"Standard of Excellence" is a band method

• Twist back and forth; if a joint is stiff, draw on the raw metal with a pencil--the graphite acts as a lubricant.

• Start with the body to the foot; lineup the rod on the foot to the middle of the keys on the body.

• Align the headjoint by lining up the embouchure/lip plate hole to the row of keys on the body.

• Get your reed going in your mouth, first.

• Put a little cork grease on the corks if they don't feel like wet rubber.

• Build from the bell (bottom) to the upper joint (where your left hand goes)

• Assemble your barrel/mouthpiece/reed/ligature (in that order).

If you don't have cork grease, CONTACT ME.

• Put your neckstrap on, first.

• Then get your reed going in your mouth.

• Put a little cork grease on the neck cork, if it doesn't feel like wet rubber.

• Assemble your neck/mouthpiece/reed/ligature (in that order).

• Grabbing as close to the tenon (opposite end of the cork), gently insert the neck to the body.

• Hook your neckstrap to the loop just over the thumb hook on the back of the saxophone.

If you don't have cork grease, CONTACT ME.

Brass: A quarter turn of the mouthpiece to the right/clockwise (12 to 3) keeps it from falling out. If you don't have oil, CONTACT ME.

The 5 lines on which pitches are organized vertically.

Treble clef: Originally, this was a 'G' on the second line (from the bottom) on the staff. Over time, as things were copied by hand over centuries, people got sloppy, maybe even bored, and POOF! Notice how the loop curls around that second line. Think of the differences and similarities between the cursive and printed G's and treble clef.

Spaces: F A C E

"FACE is in the space."

Lines: E G B D F or...

Every Good Burger Deserves Fries

Bass clef: Originally, this was an 'F' on the fourth line (from the bottom) on the staff. Same story as the 'G' clef, the 'F' got curlier, and the arms detached and then turned into dots. Again, think of the differences between the cursive and printed F's and the bass clef.

Spaces: ACEG or...

All Cows Eat Grass

Lines: GBDFA or...

Good Burritos Don't Fall Apart

#1 - Mi

#2 - Re

#4 - Do

Practice going between two different notes:

Mi-Re (like #3 without rests), Mi-Do, Re-Do

It actually IS a lower-case 'B'!

In the beginning, there were only 7 notes: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. 'Kidding... kinda.

There were actually 8 notes, and there was a "hard"/raised 'B' and "soft"/lowered 'b'. (The Germans use 'H', but that's another lecture.) This "soft" 'B' became the indicator for any lowered note as more pitches were introduced.

B♭ ("B-flat") is a different note from 'B'.

A line that acts as a place-marker as if the staff were to be extend out by another line(s).

• 'C' is one ledger line below the staff, as if it sits on a Cloud.

• That said, 'D' is between that 'C' and the bottom-line 'E', Dangerously Dangling for Dear life! REMEMBER: D's Dangle.

Bar line: A line marking the beginning of a measure.

Measure: A box in which rhythms are grouped. Its size/length/duration is indicated by the...

Time signature: Here's where the book gets vague, and things don't get any better. :-/

4/4-time is best explained as:

4 - the number of beats you'll have in a measure--your grouping

(over)

4 - a denominator. In this case, you are counting 4ths or quarters.

If you see a 4 in the bottom of a time signature, you are counting the pulse in quarter notes which are grouped in 4's.

So you would count in 4's as: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1...

The fraction 4/4 reduces to 1 "whole," which is where we get the "whole note"

Whole note: Within the structure of 4/4-time, this is a note that is held for 4 beats.

Whole rest: Within the structure of 4/4-time, this is a silence that is held for 4 beats.

But when is 4 beats?

Think of a stopwatch. It starts at zero and counts up. The first second is 0 to 1".

The musical "stopwatch" starts at 1. The first beat is from 1 to 2; the 2nd, from 2 to 3, and so on...

So a whole note is counted from beat 1 all the way to the next beat 1 (when the next measure would start.)

Try playing exercises #1-11 with 4 quarter notes (see p. 8) for each whole note.

After #1-6, go to page 8, read about quarter notes, and try playing #15

By this point you know 3 notes. See how many different ways you can combine them. Practice going from one to another, slowly at first, then quickly.

Remember my explanation of time signatures...?

Half note: Within the structure of 4/4-time, a note that is held for 2 beats--which is half of 4

Half rest: Within the structure of 4/4-time, a silence that is held for 2 beats.

Breath mark: Treat it like a comma (,).

Now how does that translate in the structure of pulse? Does it break the flow of time? NO (for now...).

Instead you borrow time from the note before the breath. So when you have 2 whole-notes with a breath between, you would play: | 1_2_3_4(breathe) | 1_2_3_4_ |

Remember my explanation of time signatures...?

