Band class (in 6th grade only) meets with like-instruments every other day, rather than a full band. This allows all of the fundamental, instrument-specific skills to be learned before coming together as an ensemble in 7th and 8th grade. Also, percussionists need to be able to play every mallet and percussion instrument, thus it is CRUCIAL that students have previous experience with reading notes in both clefs.
A large majority of students select percussion and saxophone as their number one choice, but our class can only accommodate about 8-10 percussionists, and max of around 12-15 saxophones. This is due to a few reasons:
Balancing the band. Band music is written for only a handful of percussionists and saxophone parts. Even when we limit the class sizes to around 10, most music is only written for 6 - 8 percussionist on average. Same with saxophones. Most ensembles have a few saxophones, one or two tenor and baritone saxes. Percussion students in the back of the room with no music to play get bored quickly. We make sure that every student has music to play on every tune, and sometimes that involves a bit of creativity to accomplish. This would not be possible with large numbers in sax and percussion sections.
Percussion take up a LOT of room, and are very very expensive. Having a lot of them in a room would require a much larger space, as well as lots of ear plugs!
In previous years, percussion auditions have looked like this:
Students need to be able to identify notes on a keyboard / Piano / Mallet Instrument. The process involves using an iPad app that displays a note in treble and bass clef. To pass this portion, students need to be able to process the note that is written in either clef, then tap on the correct piano key that corresponds to that note.
Students are given a set of snare drum sticks. The 4 levels they need to pass are:
Tap foot at a steady tempo, and keep tapping at a steady tempo as I talk to them. I will give them the tempo, they must hear it and keep the foot steady at the tempo I gave them.
While continuing to tap the foot in time, I will perform / demonstrate a simple quarter note pattern that the student must repeat back to me. The foot must remain in time, and the hands must follow the same pattern as mine.
While continuing to tap the foot in time, I will perform / demonstrate a rhythmic pattern that includes quarter note and eighth note patterns that the student must repeat back to me. The foot must remain in time, and the hands must follow the same pattern as mine.
While continuing to tap the foot in time, I will perform / demonstrate a rhythmic pattern that includes quarter note, eighth note, and a simple 16th note pattern that the student must repeat back to me. The foot must remain in time, and the hands must follow the same pattern as mine.
Percussionists at East must perform on many percussion instruments, such as Snare Drum, Timpani, Bells, Xylophone, Marimba, Bass Drum, and all of the dozens of auxiliary instruments. Because of this, most students who have had more than a few years of piano usually have a better chance of making it past the audition process, as they already have much of the foundations of what is necessary to perform on these instruments, such as reading in both clefs, and left-right brain independence and coordination.
Out of all the hundreds of students that audition for percussion, only about 8 - 10 can be accepted into the class. This is due to instrument size and availability, and because band music is only written for this many players on average. To be honest, it's the least favorite part of my job; having to say "no" to so many students.
There are other options for anyone who wants to play percussion, but does not pass the audition. There is private lesson instruction outside of class, and any 8th grade band member who wants to play percussion starting in 8th grade has the option to participate in an after-school drum line. There is also the "Piano Cottage", which offers many great performance opportunities on different instruments.
During the first few school months in Michigan, many of our students like to ride their bikes to school. However, most of the time in school we see less than favorable biking conditions. However, we do what we can to accommodate this request by offering larger instruments, such as school-owned tuba, trombone, baritone, baritone sax, tenor sax, and percussion to the students to use at school. This way, students can have an instrument at home to practice on, but use a school-owned instrument at school, needing only to bring their music and mouthpieces / sticks to and from home.
This is not a guarantee, however. Availability of instruments plays a factor in this. If we have enough instruments available, the very least we can offer is one school-owned instrument to use. This would mean the student would have to bring the instrument to and from school.
Yes! We have quite a few band and orchestra instruments available for FREE to rent from the school. At the very least, we will be able to supply your child with one instrument to use at home / school. If we have enough of them available, we may be able to rent out an instrument to use at home, and one to use at school.
There is much evidence that practicing in short, frequent intervals is the best way to learn and retain basic skills required to perform on the instrument during year one. In 6th grade we require two short, 10 minute practice sessions after school on the days there is school in session. Translation: 20 minutes per day on days we have school, or 200 minutes every 2 weeks (100 every week). Weekends are used to make up for missed minutes.
Band students use "Tradition of Excellence Book 1"
Orchestra students use "Essential Elements 2000 for Strings"
These books are used as a workbook, in that we use a pencil to write in them.
Throughout much of the first year, most of our time is spent learning to play the instrument and building these basic fundamental skills. Performance opportunities include the Parent Night Performance early in the year, then the Holiday Concert, and the end-of-the-year Spring Concert.