Room S206
Class Description
This music course is designed to provide the student with skill development and ensemble performance opportunities on band instruments. Skills developed will include listening skills, intonation, balance, tuning, interpreting the gestures of a conductor, and development of concert band repertoire. The course focuses on repertoire expansion and involves the use of easy to intermediate level music.
This course may be used to satisfy graduation requirements for music.
Expectations
We are all in this class to learn. We learn from each other, whether that's your teacher, your classmates, your family, your books, your computer. My number one expectation is that this year, you will
HELP SOMEBODY
Someone in this class will need your help with understanding something, or knowing where to go, or just having some grace for a tough moment. Sometimes that person will be you, and you will need to help yourself. I will do everything I can to help you.
Required Materials
You'll be using many things to learn:
Your instrument, or keys to your instrument locker
Accessories for your instrument: neck strap, reeds, cork grease, mouthpiece, valve oil, instrument cables, picks, tuner
Sheet music and pencils (NOT PENS)
SmartMusic.com
Grades
Your grade in this class will be an average of all the work you have completed this term. There are three categories of assignments:
Engagement: Self-Assessment (10%): 4 per term (every 2 weeks)
Invest yourself in your learning. Do what you need to do to get the most out of this experience.
Practice and Application (50%): Exit tickets: Playing material that we've learned during a single class period. Usually once per class
Assessment (40%) Quizzes: skill checks for things we've learned to do or songs we've learned. 4 quizzes per quarter. Performances usually once per term)
Retakes: If you need to retake an assessment, you can do so as many times as necessary. Don't spend all your time trying to retake the quiz over and over without doing some studying in between, though.
"Retaking" a performance is not at all the same thing as performing live to share all your wonderful music with others! If you're nervous about performing, we will work to make you feel comfortable sharing your talent and genius.
Concert Band is a performing arts class, so performances are mandatory. Students who are participating in Marching Band must attend all football performances and all other performances. All other students must attend all concert band performances only
Course Outline
In this course, we will study the following units:
Audiation – Hearing and comprehending music for which the sound is not present
Improvisation – Creating music ad-hoc, based on given musical structure
Notation – Beginning symbols
Technique Fundamentals –Scales and rudiments
Articulation and Expressive Devices – Articulations, dynamics
Sight Reading - Reading beginner music ad-hoc
Arranging – Taking music written for a particular set of sounds and translating it for other instruments
Composition – Writing music
Much of what we learn overlaps these topics. For example, you may end up learning more things about notation while you're working on technique fundamentals, or audiation while you're learning to improvise. These are the main focus of each unit, but you'll be learning how these things are interconnected.
Academic Integrity
Your best work in this class is very important. I only want to see YOUR work, not anyone else’s work, or the work of an AI. I have no tolerance for this. Any student submitting someone else's work on an assignment will receive no credit on that assignment and will have a conference with the teacher and/or school administrators.
Responsibility for Equipment
Students are financially responsible for all equipment checked out to them from the Instrumental Music Department. At the end of their enrollment in this class, students must return all equipment that was checked out to them in the same condition in which they received it. Students will be financially responsible for the repair or replacement of damaged or lost/stolen equipment.