Sight Reading Preparation for Honor Band Auditions
“Six Rhythm Categories in Six Different Keys”:
Working with your students in the “Ultimate Musicians” program over the past several months, I have made several observations and notes in my efforts to help students get ready for future honor band auditions. First, I have targeted several different “rhythm” categories that I noticed have given your students some problems. Second, are mistakes in prepping and reading key signatures when performing sight-reading etudes. I sometimes feel that students who are solid with the memorization of their scales are “overconfident” about their ability to read key signatures. I believe those are actually two different skill sets and need to be addressed in separate ways. Finally, I notice that “interval skips” happen more frequently in audition sight-reading etudes, than most middle school students are used to seeing during their regular band classes. I will address this issue at a later time.
I have been playing around with different ways to address the first two concerns in a very concise and somewhat sequenced fashion. I came up with “Six Rhythm Categories in Six Different Keys”. I wrote six examples of each rhythm category I decided to target and wrote each example in a different key signature. The examples are only two bars in length to shorten the review time needed and minimize the class time used from your already planned instruction. I suggest a brief pause after each two-bar exercise to critique and/or praise your student’s work. I also skipped the key of concert “Bb” to save time, figuring that most students auditioning are very solid with that particular key signature already. I tried to predict what your students might see at future honor band auditions and tried to write it as close in difficulty to that as possible. I have included all of the instrument transitions and they can be played by students individually, or with your entire ensemble. Many of my students have used these sheets, working on their own, and have found them very helpful. If you get a chance, if you or any of your students use them, please let me know if you thought “6 x 6″ was of any help to you or your students.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
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“Six Different Rhythm Categories in Six Different Keys” Audio Files and Self-Evaluation Procedures:
How can we make the “6DRC&6DKS” not only effective for band directors and their ensembles but is there a way to help individual students prepare for sight reading at honor band auditions? I have created a series of audio files (MP3s), to accompany the most recent version of the sheet mentioned above. I have the full sheet recorded for “play-along” at the tempos of 60, 72, and 84 “beats per minute”. Each MP3 starts with an eight-count “count-in” and then after that, each new rhythm category is counted-off with four counts. Each “count-off” is performed on the tonic note of the new rhythm category being presented (1 through 6). If the students (or band directors for that matter) want to break things down by individual “categories” (which is what I suggest) I made individual audio files for each rhythm category. For the individualized audio files, I kept the tempo at 60 “bpm” figuring the breakdown would be to self-evaluate and get used to the exercises.
A student would play the MP3 recording on a computer or some other device and play along (on their instrument) with the recording. They would use their cell phone to record the combined sounds until the targeted “Rhythm Category” exercises are completed. Each individual “rhythm category” takes about 1:20 minutes to perform. The student would then play their recording back and score themselves by marking any errors in rhythms or notes. Even if there is a rhythm asked to be performed that the student is not sure of “how to count” they only have to listen for the places in the combined play-back recording that do not sound good or are different. The student can mark their errors on a second copy of the exercise, which they will use to monitor what areas need to be worked on and to monitor their progress in general. The student should not stay in one category too long, no more than a couple of times. Move on to another rhythm category so the student does not start memorizing the content of the material. I suggest that students normally spend around 3 minutes of their time working on this sight reading project, but I am asking them to do so whenever they do get their instrument out to practice. I believe that 3 to 5 minutes (maximizing attention “focus”) in a targeted area is just as effective as 15 to 20 minutes as long as the work is methodical and consistent. “Make a plan and work the plan”.
Band directors can also use this approach for their instrumental classes if they wish. They could even effectively create “bonus” instructional time, by having their class perform with the audio files using a student monitor to assess their peer’s performance in real-time. I have talked about the strategic use of student monitors before, and if a band director has to take attendance, sell reeds, fix instruments, or has an “unexpected” visitor they have to talk with, you may as well keep your student’s instruments on their faces. So student monitors do not get confused with “clefs” or “concert keys” I also have attached two versions of an “S.A.S.” sheet. That stands for “Student Assessment Sheet” which eliminates the music staff. I wanted to let the monitors see the “shape” of the melodic line and tried to keep the content “on staff” as much as possible.
After almost 50 years of judging and having students attend auditions, these are some areas most middle school students most often have difficulty with. Do NOT think that because you know your scales, you also have mastered reading key signatures. They are two completely different processes and skill sets. If you have students who take honor band auditions seriously and are looking for ways to improve their sight reading performance, definitely consider giving “Six Different Rhythm Categories in Six Different Keys” a try.
Note: I am next attaching the “Think Fast” scale drills sheet. This is for both high school and middle school and focuses on quickly changing key signatures from one to another. “Think Fast” is another sheet my students hated to play, but when it comes to changing key signatures, you get a lot of BANG! for your buck.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
"6 Rhythm Categories in 6 Different Keys" Student Assessment Sheets (Both Versions):
Full Playback = 60MP3
Full Playback = 72MP3
Full Playback = 84MP3
6RC&6DK Audio Files by Individual Rhythm Categories
"Think Fast" Scale and Key Signature Drills:
“Think Fast” Scale and Key Signature Drills:
This exercise sheet is designed for both high school and middle school and focuses on quickly changing key signatures from one to another. “Think Fast” is another sheet my students hated to play, but when it comes to changing key signatures, you get a lot of BANG! for your buck. Four audio “playback” files accompany this sheet. First is the full-length MP3, running from beginning to end. There will be an 8 Count “count-off” before each of the sections “A,” “B,” and “C.” You will play each set of scale exercises to the end of that section before stopping. The other three MP3s are options that allow you to focus on one section at a time. If your students have difficulty with accurately changing keys when they sight read, these exercises are excellent ones to work on. This could be especially helpful if your students are looking for materials to help them prepare for the “sight reading” portion of any upcoming honor band auditions which they might be scheduled to participate in. The “Think Fast” series was designed in conjunction with the “Six Rhythm Categories in Six Different Keys” as a way to “hyper-focus” on reading keys if reading or changing key signatures are an issue students might be concerned about when sight reading.
Note: All MP3”playback” recordings were made at one tempo, 60 “bpm.”
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
"Think Fast" Full MP3 Audio File:
Middle School A
Middle School B
High School
“Syncopation Suicide” Exercises in Sustaining Syncopated Rhythms:
Over the years, I have found that (especially for young musicians) a “cumulative” counting approach almost always works better than a “division” format. In other words, students find addition easier to do than “subdividing”. The specifics about this approach and a proposed possible curriculum for this additional (or alternate) approach to helping students learn to count can be found on the “Time Line Dimensional Transfers” page of this website. It incorporates the differentiation of student learning styles, normally ignored when teaching counting by more traditional methods. The advantage is the visual use of your “thumb” and “arrow notation” to locate specific “attack” or “sound” locations on any given timeline. This also allows students to “vocalize” their rhythms, which is a superior way of internalizing counting and “hearing” the specific sound of different rhythms (superior to “clapping” rhythms). This also adds a visual component to the use of a metronome, where each student’s thumb visually represents note locations on a “down and upbeat” timeline, which can later be internalized or simply transferred to the foot.
There is a curriculum and additional materials offered in the “T.L.D.T.” section (mentioned before) on this website that ended with the sheet titled “Going Arrow Crazy”. I later followed that up with a music notation series titled “Syncopation Suicide” which has been transposed for all wind and string instruments. Using the rhythms in “Going Arrow Crazy” a melody was written for the performance application of each exercise line. One thought would be to use the “application” format to check on your ensemble’s present “syncopation rhythm reading skills”. Whether you use “Thumb” / “Arrow” counting, or traditional “Numeric” / “Division” is irrelevant. The content within “Syncopation Suicide” will certainly help your students enhance their skills, if you find that improvement is needed. I also thought it would make a nice companion to “Six Rhythm Categories in Six Different Keys” in that one of the “rhythm categories” targeted was syncopation. If you thought additional material would help, you might consider using it. Also, note that each exercise of “Syncopation Suicide” is written in a different key, further reinforcing key signature reading skills.
Rich Moon
Time Line "Digit" Counting:
One key element in helping young musicians with counting is lowering the “processing number” (RAM) needed to accurately perform a combination of musical tasks simultaneously. We start with the binary duality of “sound” and “silence”. These first two very basic elements of music both must be given equal emphasis when performing. Silence in music CANNOT be treated as an “afterthought” or a “second class” citizen and at times should be given the priority of focus over music “notes”. When considering “timelines” (such as 8th note subdivisions) the “trinary” concept of “digits” comes into play. Outside of “pulse”, notes and rests can have a one, two, or three subdivision length on that timeline as it is being performed. Not only the length, but the exact position in which that note or rest occurs on its timeline are both of equal importance. Sometimes it is helpful to eliminate the actual “number” sequence for a simpler “down” and “up”, (or arrow) system to be used. In this case, specific timeline locations are irrelevant, and only the note and rest lengths need to be considered. This is one way to lower the required “processing number” when students are counting rhythms. When you move on to an aspect of “four-dimensional” counting, now the sixteenth note subdivision is brought into the mix. This sets up the concept of the “Four D’s”, which are the timeline symbols of “dashes”, “dots”, digits”, and “dits”. The transitioning from one timeline velocity to another is known as “Time Line Dimensional Transfers”, but that is a whole new topic for discussion at some other time.
