read music and learn many other topics in music. Due to lack of inventory, students are required to purchase an instrument, unless placed on Tuba or Baritone. In those cases, students will need to purchase the required methods book, which is Essential Elements 2000 and a mouthpiece. All other students in addition to the instrument will need the same methods book that corresponds with their instrument.  Students placed on either clarinet or saxophone will need reeds. These can either be purchased from Musical Depot (located in Florence, SC on South Cashua Street) or from Ms. Greene, for a slightly cheaper cost. The brand I use is Rico Royal. Beginners need a reed with thickness/size of 2  or 2 ½ .

7^th grade Intermediate Band is for continuing band students who started in 6^th grade and now have 1 year of experience under their belt. They use a different methods book, which is Foundations for Superior Performance.

8^th grade Advanced Band is for continuing band students who also started in 6^th grade but now have two years of experience in playing and reading music. They also use Foundations for Superior Performance.

The homework for this class typically consists of:

• Practicing (daily)
• Reviewing ALL notes and handouts given
• Studying Music Terms (listed below) for our weekly quizzes

Whenever there are more detailed/specific directions for students on what or how to practice, it will always be listed below.

Currently, students should:

STUDY MUSIC TERMS!! (all classes)

6^th grade: Practice 1st 5 notes, once they have all been covered in class.

7^th and 8^th grade:  Practice repertoire "Westwind Overture" and "On A Hymnsong of Phillip Bliss"

Listed below is the suggested Practice Routine

Remember PRACTICING WHAT YOU ALREADY KNOW IS NOT EFFECTIVE!!! Work on weak areas. If you don’t have any, (which I highly doubt) help someone else.

Warm-Up 
Long Tones – holding out some of your easy and difficult notes for as long as you possibly can. Feel free to take breaks in between to catch your breath, but this should be done for 3-5 mins. If you have one in your possession or an app, it is also very good practice to do this with a TUNER and try to keep the note in tune the entire time, or for as long as you can. This is beneficial because you are able to tune and warm-up simultaneously.

Scales
After your long tones and tuning, run over your scales. Start with the ones you know best, first. Then pick one that you do not know at all, or do not know well, to work on. Play it so slow, that you are able to focus on, and literally look at each note as you play it. Then, gradually pick up speed, but remember, ONLY PLAY IT, AS FAST AS YOU ARE ABLE TO, WITHOUT MAKING MISTAKES!! So if this is still “turtle speed”, THAT’S OK!! Just keep working on it!


Repertoire Practice/Drill
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FLY THROUGH AN ENTIRE PIECE OF MUSIC!!! Instead, pick a spot in your music that is giving you trouble. It maybe an 8-10 measure section, or just 3-4 measures. Every little bit helps and it also help when EVERYONE knows their music.

First, make sure you can identify all of the notes by name. Then, make sure you know their fingerings without having to stop and “think about it” or look at a fingering chart. If you are able to do both of these things, focus on rhythms.

Before being overwhelmed by what appears to be difficult, think back to past pieces we have played and think, “have I ever seen this rhythm before?” Many times, you have; you just may not realize it. Attempt to clap through the rhythms. Then “Tizzle” them. This helps to get the tonguing pattern down. Tizzle a second time, while fingering the notes. Do this twice. Then try to play the section.

If you are totally lost in how a rhythm should be counted, as a student for help first. I say this because, it is both beneficial for you and the student to work together. They have the opportunity to act as a teacher and you have someone, on your level, working with you, who may be able to explain it in a way that you can understand, better than I can.

If this is still no help to you, or you are for whatever reason, unable to contact anyone to help you, then ask me the VERY NEXT day. Do NOT wait until days or a few weeks before our performance, as a LOT of you have done in the past.

Lastly, a practice session that lasts less than 20 minutes is probably not very beneficial, so if you are going to do it, do it the right way. Also, remember what I told you about watching your favorite show and practicing during commercial breaks. IT DOES WORK!! allows for breaks and knocks out a LOT of time!! (especially for hour-long shows)

Music Terms