Band Resources
Choose Your Instrument:Woodwind InstrumentsBrass InstrumentsPercussion Instruments |
|
Why Flashcards for Beginning Bands?
As band directors, we hope that our students are getting better and better at note reading as we plod through our method book. We expect that each new little song reinforces our students' knowledge of notes they have already learned, and increases their sight-reading speed and skill. However, for many students (perhaps only a small percentage) each new line of music is an exercise in futility and a reminder of how they are a great musical failure. Sometimes it is because the notes keep coming too fast to process, and sometimes it is because the student never grasped or memorized the essential connections between written pitch and fingering.
Do you ever notice some of your young musicians watching their neighbor's fingerings instead of watching the sheet music? Do you ever see notes or fingerings penciled into their music? Do you ever find that when you sight-read a new piece of music a large percentage of your class doesn't make it to the end? If so, then these note & fingering flashcards can help you make significant progress toward eliminating these problems.
StepWise Publications has created flashcards for each band instrument, helping beginning band students learn note names and fingerings for every note in the essential range of their instrument. With all the ways you can use these flashcards, you almost don't need a beginning band method book! Some ideas include:
Do you ever notice some of your young musicians watching their neighbor's fingerings instead of watching the sheet music? Do you ever see notes or fingerings penciled into their music? Do you ever find that when you sight-read a new piece of music a large percentage of your class doesn't make it to the end? If so, then these note & fingering flashcards can help you make significant progress toward eliminating these problems.
StepWise Publications has created flashcards for each band instrument, helping beginning band students learn note names and fingerings for every note in the essential range of their instrument. With all the ways you can use these flashcards, you almost don't need a beginning band method book! Some ideas include:
- Have students review a group of cards on their own each day
- Let students work with partners to teach and quiz each other
- For a bellringer, list a group of cards on the board as students are entering your class
- Introduce new notes with the cards by simply saying, "Get out card #___"
- Use them to teach the first 6 major scales, with correct alternate fingerings
- Choose 2-4 difficult fingering combinations, and have students place those cards on their music stand to practice them in different orders
Flashcards for your Advanced Band
The benefits of the StepWise Band Flashcards do not end with your beginners. Advanced band students continue to struggle with note names and fingerings, and often need to refer to fingering charts. Many experienced musicians also suffer from slow recall speed as they are reading new music - meaning that they can't quite keep up with the director's tempo as they interpret and perform each written pitch. Wouldn't rehearsals be more effective if every one of your advanced band students was quick and accurate with the fingerings of every note on their instruments? Speed and accuracy can be developed using the StepWise Band Flashcards, and sight-reading skills will dramatically improve!
