5th Grade Band, Revisited

[lonewolf]

Some of you regulars might remember that in January I took over the 5th grade band at my little school. (I'm a PE teacher, but I had some time in my schedule and I was the only one with time who can read music.)

Well, here we are 4 months later and the kids have made great progress. They know (mostly) a concert B flat scale. They know whole, half, quarter, dotted quarter and eighth notes. They know 4/4 and 2/4 time. And they know a little more.

We have a mini concert next week and they'll be playing "A Mozart Melody" (Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star), Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" (I made up a fun arrangement) and "Manitoba March" (a fun, easy march). I'm really proud of them and happy that we all made it through!

[corinne]

Wow! That's great progress for any group of kids that age and especially when you took over the class and it isn't your regular assignment. Enjoy the concert!

[CarlaB]

Congratulations!

Band and PE go together more than you may think ... marching band requires a lot of stamina on top of the musical ability, so you're preparing them completely to be in marching band when they get a little older!

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Wow!!! Bravissimo!!!!! Teaching kids to play instruments in a group setting is difficult at best. Sounds like you have done wonderfully. Way to go!!!!

If there's any possible way you can get them to memorize their parts (it's easier than they think, especially on songs they know like Twinkle), you will be AMAZED at how much better (more in tune, nicer sound, more together, etc.) they will sound.

You can even lead them through it in rehearsal: "Let's just play the first phrase from memory. Everyone look at the conductor! Okay, there were some mistakes, let's play the first 7 notes. Okay, that's perfect, let's start again and see how far we can go, etc."

And just gently help them with the missed notes as you go, and back up first a measure, and then a phrase, til they can do it all.

It helps the memory part to think of Twinkle as a sandwich:

bread: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are?"

peanut butter (or ham): "Up above the world so high,"

jelly (or cheese, or another piece of ham): "Like a diamond in the sky,"

bread: "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are."

So, really, all they have to memorize is the first phrase (bread) (14 notes) and the second (peanut butter) (7 notes). The rest of the piece is just repeats, and if they keep the sandwich in mind, they will remember where they are in the music.

And the audience is always so impressed to see kids playing from memory (sh! We won't tell them that it's actually easier to play from memory!)!!

[Cheri A]

Congrats!!! I just signed my ds up for summer band. He'll be in 5th grade next school year and is going to play the French Horn.