Quarter note: Within the structure of 4/4-time, this is a note that is held for 1 beat--which is 1/4 of 4

Quarter rest: Within the structure of 4/4-time, this is a silence that is held for 1 beat.

Phrase: "A phrase is a musical thought or sentence." ...They can be like a question or an answer. "Phrases are usually four or eight measures long."

Breath marks most-often show up at the end of a musical phrase.

• #16: The breath mark near the end is just there to encourage you to connect measures 5 and 6 to measure 7.

• #19: The rest ends the 2nd phrase.

Look at #17. How many measure happen before the song repeats itself? That's how long each phrase is in #17. So there are 2 phrases in #17.

#19 - Fa

#21 - Sol

Skipping around:

Before #19, try the "B." part to #24.

If you can do #19 and #20...

• Try jumping to #27.

• Play the first half of #25.

If you can play the new note at #21

• Try jumping to #23. There are only 2 of those in the whole song, in measure 4. The rest is the first 3 notes you learned!

Note: By the end of this page, you know 5 notes.

• Practice going back-and-forth between the page 8 "new" notes and the page 6 notes, making 2-note combination, and see how fast you can go between those two notes smoothly.

• Fa-Sol, Fa-Mi, Fa-Re, Fa-Do; Sol-Mi, Sol-Re, Sol-Do

• Some combinations will be easier than others. Practice the "harder" ones to make them as easy as the "easy" ones.

• See how many unique 5-note patterns you can create.

Repeat sign: Think of these like bumpers that bump you back towards the beginning.

Remember my explanation of time signatures...?

Common Time: If you see a big 'C' where the time signature goes, that's for "common time" which is the same as 4/4.

In a group or ensemble, watch the conductor for the release or end of the note. In general, hold the note longer by at least 1 beat.

Solo: (Italian) "Individual"

Soli: (Italian) "Individuals"--not always "a whole section"

Tutti: (Italian) "all"; "tutti frutti" is Italian for all fruits

#23: The first three notes are the same first three notes of #16, just a faster rhythm.

#24:

• Part A is the melody; part B is the harmony

• Learn part B first

• When playing part B: Where the notes are the same as part A, try playing those unison or matched notes a little less loud.

#25:

• Try it backwards

• With a friend, play it as a two-group round (see below under page 11), one measure apart

#29: For a more mature sound, breathe only in the rests.

2/4-time signature:

2 - 2 beat per measure

(over)

4 - quarter gets the beat

A curved line between two notes of the same pitch adds their values. When in doubt, do not tongue the second note, as this looks just like a slur (see p. 15)

#30 - La

#31 is a great exercise for brasses.

• Trumpet and trombones don't have to change their fingering or slide position!

#34 is "Old Macdonald"

Read about eighth-notes (p. 13), and repeated measures (p. 19--they look like "%"), and you can now tackle #81

Brasses: If this is too high for you

• Try #31, going down to a low "La" on the same fingering, going back UP to "Mi"

• Jump to #36-38

#36 - Ti

Read p. 13 for eight-notes, and you can jump to #59!

• Clarinets: Place your thumb pad against the body of the clarinet, under the thumb rest. It should sit between your knuckle and your cuticle. Always use the pads of your fingers to cover tone holes.

• Alto saxophones: Same idea as the clarinets, but the next strap holds the instrument up. Use to thumb hook to stabilize the instrument and push the body out, away from your body. Put your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers on the pearls, opposite thumb hook.

• Sharp: Raises the pitch.

• Key Signature: Puts all the needed sharps in the beginning of the staff. Think of it like a filter, catching all the indicated notes, and changing them. The first ♯ is for F's.

• F♯ is a different note from "F'

• Flat (♭): lowers the pitch.

• Remember: B♭ ("B-flat") is a different note from 'B'.

• Key Signature: Puts all the needed flats in the beginning of the staff. Think of it like a filter, catching all the indicated notes, and changing them. The first ♭ is for B's; the second is for E's.

"Music where two or more players play the same melody but begin at different times," and could then end at diffent times.

It should feel like two or more groups, each taking a different BART train going the same way: They all go the same route (the song) to make it to their final destination (the end), but in evenly paced intervals.

Or, you can think of a merry-go-round, with each part seated in order around the merry-go-round. They all go the same pace, but they pass sections at different times, as if they were following one after another.

Remember "ti-ti" (as against "ta")?

Eighth notes: Within the structure of 4/4-time, a note that is held for a 1/2 beat

The book beams them in pairs for quite a while*. These pairs make a 1-beat unit.

*Until p. 15 #61, where they are beamed in 4's for a total of 2 beats. But notice: they are still pairs of the same pitch. In the middle of #72, and much of #73, they sneak in un-matched eighth-note pairs. And then on page 19, you see a group of 4, with no matched pairs.