“Digit” Counting Sheets 1 through 4: Many years ago (for ten years) I worked at the Citadel Summer Band Camp with Major Herb Day, an outstanding and very well-known band director in our area. He hosted a morning and afternoon week-long camp as the band director at the Citadel, offering a large variety of classes and bringing in a second “guest” conductor to split the final concert performed on that Friday. He accepted a wide range of youth from our local area for a mere $40 for the whole week and even at that, would give several scholarships for students who could not afford it. From day one, he would correct counting errors by using a “1, up, 2, up, 3, up, 4 up” system, never really explaining it, just doing it. If asked, Herb would simply explain that “the ‘&’ is when your foot comes up anyway, so I just say up”. No student ever had a problem with his explanation, yet I always admired the change of verbiage for its “clarity” and reinforcing that tactile reference of the up position of your foot, as most students tend to tap the toe when playing.
In “Digit” Counting page 1, one and two-digit notes and rests are introduced and reviewed. The “1, up, 2, up…” timeline is ALWAYS vocalized out loud, with the rest’s being “mouthed” (or possibly whispered). This is accompanied by “clapping” on all “note-heads”, holding your hands together (as you sustain notes the length of a second “digit”), or hands apart for all rests. Initially, you hope your students can perform the series of rhythms by simply referencing the timelines written below. Eventually, the student becomes somewhat dependent on its vocalization and can visualize the timeline (on their own), without it being written on the paper. If students are having difficulty vocalizing the timeline, a sequence of “mapping” aides can be introduced to help students get more comfortable with this approach. Quarter notes are underlined for two digits, either on the beat or on the “up”, depending on where on the timeline it is located. All rest timeline locations are identified with “parentheses” and in the case of a quarter rest, two consecutive positions are parenthesized. Number “10” is a bonus or “challenge” seeing if students can (on their own) figure out how to handle mapping out a “dotted” quarter note or rest. This sets up the students for “Digit” Counting page #2.
The second “Digit” page adds the three-digit dotted quarter notes and rests. Four or more “digits” are briefly introduced to show how they would be applied, but since these are references to pulse they are used sparingly in their application. Ties are not covered in this series at all, but those are easy enough to map out by simply using the same “length of note” format. After you teach students how to use each page you might start with having the students say (and whisper) the “timeline” out loud as they clap note-heads and hold their hands together for note extensions. If they are not correct, have them map out that exercise and try performing the counting once again. Repeat the process going down the page and eventually the “mapping” will not be needed. The purpose of pages three and four is to approach the “digit” process from a different thought/brain direction. At the bottom, students are given a map of a specific two-bar rhythm (in 4/4 meter). At the top of each exercise is a listing of the different notes and rests needed to correctly write that given rhythm out. The students are to then write the correct music notation in the middle, directly above that exercise’s mapped-out timeline. These sheets can also be used if students are initially having difficulty performing the marked-out timeline maps to coordinate the hand motions with the notes and rests as marked. Just like before, page 3 is for one and two, and page 4 is for three “digit” rhythms. You might suggest that your students put “check marks” above each note or rest in the rhythm list at the top, to keep track of how many of each they have already used when writing out their music notation. My approach is to work with students on each of the four pages and if they get one line completely correct (on their own) I will assume comprehension has been accomplished. From that point on, I will use additional sight reading examples where they can apply this process through eighth-note subdivision, syncopation, and “tied” rhythms.
Time Line "Digit" Introduction
Time Line "Digit" Counting Sheets:
"Reading Key Signatures" or "R.K.S."
“Habits 15” Reading Key Signature Extras
“Habits 15 RKS Extras” is designed to sequentially review the rules and procedures for reading key signatures. It is designed to present one concept at a time in concise mini-lessons. The material should be presented to your students, so that each time you study a new exercise line, you are “spiraling back”, reviewing the topic materials already covered. Initially, “Extras” was a sequence written by Scott Rush and myself for the “first” Middle School Habits book (the one that was never published). We did several of these “Ultimate Musician” quick assessment areas in that original book, but they never made it into the revised “Habits” version eventually published. Our initial book had a total of 15 units that were sequential in format, not written in sections, like the high school “Habits” book. In this “summary” sheet we listed the unit each “extra” was found in, the sequential rule or combination of materials to be introduced, and the application of each new concept. Every note in each line is assigned a number, for easy identification, allowing directors to ask questions about any specific note in a fast and efficient manner. Here again, the idea was to hit each rule ”fast” and by “spiraling” the mini-curriculum throughout the book, students would be constantly reviewing and re-applying the materials already learned. The “Habits” RKS (“Reading Key Signatures”) sheet is also an excellent “stand-alone” sheet allowing directors to assess student comprehension of materials taught earlier, or during prior school years.
Reading Key Signatures "Rhythm Masters" mini-Curriculum
“Reading Key Signatures” mini-Curriculum
Dear Reader,
The initial “Reading Key Signatures” materials were self-published in the original “Rhythm Masters” book series. They are divided into two levels, a “basic” and an “intermediate”, each containing a set of three sheets. The first is an “introduction” (or worksheet) explaining the basic rules for reading key signatures. Students are asked to identify each note as natural, sharp, or flat, writing the appropriate symbol on the line directly below each indicated note. This sheet is transposed for all instruments asking students to identify accidentals in their instrument’s normal ranges. Also, your full ensemble can play the material before or after they identify the correct accidental for each note. Notice each note in question is identified with its very own number, making identifying specific locations in these worksheets easy and efficient.
The second sheet is also a playing exercise sheet (also transposed for all instruments) written for the specific ability level that is being targeted. The middle school targets a small range of notes as it works with students on several key signatures. It gradually increases in range as the students play each corresponding key in sequence. The more advanced level starts with full octaves, although some octaves are split, allowing students to choose with which range they are more comfortable playing. I wanted to keep this sheet at a single page, so my focus was the skill of reading keys at the expense of trying to cover additional scales. The third sheet is a short quiz. There are only two sheets: a treble and a bass clef version. These are not designed to be played but a brief assessment of comprehension of the targeted topic.
You can use the full series or any of these sheets individually, and you might even start with the third sheet (the quiz) to see if this mini-curriculum is even necessary. Although the sequence of material is relatively short, it got the job done back when I used it with my band programs. I include below the brief description and explanation I used in the original “Rhythm Masters” book.
Rich Moon
Additional Supplemental “Reading Key Signature” Materials:
Enharmonic Note Studies "Theory" (5 notes with 2 Different Names):
Enharmonic Note Instrument Applications for Habits 15:
"Looks Different / Sounds Same" Game(s):
The “Looks Different, Sounds Same” Game:
A long time ago, I used the “Looks Different, Sounds Same” game when I used to present my ‘No Fear” rhythm clinics at band camps and for the alternates at various “Honor Band” clinics. Also, during that time, I was writing audition sight-reading materials for several local “All-County Honor Bands” in South Carolina. One of my favorite “traps” was to use two different rhythms in an etude that sounded almost the same, sometimes even within the same measure. Usually, the human brain finds it difficult to accept that different-looking rhythms can sound the same. In these cases, the brain tends to modify one of them to feel more “comfortable” with their performance. I used this game to demonstrate that point and help students “trust” their initial instincts, which is usually correct.
The “trick” with this demonstration is to accurately set up the opening question, which you ask the students to answer. “Of the three different rhythm choices given, which one do you think would be the most difficult to perform?” (see attached). Notice: I am not asking which is the most difficult rhythm to “read.” After thinking about it for a while, several students will raise their hands and confidently claim that the second or third choice would be the correct answer. In doing so, most will also be able to give credible reasons to support their decision. As the debate continues, a few heads in the crowd begin to “tilt.” That is normally followed by confused faces, which then transition into these same students who appear deep in thought. Eventually, one student (perhaps more) will quietly murmur, “They are all the same.” Then, after re-examining their decision, they repeat their response (this time louder and with more confidence), “They are the same!” The students that began carrying on the initial conversation will glare at these new “non-conformists” in wonderment, thinking, “what a ridiculous response.” But as those students re-analyze their choices, they eventually realize that performing these three different rhythms would actually be equally difficult.
