Daily Homework and Blizzard Bag in One

Minimum Practice Daily is 10 minutes. By the end of the 2nd Trimester it should be 20 minutes. By the end of the 3rd Trimester is should be 30 minutes.

Every student --Start with stretching

Stretch the right arm up to the ceiling while the left arm reaches to the floor. Keep feeling the stretch for 5-10 seconds. Change so left arm reaches up and right arm reaches down and hold as before. Do the ‘puppet whose string is cut’ bending forward with hands comfortable on or near the floor and breathe in deeply to the count of 4 and out to 4 at least twice. Move up to flat back parallel to the floor and repeat the deep breathing. Move up to hands halfway up the thighs and breathe deeply as before, bend your knees slightly and move to upright and breathe as before. Each time you breathe deeply, keep trying to feel that feeling of expansion of the lower ribs and back as well as the low abdomen. Soon it will become habit and you won’t have to “work” at it.

Instrumentalists and Vocalists

Every musician starts their practice with Warm Ups. Would you run a marathon without stretching and warming first? No! Think of warming up and practicing as getting ready for a marathon.

Regardless of which ensemble you participate in, daily practice should then move to lip trills. Woodwind and brass players as well as vocalists need to practice lip trills to work on breath control. Percussionists and string players should also practice these breathing exercises to work on their phrasing. (Percussionists and string players should breathe when all the other instruments are noted with breath marks. This keeps the phrases consistent throughout the band.)

Lip trills--Inhale to the count of 4, exhale to the count of 4 with your lips making that “Brrrr” (cold) or “motorboat” sound, inhale to the count of 4, exhale to the count of 8, inhale to the count of 4, exhale to the count of 16, inhale to the count of 4, exhale to the count of 32. Do this twice. Vocalists do it one more time adding pitch to the “Brrr” or “motorboat” sound while humming and making that "Brrr" (cold) or "motorboat" sound. It wouldn't hurt the band and strings members to do the humming, too.

Instrumentalists

Buzz your mouthpiece --Brass and woodwinds need to spend 2-3 minutes, 30 seconds at a time, buzzing your mouthpiece. This helps with breath control, embouchure, and good tone. Change the pitch of the buzz using your embouchure and breath speed. "Slide" the pitch up and down while you buzz.

Then warm up your "chops"--

Woodwinds, Brass, Strings: Start with long notes, whole notes, on your favorite string or note. Play on 4, then rest 4, then on 4, then rest 4. Start with whole notes, then half notes, then quarter notes and, when introduced, eighth notes. Play again on your favorite 2 notes. Then your favorite 3 notes.

Percussionists should start with whole notes, then half notes, then quarter notes and, when introduced, eighth notes using 1st: alternate sticking (R,L,R,L), 2nd time: paradiddles (RLRR, LRLL, RLRR, LRLL), 3rd time: flams and then, last time: buzz rolls. Next is Rhythms from pages 43-44--chose 6.

Next is scales: B♭ Concert pitch, E♭ Concert pitch. Pg. 42 in SOE.

In ensembles, lessons and on your Practice Log, you should have a list of exercise numbers from the book or other sources to use as the rest of your warm-up. Do them faithfully. Every day. Playing will become so much easier, tone will improve, breath control will become automatic, making music will become more fun and rewarding.

Quick Score Analysis of your music: Time signature. Key signature. Tempo. Look at all of the markings in the music. Where will you breathe, are there breath marks or is it just at the natural phrases? What are the dynamics--where is it loud, where is it soft, where is it building? Do any of the areas or phrases get special attention?

What is the style--are there areas that need faster tempos, slower tempos, is it waltz-like, rock, swing, classical, majestic, silly, etc?

Practice the exercises from your book that were assigned to you during your lesson that week. Practice the music assigned for the next concert. Practice them as you will be performing them, remembering tempos, dynamics, and phrasing. If those become easy, go back and revisit previous lessons or move to the next page and challenge yourself with new sections, new tunes and rhythms. Be prepared to play your favorite 2 pieces or sections in your next lesson. (My goal is to have at least 3 pieces of band music with a minimum of 80 measures for at least one concert each year.)

Vocalists

Warm up before you sing--every time. Start with stretching (see stretching above)

Do your lip trills without and then with a pitch. (see lip trills above)

Sing 2 warm-ups

In our warm-up repertoire so far we have:

Rose Red

Mommy Made Me Mash My M&M’s

Triads up and down the chromatic scale

"1. 1,2,1. 1.2.3.2.1, up to 11,2,3,4,5,6,7,8"

Know your music

Vocalists: Read through the lyrics of the song out loud. Do you understand what the song is about? Do you know the meaning of all the words? If not, look them up. Speak the lyrics as if they were a poem. Then speak the words in the rhythms that are written. If you need help with the rhythms, let me know and we can go over them.

Quick score analysis: Time signature. Tempo. Look at all of the markings in the music. Where will you breathe, are there breath marks or is it just at the natural phrases? What are the dynamics--where is it loud, where is it soft, where is it building? Do any of the areas or phrases get special attention?

What is the style--are there areas that need faster tempos, slower tempos, is it waltz-like, rock, swing, classical, majestic, silly, etc?

Know the tune and rhythms

Whenever possible, I will have an example of the piece-either a YouTube or audio version-available on the web page for the ensembles. If not, then you’ll have to read the music. If at any time you want to record the music, on a cell phone or recorder, let me know and we can either set it up in class or at a mutually agreed upon time during the day. Practice what you know. You’ll have a copy of the music so, if you find it on a YouTube, make sure that it is the same tune, and the same arrangement, as the one we will be performing. If you feel you have the parts we’ve gone over down well enough, move on to the next section. Practice all of the songs this way. (My goal is that we’ll be singing at least 6 songs, in parts, in at least one concert every year.)