A school band is a group of student musicians who rehearse and perform instrumental music together. A concert band is usually under the direction of one or more conductors (band directors). A school band consists of wind instruments and percussion instruments, although upper level bands may also have string basses or bass guitar.
School bands tend to be more common in the United States than others due to a vast increase in funding to music education in recent years. School bands in the United Kingdom are generally similar to those in the US although pure brass bands are more commonplace in schools than in the US. Some countries usually prefer certain special types of bands, usually drums, over conventional ones. The school band movement in Japan is unusually strong, organized around an enormous competition system administered by the All-Japan Band Association. Many international observers of Japanese school bands consider them to be the most impressive in the world, particularly among very young students, and Japan is also home to one of the world's leading professional concert bands, the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra.
Middle school bands
Although some children learn an instrument prior to entering a middle school (or junior high), students in music education programs within the United States and Canada generally start daily band classes in the 6th or 7th Grade. The students usually make up a band based upon their grade which may then be broken up into sectionals to provide better instrument-specific instruction.
A "beginning" band, consisting of the youngest students in the school, usually gives two or three concerts a year, and may participate in a local/state contest. These bands are given easy but challenging music to learn, often with many duplicate parts and simple rhythms. Students sometimes may be required to memorize the 4 major scales which are called Allstate scales. Depending upon the size of the school, there may be one to three "higher level" bands after the beginning band. These bands are usually divided similarly to high school bands. Some schools require students to audition and be placed in a band according to their ability on their instrument. Others will assign students based on their performance as seen in class. Yet others will simply sort the students according to their age or grade level. Most of these decisions are decided by the conductor. These higher level bands will occasionally play in high school games and pep rallies to augment the local high school band, although in small schools they always come to these events.
Band Method Books
Essential Elements 2000
Developed by Tim Lautzenheiser, John Higgins, Charles Menghini, Paul Lavender, Tom Rhodes, and Don Bierschenk. The series comes with a detailed chart listing the sequence of concepts included. Rhythms begin with long tones, quarter notes, quarter rests, 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4 meter, eighth notes and rests and dotted half, quarter and eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. The series includes brief melodic examples and biographies of Baroque, Classical, and Romantic composers. Additional styles include Latin American, Japanese folk music, African American spirituals, American folk songs, and European folk songs. The title of many exercises fits the concept being covered.
The order of the major topics covered are posture, embouchure, music staff, ledger lines, measures, bar lines, beat, notes and rests, double bar, repeat sign, clef, sharp, flat, natural, breath marks, fermatas, percussion flams, ties, accents, first and second endings, D.C. al fine, slurs, glissandos, multiple rests, chromatic scales. The topics are evaluated through playing quiz assessments. Special feature sections throughout the text include activities that point out developmental skills for students. Teaching tips are included for every exercise.
The text includes fingering charts, supplemental rhythm studies at varying levels of difficulty, and scale/arpeggio exercises for the full ensemble. The Essential Creativity activities are simple composition activities that reinforce phrase building and musical question/answer. The Percussion Tips section provides a large source of information for teaching snare and keyboard percussion. A piano accompaniment book is available, as well as an accompaniment-track CD.
Accent on Achievement
Developed by John O’Reilly and Mark Williams. The text includes the following supplemental exercises: Accent on Theory, Accent on Listening, Accent on (specific instrument), Accent on Creativity. Accent on Theory exercises have the students write in note names and fingerings, or arrange dynamic levels from softest to loudest. Accent on Listening exercises have students echo specific pitches or play melodies by ear and fill in the missing pitches. Accent on Creativity exercises have the students create rhythmic variations or improvise rhythms on a series of given pitches. Specific instrument exercises are designed to develop certain technical skills.
An additional section of exercises includes Accent on Performance, Accent on Scales, Accent on Rhythms, Accent on Chorales, and Accent on Rests. Accent on Performance includes holiday selections and marches. Accent on Scales covers the F, B-flat, E-flat, and A-flat major scales and the chromatic scale. Accent on Rhythms contains twenty exercises in varying rhythmic combination, including quarter notes, eighth notes, and dotted quarter/eighth note combinations. Accent on Rests contains ten examples reviewing half, quarter, eighth, and multiple-measure rests. Accent on Chorales contains four chorales in the keys of F, B-flat, E-flat, and A-flat major.
Terms are presented in the following order: staff, clef, time signature, bar line, measure, double bar, ledger lines, musical alphabet, solo, 4/4 meter, whole note, whole rest, flat, quarter note, duet, breath mark, half note, half rest, 2/4 meter, quarter rest, round, repeat sign, tie, key signature, tempo markings, moderato, allegro, eighth notes, andante, variation, interval, repeat, 1st and 2nd endings, slur, dotted half notes, divisi, 3/4 meter, natural, forte, piano, key signature, ritardando, fermata, pick up notes, accent, orchestration, single eighth note, eighth rest, staccato, dotted quarter note, D.C. al fine, syncopation, dotted quarter/ eighth note combination.
The exercises include simplified themes by a variety of composers and folk songs from a variety of countries. The Teacher Resource Kit includes twenty-one history worksheets, eight theory worksheets, five world music locators, comprehensive assessment exercises for all instruments, four parent letters, listening CD of classical music found in the method book plus band arrangements and chorales, twenty rhythm flash cards, listening exercises, student performance evaluation form, and worksheet record keeping form.
Yamaha Band Student
Developed by Sandy Feldstein and John O’Reilly The material typically covered in book one in other series is divided into book one and two in the Yamaha series. Book Two is a continuation of Book One without progressing to the level of difficulty found in the second book of other series.
Book One presents terms in the following order: staff, clef, bar line, measure, double bar, whole note, whole rest, time signature, half note, half rest, breath mark, quarter note, quarter rest, repeat signs, tempo markings, 2/4 meter, and ties, eighth note, slur, key signature, 1st and 2nd ending, dotted half notes, sharps, pick up notes, 3/4 meter, accent, dynamics, staccato, multiple measure rests, eighth rests, divisi, dotted quarter notes, D. C. al fine, crescendo, diminuendo, legato, D. S. al fine, fermata, dotted quarter-eighth note combinations, previous measure repeat, and common time signature.
Exercises include occasional instrument-specific exercises. Many of the melodies do not list the composer or country/culture of origin.
Book Two contains two parts for each exercise. The first is a unison arrangement for full band, and the second is in a more comfortable range for each specific instrument. Book Two also contains all of the major and minor scales. Terms are presented in the following order: syncopation, cut time, tenuto, ritardano, a tempo, sixteenth notes, accelerando, 3/8 meter, 6/8 meter, enharmonics, triplets, chromatic scale.
Theory exercises in Book Two include Key Signature Review and Chromatic Scale Study.
Supplemental resources include a Teacher’s Resource Guide; a collection of mixed ensembles that correlate page by page with the method book; three poster-sized rhythm charts; a collection of fourteen compositions and arrangements correlated with book one; a student reference source containing fingering charts, practice charts, and glossary; and a duet book.
Standard of Excellence
Developed by Bruce Pearson Terms are presented in the following order: 4/4 meter, whole notes, whole rests, tone, half notes, half rests, quarter notes, clef, tonguing, repeats, quarter rests, fermata, ties, common time, breath marks, repeat signs, eighth notes, dynamics, 3/4 meter, dotted half notes, eighth rests, dotted quarter notes, sixteenth notes, 1st and 2nd endings, D. C. al fine.
Periodically in the text, there are exercises including composition, listening, history, and theory activities. The
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