I always played the “Looks Different, Sounds Same” game at the “No Fear” clinics and loved watching the students’ faces as they changed throughout the game. It emphasizes that most rhythms can be written in different ways and that students should be aware of that when sight-reading. I see so many students that I work with on sight-reading frequently “second-guessing” themselves out of correct answers. Attached are pages 153 and 154 from my “Rhythm Masters” book Volume I, where this “game” originally appeared. Also attached are other examples, including a “Rhythm Matching” game chart and a “Double” and “Triple” match game regarding similar “enharmonic” note spellings. If you might be interested in similar materials or a comprehensive and sequential rhythm counting curriculum, please feel free to check out the following resources: “Rhythm Masters” Book I (transposed for all band instruments) can be found at www.rhythmmastersimprovisation.org. You will find it in the bottom “yellow” section on that home page. The content of all three volumes of the “Rhythm Masters” book series is at www.rhythmmasters.org. All of these materials are free and “downloadable.” If your students are at this level musically, consider giving one or more of these games a try. I think you and your students will enjoy them. As always, your questions, input, or any suggestions are always welcome.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
843-875-5594 (home)
The "Matching Game" or "Student Quiz" Version:
“Looks Different, Sounds Same” Matching Student Game or Quiz:
I recently adapted this earlier page to be used as a game you can have fun with when you want to do something a little different with your class, yet still educational. It could be a fun “team” game that you could play, or set it up as “student vs. teacher”. Another idea is to use it when you might have a substitute scheduled and see how well your students can recognize rhythms that sound similar but look entirely different. If you have a situation with a wide gap in student abilities, you could even have students playing or counting the rhythms, with the less experienced students competing using the number column and your more experienced play from the letters. You could even offer a bonus point for each team if the one about to perform can select a similar rhythm from the other column.
Use it any way you wish, but once your students reach a certain level at “reading rhythms”, I feel it is important for them to realize, that your brain will “talk yourself” out of the correct answer, simply because a rhythm does not look the way your brain think it should. The fact of the matter is, it happens a lot.
Rich Moon
Three Fundamental Rhythm Ratios (Syncopation) / "Family Trees In Different Keys"
Dear Music Educator,
Several years ago when I was doing my “No Fear” rhythm camps, I noticed several students had difficulty in differentiating subdivision levels. They understood the “rhythm ratios”: 3 to 1, 1 to 3, and 1- 2 -1, but I could set up a sight reading etude and get them to “trip up” a rhythms subdivision speed. Please give this sheet a try and see if they have any problem performing pulse, subdivision level I, and subdivision level II, in the same exercise.
Sincerely,
Richard Moon
Sequential Interval Studies:
“Initial Interval Studies” – Dealing with “Skips”
With the small group I am doing with several middle school band programs, I find it is not uncommon for young brass students to have difficulty finding the correct pitch. So much of their earlier “book work” is diatonic, and when we stray from that it can cause problems. Although it is primarily a “brass thing”, even woodwinds can be slowed down by skipping over the fingering sequence and patterns they are most used to. You might consider adding these very short exercises as part of your warm up on occasion, just to get them used to performing “skips” as well.
Another situation I have run across, I really noticed only after I had retired. To borrow a medical term, I refer to it as “music dyslexia”. Being stuck presently strictly teaching virtually, I present a lot of material to the students I am working with. I blow it up as large as I can, but I realize there are issues with incorrect notes due to the participating children not being able to clearly see the music I am presenting. However, I have run across some students (more than you would think) that seem to have a pattern of “mis-reading” notes. Not all the time, but enough to cause issues with playing their instrument.
These identification difficulties seem to occur strictly between neighboring notes that are either both on lines, or both on spaces. The mix up seldom (if at all) occurs on the two outer lines, or outer spaces. So in bass clef we are talking about the spaces C & E, and with lines, the B, D, and F. I could be wrong, but my guess they are mis-reading these notes in the same way that some students might write certain letters or numbers backwards. Blowing up the music to a larger size will most likely help, but I have also tried colored highlighters with a certain color indication the lower of the choices and another for the higher. This may not be needed all the time, but when more notes are being “crammed” together, or the speed which the child is required to read their music is at a higher velocity, it might help these musicians deal with it better. Using exercises similar to the ones in this exercise might help you identify any your students that may have similar issues. Realizing this at an earlier point in time may help you (and some of your students) to avoid, or at least lessen, potential future frustrations.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
Introduction to “Players” and “Pointers”:
Usually, this year, when I work with schools, I do my 10-minute “mini-lesson” on “Time Line Dimensional Transfers” or my campaign against “rest deniers.” The other day I observed a band director (relatively new to teaching) tell his 7th-grade band class that he was going to do a quick review “from the beginning” and proceeded to have his band sight read a series of quarter and half note exercises. After I finish “my thing” at the beginning of each class, I will either do remediation or work (in a practice room) with the more advanced students on their honor band audition solos. I was somewhat surprised to see them struggling with such simple exercises and tried to analyze the problem and how I might be able to help out.
The material his class was sight reading was up on the smart board. It was in a “score” format with the transpositions for each instrument in 6 or 7 different lines. Initially, I thought this format might confuse the students, or they could not clearly see the rhythm and notes. I was trying to think of an exercise sheet that would break down other probable issues and present this content incrementally, gradually adding factors that might be giving these 7th-grade students troubles. Added to that goal, I considered an overall middle school observation that most 1st & 2nd-year band students are not exposed to anywhere near enough “interval” changes (most material being almost all diatonic). I came up with the “Basic Counting and Interval Drills” sheet. One HIGHLY successful technique I used for teaching rhythms in elementary school was the “Players and Pointers” concept. Early on, I found it was best not just assume that students could horizontally read words or symbols (notes on a staff) automatically. “Players and Pointers” directly targets this skill in a way that helps both students simultaneously. As one student plays the targeted exercise, the other takes a pencil (or, I prefer, a red straw) and points underneath each note and rest as they count the same rhythms out loud. This helps one student with “eye scripting” and practicing how to read horizontally, and the other applies that skill to performing on their instrument. Next, I explain what small addition I made in each line to help teachers discover where a student’s (or class’s) “break-down” point occurs, what might cause it, and possible resources one might use to correct the issue.
My recommendation is that you start each exercise by saying (and/or clapping) the counting, however you usually do it with your instrument classes. If there are no counting errors, but issues occur when the class plays a line, note identification or “interval skips” could be the culprit. Line “1” starts with a very basic half and quarter note rhythm pattern. “2” adds a somewhat rare quarter-half-quarter rhythm (1-2-1 rhythm ratio) which, even if not played wrong, might cause some students to hesitate. Number “3” adds quarter rests into the mix, and “4” adds a dotted half note near the end. Before adding eighth notes, I decided to go to 5/4 meter for number five. I thought this would make a good “quick comprehension assessment” for the first four lines. I personally have students ALWAYS count half notes as “1, 2” and dotted half notes as “1, 2, 3”, no matter where they occur in any given measure. With young musicians, “numbers” often get in the way and are not really necessary. However, consecutive number counting will not be an issue if your students handle the 5/4 line without confusion. Number 6 adds eighth notes in pairs, with #7 re-adding quarter rests. #8 adds diatonic eighth notes in sequence, and finally, number nine combines the last three lines into another “quick assessment” 5/4 exercise.
Although it is probably a little “late” in the year for 7th graders, this exercise sheet still might work with this year’s beginning instrumental students or be worth considering for the beginning of the next school year. Either way, you might want to give “Players and Pointers” a try. Even when teaching rhythms and counting, I found it helpful to have one student from each “team” point at the right note or rest as their partner claps or counts out loud. The issue of “eye scripting” is often under-considered and overlooked.
Good Luck,
Rich Moon
The “Expanding ‘Tour’ of Intervals”
Something else I am noticing about the students I am working with is that the correct pitch and center of pitch is mostly accurate when students are playing diatonically. That is easy to explain, since I know all of you are very meticulous about teaching scales as part of the curriculum used for your program. Likewise, it appears that the greater the interval between performed pitches, the less accurate both seem to get. Possibly working on a “performance study” of various intervals (gradually expanding from one to the next) might help develop your student’s ear and correct embouchure for each. I am enclosing finale playback files for all six exercises (individually and combined), so you can have your students play along in class, or put them up in your Google Classroom(s) for them to practice with at home.
You might want to run through these to assess the ability of your students to identify and play intervals as the distances increase. Individuals can also volunteer (or be asked) to play a line and the class can give their opinion on how many pitches they feel were inaccurate. This should help your students listening to identify the correct “sound” of these different intervals. I suggest you work on only one line at a time (as part of your daily warm up) until their accuracy arises to an acceptable level. At that point you should simply move on to the next exercise on the sheet. For middle school, I felt the interval of a 6th was far enough to expand for practical purposes. As I come up with additional sheets to tackle specific issues for your students participating in my program, I will of course continue to share them with you to use or not as you wish.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
“Extending Intervals Using the Whole Tone Scale”
With middle school brass players, I have recently focused on accurately finding the correct pitch on their instruments. I have noticed several brass players struggling with this, and when moving a slide or changing valves, most tend to only go up to the next closest partial, no matter what is written on the staff. One reason might be that the materials they play in middle school rarely require brass students to “skip partials.” Even the strongest of 7th and 8th-grade brass are relatively behind in this particular skill compared to others.
I have presented several previous exercise sheets to give your middle school students more exposure to this issue, and one of those has been “extending interval” exercises. Using a series of major and chromatic scales, I have done so and applied several basic interval skips through performance. With this latest challenge, I wanted to work on extending intervals using a completely unfamiliar “sound” and format from what most middle school students are used to hearing, the “whole-tone” scale. My thought is that students cannot rely on their familiarity with scales they have already mastered. Instead, they must rely on their knowledge of embouchure, air velocity, jaw settings, and tongue placement to accurately perform these unconventional interval skips.
