After 1 Month

For some of you, this is the first experience you’ve had with band and may not know whether or not your child is progressing as he or she should.


It’s very important that you have your child play for you, even if you don’t feel like you would know anything about what they’ve played. The level of parent engagement and support is the main criteria that determines whether or not a child sticks with band into the future. Beginner band is hard: these students are having a lot of information given to them all at once, they are using their bodies in different ways (and for many of them, it hurts as they start developing muscles they never knew they had), and even when they think they’re doing everything right, one little misalignment can lead to a complete failure in producing a sound. Some students are still struggling to make a good consistent sound in class, and are understandably frustrated when other kids just make it seem so easy. All of this is very normal with beginner band, and your support at home is crucial as they struggle to decide if it’s all worth it (which it so is).


The best cure for beginning band frustrations is success, which is why I take things very slowly in the first six weeks, and focus heavily on basic rudiments and technique. I’ve outlined what you should be looking and listening for when they play at home, divided by instrument.


All Instruments

  • All students should have good posture when playing. This means sitting on the edge of their chair with their back straight, and feet firmly on the floor. A full and strong air supply is important, so students who put their feet on their cases or hunch over are limiting that air supply. Percussionists should be standing when they play.

  • No puffy cheeks. Wind instrument players have been taught to keep the corners of their mouths firm, so that when they play, the air pressure doesn’t cause their cheeks to puff out. They won’t be able to feel puffy cheeks, so they need a mirror in front of themselves to see it happen. Puffy cheeks won’t hinder these beginning notes, but they will limit them severely down the road. Many students allow puffy cheeks because this prevents their faces from getting sore while playing. As a general rule, their faces should be sore after about five minutes of playing at this stage, and if they aren’t, they’re doing something wrong.

  • Lots of air. Wind players need lots of, well, wind to make good sounds. We do breathing exercises before each class, and they should be doing them before each practice session, too. At this stage, many of them have no control over volume and that’s fine: control comes as their facial muscles get stronger.

  • Doo it, don’t foo it. Wind players should start every note by using their tongue, like they are saying the word “doo”. If they just start blowing (like saying “foo”), they will have less control.

  • Bandmate Chromatic Tuner. This is a tuning app for Smartphones/tablets that allows students to select their instrument from a list, and the app will tell them the name of whatever note they are playing. This is very useful for when students think they are using the correct fingerings, but aren’t.


Flutes

  • Breathy sound. If the flute just sounds like air and not a note, this is a problem with where their mouth is on the flute, or that the opening in their lips is too big. Here is a great article on what it should look like, complete with pictures.

  • Flute held too low. The flute should be held almost level with the floor. Many flute students allow the weight of the flute to pull themselves over, which causes all sorts of problems. Sometimes I stick a pencil inside the end of the flute, which should be able to stay there while they play.

  • Finding fingering for “mi” (D). The fingering for the note D is the hardest fingering to find on flute. Many students will want to look at their flute to find it, but they have to learn to do it by touch. I have flute students make a game of timing themselves on picking up their flute and finding the D fingering.

Oboes

  • Duck calls. Beginning oboes sound like ducks quacking. It’s because of the easy, softer reeds that beginners need to use. As a result, the oboe sounds loud and harsh. This is normal and will disappear when your child switches to firmer reeds down the road.

  • Bad reeds. Reeds are the bane of the oboist’s existence. While saxophones can still play with their reeds in tatters, oboes can’t play with even a slightly defective reed. If your child is unable to make sounds on even basic notes, consider a replacement reed (which I know hurts, as the silly things cost a fortune).

  • Lip position. Pretend to whistle. Then put the oboe reed in that mouth shape. The lips should go just to the point where the two pieces of reed come together.

Clarinets

  • Reed alignment. Here’s an article that shows the best reed placement. A poorly-placed reed sets them up for failure from the start. They also need to make sure it’s wet, as a dry reed won’t vibrate.