To be honest (as a band director), I never used the “whole-tone” scale in the first half of my teaching career. I was first exposed to the scale in my collaboration with Scott Rush on the “Habits of a Successful Musician” series. As we were writing the book, I initially thought that this section in his series of warm-ups was “kind of weird.” As I continued working with Scott, it gradually made more and more sense to me. In the “Habits” series, we used the “whole-tone” scale to extend the beginning student’s range, with one note higher and lower in each sequential unit. I liked that it took band students out of their “comfort zone” and gave them a chance to use and perform unique modalities. Consequently, I have used the “whole-tone” scales in several exercises I have written for the “Ultimate Musicians” project that I am presently working on. I thought I would share this one with you.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
“Fun with Thirds”
In “Fun with Thirds,” exercises 1 & 2 are in “common” time. The first exercise asks students to perform a three-bar pattern of third’s in two different key signatures. The students then transfer that same three-bar pattern into five additional keys, with only the first bar given. The focus can be to transpose the pattern or have the students figure it out by ear. Both approaches can be musically beneficial, so it is up to the teacher on how the students should proceed. Exercise number two uses a different four or eight-bar pattern in the same way, offering more of a challenge due to the length of the pattern that students are required to replicate. I initially wrote “Fun with Thirds” as a mallet exercise for my grandson, a 7th-grade percussionist. The MP3 audio file included is a “rapid fire” version of these exercises, allowing you to play the page exactly as written, rather than “Continuing the Series” as cued. This gives the student(s) something to play along with, as it focuses more on transitioning through seven different key signatures in the exercises written.
Exercises 3 & 4 are in the irregular meters of 5/8 and 7/8, played as “8th note = 8th note.” It also uses a four or eight-bar pattern that the students must try to replicate and perform in different key signatures. The “rapid fire” variation can again be used, allowing students to “play along” with the attached MP3.
“More Fun with Intervals”
Many years ago, I worked as a “Music Theory” and “Sight Reading” instructor at the “Citadel Band Camp” during the summer. We would work on ear training by having students identify “intervals” by relating their sounds to different well-known tunes, such as “Twinkle, Twinkle,” “Here Comes the Bride,” etc. My thought was to take these interval identification concepts and design a worksheet where students could apply them to perform on their instruments. In some cases, harmonizing exercises for ensembles to work on balance and playing “in-tune.” I tried to have a “little fun” with it (for middle schools), hence some of the “corny” titling. This second sheet goes beyond the interval of a third to explore 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, and even major 7ths (deciding to stay with major tonality). I felt I could do a third sheet involving minor 3rds, augmented 4ths/diminished 5ths, minor 6ths & 7ths, and octaves if there was an interest.
A series of questions are asked throughout the worksheet, such as; “Name this interval?” or “How many ‘X’ intervals do you see or hear in this exercise?” In numbers 7 & 8, the director can play the first pitch, and the students figure out what the major 7th would be going up (in #7) or going down (in #8). You could also have the students play both notes (high and low). If you want to challenge your performers, have half of the class sustain the first pitch presented, as the other half plays its major 7th interval. Both groups will have to maintain a steady pitch center to keep this awkward interval in tune. It will also allow your students to hear the “dissonance” this interval creates and experience the “beats” caused by the two colliding pitches. A good example of what playing “out-of-tune” might sound like.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
"Fun with 'minor' Scales" Score:
"Fun with 'minor' Scales" All Parts:
"Check Patterns" of Basic Rhythms for Wind and Percussion Instruments:
“Check Patterns” for Wind and Percussion Instruments:
I initially did these with a middle school band director friend for COVID. This was back when everyone had to be 6 feet apart and that “blowing” into an instrument would rapidly enhance the spread of the pandemic. This band director also had a part time job at Lowes, so he was able to get a class set of 5 gallon buckets fairly cheap. He also got ¼ inch dow rods and cut them for drum sticks for his students to used. They started in on the “Check Patterns” as a “rhythm review”. He taught the percussion line only and also worked with on “rolls” in order to enhance their “subdivision” skills. Students were asked to do 16th note rolls (bouncing and subdividing) for half notes (or notes of longer length). Once we got our “instrument masks”, and were allowed to play instruments again, he would go back reinforcing the playing of the “Check Patterns” from the beginning. He still kept the buckets besides each chair (we were still 6 feet apart) and would start out with the buckets. However, with the buckets, he would start at the place where he left off with his class doing “percussion” only. When his kids finally did get back instruments, going back to the beginning gave him the opportunity to “Spiral” his counting instruction. As the year proceeded, I continued to write for him a curriculum to continue with the more advanced percussion rhythm studies to be used with his buckets.
Once we got back to quasi normal distancing of chair set ups, he discontinued using the buckets, but continued the curriculum. He would still open his rehearsal with “rhythms” and counting, having his students get their sticks out, stand behind their chars, and “drum” on their plastic backs. I used bucket drums when I taught elementary general music (with 4th & 5th graders), but was able to buy 24 pairs of generic drum sticks for a very inexpensive price. The “dow-rods” worked just as well, but their advantage was they were not quite as loud. Also in his instruction he taught the full class use “right-hand-lead” always had them “ghost-stick” the rests and ALWAYS count out loud using subdivisions. Even though this was during COVID, my friend contends that that set of 7th and 8th grade band students were two of the strongest rhythm reading classes he has ever had. Part of it, I am sure was the increased time and focus on counting, when several areas of instruction had to be curtailed for a while. On the other hand, the use of visual, tactile and aural reinforcement and motioning with their wrists I am sure also was a part of that as well. He treated the students like percussionists and saying he expected them to “count like drummers”. They wore this as a “badge of honor” in a way and felt more confident about themselves and their counting ability. Even if it was only in the student’s mind, the actual effect of this “forced upon approach” was very positive. Hopefully we will never go back to a similar situation, but for “survival purposes”, it might be something worth keeping in the back of your mind.
I have attached the first six sheets, transposed out for all instruments. I have suggested to some directors to start in on the “Check Pattern” mini-curriculum with their beginner programs. There is time to kill while you are going through “mouthpiece testing” and waiting for the “new instruments to be delivered” part of your program. As you work out of your method book, continue opening up your class with drumming. It will take you a while for your students to catch up with their instruments, so the percussion portion of the curriculum can move very slowly, being sure each concept and level is covered thoroughly covered.
A few other things that I found helped out is teaching your students write out the counting “analysis” of the percussion exercises, using “slash notation” to indicate ghost sticking (or the rests). Also, when saying the counting out loud, experiment with internalizing silently, or “whispering” the rests, which ever each student finds easier. This helps students to learn to constantly maintain the appropriate counting “time line” being used, and learn to “count through” their rests rather than just “guessing” their lengths. As we go down the series and get to 16th notes, for this age student we will obviously take things initially very slow. By using this “sticking” system, students are “building up” the length of notes. The counting approach, now being physical as well, is more “cumulative” in nature making it to execute. Do you think your middle school band students would get a better grade taking an addition or division math test?
Scale and Rhythm Exercises:
Band Director Extras:
“Rhythm Masters” 2 and 4 Count Sound and Silence Rhythm Combinations:
Taking a page from Rick Stitzel’s research, he claims twenty “two-count” “jazz” rhythm combinations can be written using quarter and eighth notes/rests. I have expanded it to a list of thirty-six. I think it is fair to say when it comes to teaching rhythms, a typical middle school band director will spend about 90+ percent of that time working on note counting. I would like to point out that, in my attached list, you will notice that eleven of the “two-count” combinations are notes only. Twenty-five are rhythms where notes and rests are combined. How could it possibly be productive though, focusing our teaching on the rest, after all, THEY ARE SILENT. You know, that is exactly what a middle band kid’s brain thinks, what is the use of counting “nothing”. Do what you can, but at that age level, far more mistakes are made on counting rests than the notes. This is especially true with your more accomplished students, those that participate in local or state honor band auditions.
I have been working on this problem for years and still have a ways to go. My first target was differentiating between different student learning styles. Almost every academic teacher does this, why don’t we when it comes to teaching counting? Ok, so intellectually that makes sense, but how to put it into practice? That is an area I am still working on. The challenge is to put forth an effective rhythm curriculum that teaches different counting strategies but is also time efficient. I am not where I want to be yet either in effectiveness or efficiency, so work goes on. I have experimented this school year with the idea of “audiating” rests. I will add to that next year and begin field testing” a short, “pre-instrument” curriculum of “Rhythm Motions”. This will incorporate a series of timed motions along with note and rest vocalizations giving beginners several sensory reinforcers to help solidify lengths of common notes and rests in “real-time”. Once instrument instruction begins, counting rhythms will continue more traditionally, BUT! we will always have “Rhythm Motions” to fall back upon if and when needed. On occasion the brain may fail, but I believe “muscle memory” will save the day. I hope that (as the year develops) student musicians will be able to “internalize” the “Rhythm Motions” for more accurate and consistent correct performance of notes and rests.
My next thought is, to get students to focus more on rests is to constantly incorporate notes and rests together. I loved Rick Stietzel’s idea of putting the two-count rhythm patterns into “common time” meter, but why not two counts of just notes along with two counts of notes combined with rests? I apologize for the next sheet being handwritten, but they were just notes to work with to put together my thoughts and the final attached sheet. For now, I wanted to stay with mostly middle school-level rhythms and no triplets. I think the younger students need more help with counting than high school kids anyway. I did add 16th notes (not rests yet) ties and syncopation, what I like to refer to as the three “Rhythm Ratio” variations used in music. I have set up all of these expanded rhythms into groups of four bars. Note in groups 1b. and 1c. I added straight quarter and eighth notes so those groups would also have four members. All of the #1 groups are notes only, and the #2 list is notes with all possible rest variations. It got a little “tricky” with 2h., 2i., and 2j. and I had to extend these groups to six to accommodate the “Rhythm Ratio” rhythm families.
The “Rhythm Masters Sound and Silence Combinations” sheet is how I envisioned using the attached handwritten series of rhythms. Each exercise is eight bars long and my thought was possibly one line a day, kind of like a “Rhythm(s) of the Day”, but with a more consistent dose of “rests”. You will notice, at the beginning of each exercise, the “two-count” rhythm or rest identification code is given. In a few cases, since there are more rest groups than note groups, I would put one rest group on the top line and another on the bottom. I am not sure this is a good idea, but for demonstration purposes, it made sense for now. I have viewed many websites that “randomize” rhythms, so (I am thinking) the series might be set up so that directors could choose which specific note and rest group they wanted to focus on at any given time. The director could keep track of their student’s progress and individualize the note and the rest curriculums, separate from each other. If a class got stuck on a certain “rest” group, the director could stay at that same level for rests, but program a higher level of difficulty for the new notes group selected. This would facilitate maximum effectiveness and progress for both groups’ “1” and “2” rhythms without one or the other holding the class back.
I have proposed this to a friend of mine who has a publishing company with a web presence and it might be a project that we combine and work on at a later time. If you have some sort of “rhythm of the day” program you already use, you might consider using the combined “sound and silence” content. The key is taking one category at a time and monitoring your ensemble’s progress. Moving on when they are ready and on occasion, going back and doing a general review. You will be surprised how much ground can be covered in just three to five minutes, as long as you have a master rhythm vocabulary to work with and break them down into small groups (eight to ten) of similar “2 count” rhythms. In the “Rhythm Masters Sound and Silent Combinations” sheets I give an example of a sequence applying this content. Note, in each exercise line the “sound” and “silence” sequence codes are given for easy reference. One or two lines each day of counting, analyzing (if needed), and application on a single note or scale sequence, then move on to the rest of your planned curriculum.
For additional “application materials,” you can easily resource the “Rhythm Masters” book’s (online) “Power Grids” and Play Drills” which are transposed for all wind and string instruments and are set up in a very similar “rhythm vocabulary” structured sequence. See: www.rhythmmastersplus.org and contact me if you have any questions.
In addition to offering multiple levels of rhythm reading, the three performance versions (listed at the top) offer three different challenge levels from which the band director can choose. Each version step-up adds to the “processing levels” required from the performing students and also allows the band director to incorporate different scales into the exercise as a review. The instrumental performance of these exercise lines also helps the director confirm comprehension of each note and rest group studied. Another aspect brought over from the “Rhythm Masters” series is the use of “student monitors”. Select one student each time to score your band as they play an exercise line. Even if the student is weak at counting, you are asking them to listen to their class perform, and circle the area or measure where they hear their peers “disagree” with each other. It also gives you valuable information on the monitors selected and their present skill level as critical listeners.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
843-875-5594
“Rhythm Masters” Rest Audiation Differentiation Levels:
This sheet is designed to do a quick check of “learning styles” and processing limitations when it comes to the performance of notes with rests. This can be done with any approach you feel might be helpful but allow me to discuss three different applications I use to check out student counting methods. Also, why I have sequenced the three in this order regarding “processing” difficulty levels, or as I like to refer to it, the student’s RAM processing memory. Level 1 (#1) I use to check basic symbol references along with note and rest audiations. It is more of an “eye scripting” exercise, with the word “dash” used for the 8th note subdivision “timeline” and the 8th notes themselves. In Level 2, we add the down and up “arrows” into the “dash” timeline, now delineating the specific down or upbeat each “sound” location is to be performed on. Students should use their “foot” or “thumb” to indicate those locations (I prefer the thumb start with) and say the appropriate arrow direction as they occur. “Eye Scripting” coordinated with accurate timeline location identifications for all positions of sound, or (at the very least) the initial attack that each written note-head indicates.
Exercise number three allows experimenting with the addition of quarter rests, to determine if (up to this point) level one or two is a better fit for each student. The key here is being sure that students can accurately and consistently play the appropriate lengths of each eighth and quarter rest. For level number three (#4), students should approach it with the standard “numerical counting” system they have already learned in their instrumental classes. The meter is changed to common time since students deal with a standard four-beat measure far more often than 2/4. The addition of numbers and their specific timeline locations, combined with sound or silence decoding, might tend to “over process” several students. This will be verified by a drop in accuracy over the previous exercise just performed. If this happens, students should be encouraged to perform the decoding sequence that felt most comfortable to them and that produced the best performance results.
I find that a good way to confirm student comprehension is to give them the same task to accomplish but take them out of their “comfort zone”. Exercise numbers 5 through 7 have no bar lines for that reason. It is the same task but looks different. Start with the higher processing level sequence first and work backward. That is why three similar exercises were written. In the case of number counting, if they can keep track of where they are without bar lines, “They got this”! Even if (in my opinion) they perform the rhythms correctly (for the most part), but mess up with numerical order occasionally, then numerical counting is their “strong suit” and they should still stay with it. As you continue the process with exercises 6 and 7, you will get a good feel for each student’s “processing” (or RAM) capabilities and guide them toward the approach that best will offer them success with counting notes and rests combined.
Before even passing out this experimental exercise sheet I would begin with a “flash card” series. After cutting the four cards out on each page, blow them up on a Xerox machine so that they are about the size of an 8 ½ by 11-inch sheet of paper. After the initial introduction to these rhythms, I do not spend much time on these “flash cards. Only a few minutes of class, starting with four, but then expanding to eight cards at a time. I will replace four cards with a newer set and sometimes repeat cards that were earlier performed incorrectly. I still try to keep the instructional time used at a minimum. A short time spent on a fairly consistent basis will get you much farther a lot sooner. I am also attaching the “flash card” PDFs to this letter.
There is also another “option” explained in the “key” near the top of the page. Another way to confirm comprehension, or confidence level with a recently learned task. This is to add other performance aspects to the required task. The “key” offers four levels of difficulty, or “phases” that can be added to further challenge your students. They are certainly not necessary and I am sure you do this frequently with your ensemble by adding little things on top of an exercise you are already performing successfully.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
Three Part Middle School Instrumental Warm Up:
Three Part Middle School Instrumental Warm Up:
Being retired and volunteering has allowed me to work with and help numerous band programs, both in person and remotely. One of the things that motivates me to continue working with band programs is that I still enjoy learning. It is not me just sharing my knowledge and experience, I am still picking up great ideas from other music educators and sharing them with my colleagues. They have shared their concerns and made suggestions many of which I have written down in Finale and shared with others on my “Ultimate Musicians” web page. Another goal of mine is to not “re-invent” the wheel, but find methods and strategies to teach concepts in the most timely and effective matter. In many cases, I combine goals into a single series of etudes or warm-ups that help directors accomplish several goals simultaneously. In other words, I try to help music educators teach their curriculum in the shortest amount of time.
One area that is a concern of EVERY instrumental program is the “warm-up” their director chooses to use. Am I spending too much or too little time on it and is the warm-up I have decided upon covering all of the specific areas I need it to? Boy, that is a million-dollar question, isn’t it? To be honest, there is no right or wrong correct way of doing it, so each of us is relegated to “trial and error”. I have observed hundreds of warm-ups, but since retiring I have been observing, not as what might work best for my program, but in the goals set forth and the efficiency with which each director accomplishes the path they have decided to pursue. When looking at a warm-up in that fashion, there is actually an “art” to it and I admire the “craft” and personal insight many directors put into their final collection of materials chosen.
From a middle school perspective there was one director I work with whose warm-up I thought was particularly effective. His name is Nathan Woods and he is presently a middle school band director in South Carolina, Dorchester School District #2. The time frame for this warm-up was 8 to 10 minutes. I noticed it covers several areas many other warm-ups, comparatively speaking (due to time), do not get to. Again, this is not my warm-up, but one I observed this past school year. I made some minor adjustments on some things, to cover additional content, or streamlined it down further, for a “close-to-January” range to begin using. Following, I will explain the sequence I observed, give you very general times for each area, comment on the musical areas it obviously (and perhaps not so obviously) covers, and speculate why it was chosen. Note: Students should only breathe in the places “breath marks” are marked to work on elongating phrases.