  • SQUEAKS!!! You’ve probably noticed that clarinets squeak a lot. Assuming the reed is properly placed on the clarinet, this happens mostly when they have too much mouthpiece in their mouth. The clarinet mouthpiece should be firmly placed up against (behind) their top teeth so that it doesn’t move. If they have too little mouthpiece in their mouth, it causes a thin, pinched sound. Not completely covering the finger hole can also cause squeaky notes.

  • Left hand on top. Many students struggle to remember that the left hand goes on top, right on bottom. At this stage, it doesn’t matter, but soon it will, and it becomes very difficult to unlearn, so it’s best to fix this now.

Saxophones

  • Reed alignment. Here’s an article that shows the best reed placement. A poorly-placed reed sets them up for failure from the start. They also need to make sure it’s wet, as a dry reed won’t vibrate.

  • SQUEAKS!! While not as big of an issue with saxophones as clarinets, saxophones still squeak, for much the same reason: too much mouthpiece in the mouth. Unfortunately, saxophones don’t place the mouthpiece behind the teeth like clarinets to stop them putting too much in. Here’s an article with links to pictures of both good and bad embouchures (mouth shapes).

  • Palm keys. Saxophones have keys that stick out from the sides. Later on, they’ll learn to use these for various reasons, but right now, they’re just little landmines waiting for a stray palm to bang into. If your child is trying to play a note, and something else comes out, it’s almost always that they’re touching a side key. Have them use the tuning app to make sure their notes are correct.

Trumpets

  • Lips turned in. All brass players have to have their lips turned in, so that only the dry, outer parts of their lips are visible. They also should not be pushing the trumpet against their lips. Here’s an article with great pictures about good and bad embouchures (mouth shapes).

  • A clear buzz. Students should be able to use just the mouthpiece to make notes (they sound like a kazoo). They should also be able to make adjustments inside their mouth to make the notes go up and down (faster air = higher notes). If they sound less like a kazoo and more like a whoopie cushion, their lips are probably too tight (see above).

  • Trumpet angle. The trumpet should be held out, roughly parallel to the floor. Many trumpet students try to play towards the floor because the trumpet can be heavy, which leads to all sorts of problems down the road.

  • Pinky ring. There’s a ring or hook on top of the trumpet where their pinky goes. The pinky should always be on top, never inside the ring/hook. Pinky inside the ring causes the hand to be twisted when playing and cause hand injury down the road.

  • C and G. Your child knows several notes by now. Two of them (C and G) have the same fingering (no buttons). They should be working on moving back and forth between these two notes, and being able to hear and play the correct one that they want (the tuning app can help here). The C is low and requires “warm” air (like warming your hands on a cold day), while the G is higher and requires “cool” air (like when you burn your fingers on a hot cup of coffee).

Trombones

  • Much of what I wrote for trumpets. Most of what I said for trumpets applies to trombones. Their two notes with the same slide position are Bb and F.

  • The slide. Students should hold the trombone slide with just a thumb and two fingers, not their fist. If the slide doesn’t move smoothly, it may need slide cream or a spritz of water.

  • Fingers on the bell. The trombone bell is a good landmark for students trying to find notes in 3rd or 4th positions. Many students will try to use their fingers to touch the bell as a means of finding these positions--this is a very bad habit that becomes hard to break.

Baritones/Tubas

  • Much of what I wrote for trumpets. Most of what I said for trumpets applies to baritones and tubas. Their two notes with the same fingerings are Bb and F.

Percussion

  • Holding the sticks/mallets. Students should hold the sticks/mallets a third of the way up. They grip the stick between thumb and forefinger only, while the rest of the fingers help balance. When playing, the backs of their hands should face the ceiling, and their two sticks should form an upside-down V.

  • Drum/glock height. The drum/practice pad/glockenspiel should be at belt-buckle height (remember they stand to play). Too high leads to bad arm position when playing, and too low will hurt their backs.