Part 1 – approx. time up to 2 minutes: Just a concert “F”. The focus here is on attacks, releases, and getting the best possible “sound” you can from your ensemble (possibly some preliminary tuning as well). Play a drone (concert “F”) and have the class sing it, matching that pitch. I see way too many band directors use a drone (Harmony Director) constantly throughout their warm-up, I do not think that is a good idea. Repeat this procedure, always commenting on the three targeted areas. Every time you “cut off” your ensemble, the next attempt should start with the band re-singing the concert “F” pitch from memory. For the remainder of Part 1, only use the “drone to check their pitch. If the students are “off” have them listen and match it back up. The ensemble’s goal is to perform it perfectly, three consecutive times. Remember to stop at about two minutes in, stating your goals for your next session. If you are really “picky” (hopefully you are) this will take a while to accomplish.
Stress the importance of doing the “simple” things to perfection.
Use part #1 to also set the tone of your rehearsal, and establish right from the start your expectation levels. If the long tone attacks and releases are up to your expectations, start expanding to working on articulations, cleaning them the same way you started part one. Use this time to establish consistency in articulations, within that one breath, how long can you play the “F” and consistently match “tongue velocity” and “follow through” (air support). Focus on one articulation at a time, although you can switch back and forth between them. Staccato probably is the hardest to perfect, so I suggest begin there. The least variation in either of the two articulation “building blocks”, start over again. Do not settle for a sloppy initial attack either, even though you have moved to other priorities. Once again, ask your students to play the “F” as long as they can IN ONE BREATH! As their lungs get lower in air, it is even harder to tongue and support each articulation consistently. There is no winning this game, only getting better and sustaining consistency for a longer period. Your band’s tone and breath-control abilities will however improve as you work on them. Take this time to clearly define how each articulation your repertoire will require should sound and how to play them. Shape all three parts of each articulation, the attack, release and follow through, just as you did when you initially began working on Part #1. If you start this early on, you will be surprised how much your articulation issues and overall clarity will improve by “Festival Time”.
Part 2 – approx. time up to 3 minutes: I never heard of these before, but I love them. I am referring to Vincent Cichowicz’s “Flow Studies”. I believe the particular sheet I am referring to is the opening page of his book (by the same name). There are about eight exercises each one goes a single note higher allowing your ensemble to gradually warm up their “range reach”. Only go as far on this page as your ensemble feels comfortable with. Each line should be fully slurred and played using ONLY a single breath. This also helps gradually work on expanding your student’s lung capacity. Strive to have your ensemble keep the tone consistent as each exercise grows in length, despite having to perform each line in only one breath.
My friend put a little “twist” on the “Flow Studies” that I loved. In that one breath, he put a fermata above every “Bb” half note at the end of each exercise. When they got there, the entire class would hold it out as long as they could, kind of a “macho” thing.
Some directors like these “note length” competitions, but here is my “twist” on it. The most vulnerable notes (intonation-wise), when held out, are the lower ones. Those that have already “dropped out”, have them listen to the pitch of those that remain playing. Is their pitch centered, is the pitch going sharp, flat, or remaining the same as the “holdouts” continue playing? I might give them a pass on “tone quality” initially, but you can add that question as your ensemble’s breath capacity improves.
Part 3 – approx. time up to 4 minutes: “Habits of a Successful Middle School Musician” Scale Studies: In the “3 Part Warm Up” I observed only two lines from each scale section were used. Students should already be comfortable with the scales you wish to warm up them up with, even though they may not be memorized yet. Using the full “Habits” book sequence for each scale is one of the best ways there to teach scales to your students. It is easy to spend more than four minutes working on scales but be disciplined. It is an “ongoing” project so expand gradually. I mentioned before that I am always trying to “streamline” or add to exercises to give music educators more “bang for their buck”. I decided to re-write the warm-up set with some revisions and added a few things, let me explain why.
The fact that everything is written out on a single page (still in the same sequence) will prevent constantly skipping around in the “Habits” book. That alone will save you “scale reviewing” time. I start with the first four notes only. On the 3rd or 4th note of each scale normally is where students play their first incorrect note, if there is going to be one. In the first four scales that note happens to be the fourth note which is indicated by the flat furthest to the right of each key signature. I put it in three-four meter because I wanted perhaps to help your kids wake up a little bit. DO NOT STOP if there is an incorrect note, it is “held out” for a purpose. Let your class hear that minor second in all of its “glory”. When you are finished (if you are doing one scale at a time) ask if the class heard any wrong notes in their performance. If doing a “run-through of the full page (or more than one scale) ask how many times they heard a wrong note played in the second bar of each scale. Introduce the idea of “DANGER NOTES”, asking them if there are any other notes that they tend to “mess up” in each scale. Don’t tell your students what they are, you introduced the concept in bar two. Let your students be “music detectives” and figure it out on their own. Perhaps have them mark consistently missed notes on this sheet, possibly even how many times they miss it.
I feel thirds are important because, at the middle school level, young musicians are not exposed that much to “non-diatonic” motion. Not as much as we would like at least. “Thirds” also help us focus on the “key signature” reading aspect of scales. I would suggest possibly eventually adding to your warm-up “expanding interval” exercises. I did the “thirds” first to get to the top of each scale so we can reinforce our scales going backward. You will reach a point in teaching your class scales where 10% of the mistakes are going up, and 90% are coming down. So let’s be efficient about this, it is only a few seconds for each scale, but time adds up. I want to keep this section as close to the four-minute goal as possible, so let us use that time on where the errors normally occur. I think that middle schools playing “arpeggios” is a good idea and is another opportunity to reinforce interval skips.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
Note: You might consider having your students draw arrows, from the key signature to the first note in that exercise the student runs into (both octaves). It gets a bit “messy”, but it visually helps reinforce what the purpose of a key signature is. After that, any notes in the scale, still missed frequently, should be circled. See the attached S.C. Junior Scale sheet as an example.
"Chromatic Interval Expansion" Exrecises:
Lip Slur and Chromatic Sequences for Brass and Woodwinds
Lip Slurs & Chromatic Warm Ups #1 Audio File:
Lip Slur and Chromatic Warm Ups #2:
Lip Slur & Chromatic #2 Full Band
Lip Slurs & Chromatic #2 Brass Only
Lip Slur and Chromatic Warm Ups #3:
Extending Intervals, Lip Slurs, and Chromatic Warm Ups #4
This relatively basic warm-up targets three areas that students should begin working on by about “mid” middle school years. If you are dealing with brass players only, you should deal with all seven chromatic series steps if possible. If woodwinds participate, having them play as written will work fine for a group warm-up situation. The second part, the chromatic studies, starts with the seven chromatic fingerings for brass, written out so woodwinds can play along as well. In South Carolina, I have found that the ranges required for honor band acceptance are well learned and performed by most band students auditioning. However, if you deviate from the prescribed starting note (or the highest required pitch when coming down), most of these same students are entirely lost. They have mastered the “muscle memory” aspect of performing the chromatic scale but cannot internalize what the scale is and perform a chromatic series from any given initial pitch. That is what I wanted to target with exercise #2. Even after the first six measures (which are written out and transposed for all wind instruments), the teacher has the option of verbally giving their students, or ensemble, additional starting notes and asking them to re-create the same pattern of chromatic notes on their own.
Many middle school band warm-ups include extending intervals, but if you wish to push your students to the next level, expanding the intervals chromatically, both up and down, is one way to do this. Exercise number three is fairly “calm” but gets the point across. However, the fourth exercise takes a bit more effort to master. To break things down a little more, you could start by slowly adding one or two measures each time you play this warm-up. Then, with each run-through, take the needed time to work on the increased interval deviations, along with any notes or fingerings that your students might need to review or learn. I also try to help the brass players internalize the chromatic fingering series going forward as the pitches get higher and reverse when they go lower.
“Lip Slurs Continued” is targeted primarily at brass players but is also transposed so woodwinds can play along as well. Exercise “1C.” continues from the initial page, taking the mid-level brass musicians up into their expected upper register. The length (in measures) extends to force the brass players to take in a larger quantity of air to complete the designated phrase in one breath. In exercises 2 and 3, I gradually get the students smoothly slurring through “double partial” skips. Finally, in the last two exercises, having the students go right at the “double partial skips without any transitioning notes, first in half, then in quarter notes. For brass players, there is an option to continue down the chromatic fingering series if desired. The idea is to work on flexibility and control. If using a metronome, insist that (in all cases) the SOUND occurs right on the “click.” Avoid “dipping up” into the pitch or any hesitations where the pitch is not sounding right on the pulse. The attached two sheets are part of a series of exercises for the “Ultimate Musicians” program I am currently fielding for middle school band programs. As always, any comments, feedback, or suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Rich Moon
“Lip Slur Duets”
When working with students “virtually,” I usually have between 1 to 3 per session. Since I write a lot of my materials and “present” them in Google Classroom, it is difficult for any more than that to see the screen (unless a second chrome book is used.) I prefer to work with two students, and I find it more effective than even a single-person session. Students often do not realize the mistakes they are making until they see a peer making a similar one. Possibly, a moment of realization when the observing student thinks, “Oh C _ _ _ maybe I’m doing that same thing wrong.” I also like working in pairs because students can shift roles from the performer to the observer, allowing each to approach the targeted task from two different directions. I will assign them such tasks as being; the tempo giver/observer, counting the number of errors heard, or critiquing and giving their suggestions on how the student’s performance can improve.
One of the most important tasks I sometimes give to the “observer” is being the “foot police .” Since I can only see most of them from the waist up, I have NO idea what each student’s foot is doing. As one student plays, the other listens to the metronome on the chrome book and tells me:
- ) If the performer is even tapping their foot.
- ) Is the foot-tapping at the same time the metronome is “clicking.”
- ) Does the performer’s foot hesitate or speed up.
Students will sometimes slow a little on the more complex rhythms but then recover and get back with the metronome later (being “in and out of phase” more-or-less.) This information is valuable for me when trying to figure out why mistakes are possibly occurring and what strategies I might use to fix them. Another way I can observe each student’s ability to keep a steady tempo is to have the students use their “thumb” to keep track of “down” and “up” beats. I will be discussing several ways to use the “thumb” (and “thumb counting”) in a future article that is to be published in a later issue of the NAfME journal.
I primarily wrote the “Lip Slur Duets” to work with the groups of two brass players. Once they perform single-line exercises accurately, I then have them play independent lip slurring exercises. I determine if the pair is ready to move on to the next level by if the sound of each pitch occurs precisely on the metronome “click.” When students begin working on lip slurs, you usually start with many missed pitches and “air sounding before the pitch occurs. When their timing and pitch accuracy come together, you still want the benefit of lip slurs as a warm-up, but you also want to push your students up to a higher performance level. Adding the “independent part playing” process is one way to do this. Each musician has a finite number of processes they can combine at one time, and I refer to that as each individual’s “processing number.” Performers can simultaneously perform that number of tasks, but when each goes beyond that limit, students tend to “crash.” Some tasks are more challenging to process than others, so I think of each task value as a “full” or “half” process. As teachers, we are always looking for ways to expand our students’ processing abilities to make them better and more confident musicians.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
Lip Slur Duets Both
Lip Slur Duets Top Only
Lip Slur Duets Bottom
Flexibility Exercises and Clarinet Break:
Counting Games for Band and Orchestra:
“Mortal Kombat” (a rhythm counting game)
Initially, this counting game was called “Mortal Kombat,” but there are actually two versions of the game. The original game used a series of rhythm sheets (see attached). Students would compete, clapping and saying the rhythms out loud, playing the exercise line on a single given note, or the eight measures would be played on a concert scale, switching notes at every bar and competitor’s turn. The teacher could run a single scale throughout the competition or select the concert scales randomly, getting more challenging as the game progressed. The second version was titled “Quest for the Rhythm Master.” Both versions were presented initially in the “Rhythm Masters” book series. I also presented the later version with the “No Fear” Rhythm Camps. I offered these clinics to high school bands, on college campuses, and when asked to present the game to the “alternate” students at several past South Carolina Region and All-State Band Honor Band Clinics. This version used the Rhythm Master’s “Power Grids,” giving directors and game facilitators far more options. There was even a “leadership” component that evolved over the ten years I facilitated the game at the Citadel Summer Band Camp coordinated by Major Herbert Day. However, I will go into more detail about that at another time.
During the competition, I would call a team down to the “Arena of DOOM!” (the performance area), where they would stand or sit in any order. I would randomly mix the team’s performing order by changing where the players were sitting or standing. I did this so students could not just memorize how two of the measures were played but had to be ready to play all eight bars in each exercise, not being able to predict which rhythm(s) each team member would be required to play. I would then point to each member and say (out loud) which measure(s) each was assigned to play for that round. If the number of team members was less than 8, we would need to “snake around” back to the beginning until the team performed all eight measures. After the first measure, the next team member would play the second measure, with the students performing one measure per turn until the team completed the exercise line. Full points were deducted for each incorrect rhythm, ½ a point off for hesitation between measures or rushing. I also liked giving one bonus point ( for recovery) if a team got off tempo, but one of the team members pulled them back into tempo with the metronome. Playing an incorrect note rarely occurred when using the “Power Grids.” However, if you felt necessary, you could give a penalty if a brass player was off-pitch.
Attached are the original rules and materials published for the game some thirty years ago in “Rhythm Masters” Book #1. Feel free to make rule changes as you see fit, or give it a “twist” or two to make it your own. You could also use the lettered “rhythm charts” (or “Power Grids”) as counting review sheets to map out your program’s rhythm curriculum. These rhythm review sheets (as presented) are in sequence, with three exercises per level. During game play, the first one can be used as an introduction or review for your students, alternating the second two for actual competition. If you decide to perform concert scales as part of your competition, you need to decide if one or more points are to be taken away for each incorrect note. I also discovered later it was best not to go over eight members per team. Four to eight players work best, and when setting up teams, you do not need to have the same number of players on each team. “Byes” are used, so all eight measures are played each round, but players might not play the same number of times.
Also attached is a 32-team competition “bracket chart” where you list the names of each team involved in the competition. This grid allows you to schedule up to 256 players (eight players per team) if needed. At the week-long Citadel Camp, the team competition was ongoing Monday through Thursday, with the “Final” Individual Championships (also using the same bracket chart) being held on Friday. The “Team Rankings” sheet is also attached, which I used to keep an ongoing record of scores, team standings, and team handicaps, as well as what “Power Grids” had already been used for the competition.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
The "Quest for the Rhythm Master"
I want to take this opportunity to go into more detail about the “Quest for the Rhythm Masters” game I mentioned in the last letter. I hope to clarify some of the rules and why certain changes were made in this later version. First, using “Power Grids” as the resource materials for competition made the game a lot more “playing” oriented. I would also start the match by playing the MP3 from the original “Mortal Kombat” movie. It got the kids “pumped up” and created a “game” like atmosphere. I started playing this game with students when the original film came out to give you a time frame reference of when I first introduced the game.
As I mentioned in the first letter, I later added a leadership component, a “spin-off” of a popular “Dr. Tim” clinic at that time. It started halfway through the Citadel Summer Band Camps and evolved from there. At the same time, I was also developing the leadership aspect of the game with several high school programs during May. These directors would use the “Quest” game to help train and audition their upcoming marching season’s student marching staff and section leaders. Those being considered for leadership would be given a team to lead throughout the competition. It also worked having two potential leaders work with the same team to see how well they worked with their peers (a team within a team) and the main body of band students. You would pick up a lot of information about a student’s leadership skills and potential by observing them interact as they teach the other students. It gave the band director some insight into what kind of leader they would be and how successful they might be in the future.
The “Dr. Tim” clinic I mentioned earlier was about different “kinds” of student leadership approaches. He used “birds” to represent the different leadership styles. This clinic was perfect for identifying the variety of strategies the auditioning students could use as they compared and contrasted them. In some rounds, I would even require all auditioning leaders to be limited to a particular leadership approach. It seemed to help these students discover “who they were” as a leader and which leadership style best suited them.
In some cases, band directors would audition their potential leaders as part of a 9th-grade “rookie camp.” Involving in coming band members would give the directors great insight into how well their incoming first-year students could perform as “counters.” Many of these directors felt that the progress in counting rhythms their 9th grader’s achieved at “rookie camp” would have taken them months (possibly a semester) to accomplish during their band class time once school started.
The director would select a particular “Rhythm Vocabulary” presented in a unit of one of the “Power Grids.” The facilitator would first run one or two exercise lines or columns with all of the participating students. It was the director’s option if writing the counting out or “clapping” and counting the rhythms was necessary. The director would suggest to his student staff a few potential areas to focus on or “pitfalls” to look out for. The teams would then “break out” into different areas and work with their section leaders to prepare for the upcoming round of competition. I usually spent about 15 to 20 minutes on team preparation at the Citadel Camp. Any time length will work as long as each team has the same amount of time. If there was enough room to separate in the “break-out” sessions, the team leaders could have their team practice by playing the exercises. The teams being able to play during preparation allowed the leaders to create their own rehearsal strategy for accomplishing the most with their limited time. If all students needed to remain in a single room, the teams would separate as best they could, and the team leaders had to rely on strictly quietly clapping and counting for their team’s preparation.
Handicapping: I found this to be VERY helpful at the Citadel. After all, I had to keep the kids interested for 60 – 90 minutes for five days. Having students from all over the “Low Country,” there was no way of knowing each students playing or counting ability ahead of time. I had to place students in teams randomly and always tried to mix up the schools they were from and the instruments they played. The game got old pretty fast for a team constantly losing in the competition, so “handicapping” was crucial to help “equalize” things. As it became apparent which groups were the stronger performers, those teams would start with a lower point total from which points were deducted. The game was not watered down for the weaker teams but made more difficult and challenging for the more talented teams. Handicapping tended to keep all groups “in the hunt” for the championship up to the end of the competition.
You can also do “Mortal” and “Quest” as only an “individual’s” tournament. The day after a performance (for example), set your students up on a “bracket” chart ahead of time. There is no “handicapping”; the “individuals” format is an elimination tournament. I would have four students compete in each round. Instead of awarding team points for the highest scores, I would eliminate the two lowest scores for that round, and the two higher scores would advance to the next bracket. This shift in procedure would continue up until the “Final Four.” During the Citadel Camp, we ran the “team” competition for the first four days, and Friday was for the individual’s “Final Kombat” tournament. Each team was to select two members to compete from their team in the “Finals.” The final four contestants would also get additional points to add to their team’s total score. The higher up each competitor placed, the more points they earned for their team. As the saying goes, “It ain’t over until it is over.” Everyone was vested in Friday’s outcome, so there was a lot of “cheering” and surprises throughout the final tournament.
Prizes and Recognition: You can do whatever you want here, but the more students could win, the more seriously everyone seemed to participate. For the “Final Four,” I would ask local music stores to donate pencils, oils, reeds, and perhaps inexpensive tuners or metronomes. By the way, this was long before the i-phone was ever invented. Medallions were also a nice touch, but whatever you can get your hands on will be fine. A “sandwich” bag with candy for each winning team member always worked for me. For just a small bag of inexpensive candy, it always surprised me what a motivator that could be. If you did a tournament annually, a “Wall of Fame” plaque (or just a list on the board) would help keep the tradition alive. For a while, I posted the Top Four from each band camp I ran on my website. The postings included each student’s school, grade, and instrument they played. We always got a trophy or nice prize (donated, of course) for the final winner. They were then designated as the “Rhythm Master of the Low Country” or for that particular school or “camp” for that school year. At the Citadel Camp, it was always fun to see students returning to the following year’s camp to defend their titles.
You can access all of the Power Grids at www.rhythmmastersplus.org click the URL below: https://garagebandrhythmmasters.org/power-grids-units-1-20-pdfs/ To see the rhythm vocabulary breakdowns for “Rhythm Master” units 1 – 30, see attached.
Sincerely,
Rich Moon
Band "BINGO" Game:
About 20 years ago, when I was working on the “Rhythm Masters” books, I created a series of games to help students count rhythms. They included such things as “Quest for the Rhythm Master” (a.k.a. “Mortal Kombat”), “Bandego,” and “Band Battleship.” The basis for most of these games was the Rhythm Masters “Power Grids.” The Power Grids are organized into 30 sequential units. Each unit covers a different “rhythm vocabulary” where rhythms are organized into categories. Even today, I feel that the “Power Grids” are still one of the best self-contained rhythm curriculum available.
My suggestion is “Band Bingo,” Attached are “Bingo” scorecards. Your class can play up to six games per card. You start with students taking their pencils (all of your band students bring a pencil to band class every day, right?) to mark “Game 1” on their scorecard. They select and fill in any six consecutive squares on the scorecard, rows, columns, or diagonally. As long as your kids are not looking around at other scorecards, there are plenty of possible “six square” combinations where two students marking their cards the same way will be rare. I know that bingo typically has “five in a row,” but that is how I generate enough different combinations for the game for a typical class. You select a “Power Grid,” targeting a specific rhythm category on which you wish to focus. Power Grids are of different sizes and meters, but almost all have at least six lines and columns. There is a dotted line after the 6th row (for “testing” purposes) in some cases, which also helps. Use your metronome for the game at whatever tempo you feel appropriate (I suggest 60 b.p.m.).
You can make up whatever rules you want, but this is how I see it: After you have divided the class into two teams (Example: wood winds and brass with mallets), go around the room as one student at a time takes their turn to play one rhythm square at a time (selected by the director randomly) on that Power Grid. You can actually make up your own grid “squares” to draw from (like real “Bingo” games) if you want. Your student must play each rhythm twice consecutively (also to be judged on keeping a steady tempo). EVERYBODY puts an “X” on the called-out square on their scorecard (a neighbor can do it for the present soloist). If it is one of the squares the student has filled in, the student should “circle” that square. If that soloist is correct, they are given another rhythm to play on the grid. By the director saying (for example) “4, B, ready, play,” the student will be sight-reading (and repeating) each rhythm, having almost no “prep” time. Each soloist can play up to six of the rhythms on the “grid.” If all are correct, that soloist gets one point for their team and retires. The next soloist from the opposing team is selected and takes over. The director must keep track of the “squares” called out to confirm the winning bingo(s) that are called out. You might want to assign a student (with a blank piece of paper and tally marks) to “multi-task” and keep track of the number of correct measures each soloist plays. If a performer makes a mistake, that square can still marked with an “X” or “O” (or not) by everyone. However, that soloist then loses their turn. The game is continued until someone has circled all six of their consecutively filled-in squares on their score card and then has the right to call out “BAND BINGO!” Below is a website where you can find all the “Power Grids” and their instrument transpositions:
https://garagebandrhythmmasters.org/power-grids-units-1-20-pdfs/
Scoring: Two or three points (your call) for each team whose members get a verified Bingo win AND one point for each student on BOTH teams that gets six consecutive rhythms correct. You could even play the “Band Bingo” game as you give your class a test, grading how many right rhythms each student plays during their turn. Another thought would be to set the game up (with students you trust) and run the game when you have a substitute. You could also give extra credit to those that play six correct rhythms in a row, and it would also be nice if the students who get “Bingo’s” could get some kind of “prize” (candy always works).
Note: Also Attached are the Power Grid “Student Assessment Sheets” Units 1 – 30 (non-staff Power Grid sheets) and the” Rhythm Masters” Vocabulary List Overview, Units 1 – 28. You can use these for reference to help you select which Power Grid(s) you wish to target for your game(s).
Have Fun!
Rich Moon
For larger bands you can tell them they can set up their six bingo squares anywhere on the card, as long as each square is adjacent or diagonal from each other.
"Band Battleship" Game:
Setting Up:
“Battleship” is a classic game adapted for the “Rhythm Masters” book series some thirty years ago. I used to play it in my middle school band classes, after a concert, or sometimes right before a rhythm test (which is another great use for “Power Grids”). I adapted “Band Bingo” from this game, but since several directors thought “Bingo” was fun, I thought I would bring “Battleship” back as well. It is a team game, normally dividing your class into two teams. The teacher “pre-sets” the game by drawing in the “fleet” of ships on a “Battleship” playing card. Example #01 (see attached) is a PDF of a blank playing card, and Example #02 is what a playing card(s) would look like filled out. The game is played using the “Rhythm Masters” Power Grids, where the students must play the given rhythm correctly (twice in a row) for their team’s “shot” to count. The “Battleship” grid is set up in rows and columns that coincide with rows and columns on the “Power Grids.” There are two versions of playing cards because, with more involved rhythms, there are only six rows and columns rather than eight.
Game Play:
I assume you have played or heard of the “Battleship” game at some point in your life. Two possible fleets can be used for game play: four ships for a six-row and column grid and five for an eight-square grid. All four or five ships are placed on the playing card in consecutive squares horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. In this game (unlike Bingo), the students select which square they wish to target (so “strategy” comes into play). After choosing your two teams, a player on the first team selects a square on the grid by designating a row (using a number) and a column (using a letter). They will then be asked to play the corresponding rhythm on the same square represented on the Power Grid chosen by the teacher. It is best to use a metronome (60 BPM is suggested), and the performing player must play that rhythm twice consecutively. ONLY IF the soloist is correct, both in the rhythm being played and in a consistent and steady tempo, will the teacher accept that student’s shot and identify it as a “hit.” If the performer is unsuccessful, they will be “buzzed,” and the next shot goes to the opposing team. The square recently attempted is still in play and may be selected by either team once again later in the game.
After a player “takes their shot,” the teacher will identify if it was a hit or miss. NOTE! If the shot was a hit, the teacher DOES NOT identify which ship in the fleet was hit, ONLY that their shot was successful. The other team takes their turn if the shot is a miss. If it was a hit, that same team gets a second shot and continues to fire until they miss or the ship under attack is sunk. Once a ship is sunk, then the teacher identifies its classification to both teams. When this happens, the other team gets to take their turn, and so on. The team that finally sinks each ship is the team that gets the point credit for the “kill.” It is up to the teacher whether the players with a successful shot will continue to “fire” or if the second shot goes to the next teammate in line. Team sizes and class length will probably be factors to consider.
Game Scoring and VICTORY!!!!
Each square taken up by a ship is worth one point. The team that SINKS each ship gets those number of points. It does not matter which team “hit” the ship first or found its location. The game is over when the battleship is sunk. At that point, the points are added, and a winner is declared. However, it is possible to win the game without sinking the battleship. If the other team has more points by adding the point totals, they are declared the winner instead.
Epilog:
I do not know if this would ever happen, but if you had students in a single class at two different counting ability levels, you could use two different Power Grids, and game play would be the same. Since I am retired, I can no longer access a “smart board” or its software. Otherwise, I would have a program file where students can view the “grid” and follow where the shots have been taken and which are hits and misses (see Example #02). By color, I would identify who made the successful hits and, once sunk, which team finally gets the credit for the “kill.” As an option, you can make copies of the blank game cards and let your students (in small groups) keep track of game play by marking their cards as shots are fired and identified as “hits” or “misses.” If anyone out there decides it is worth the effort to create a “smart board” file, please share it with the group.
Power Grids, Units 1 – 20 can be found at: https://garagebandrhythmmasters.org/power-grids-units-1-20-pdfs/
For an “at a glance” overview of the vocabulary rhythms used (listed by units) visit: https://garagebandrhythmmasters.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/RhythmVocabularyUnits1-27.pdf
Sincerely,
Rich Moon