Beginning Band
Open to students who want to learn: flute, clarinet, saxophone, French horn, trumpet, trombone, euphonium/baritone, tuba, percussion (snare pad and bells) or bass guitar. No experience is necessary. All students either rent, buy or borrow an instrument to be in the class. Students in Beginning Band perform in two concerts each year. The first concert is in December and the second concert is in May. We also perform at the Stardust Music and Arts Festival at CCHS in March. Students are expected to take home their instrument every night to practice and bring it to school every day. Students are expected to practice 20-45 minutes every day so they can improve and master their instrument. For more information about beginning band, please email Ms. Dean-Knapp.
Beginning Band - The first few weeks
Once everyone picks which instrument they want to play and they have their instruments, we begin by learning the embouchure. An embouchure is the mouth placement and muscles needed to make the correct tone quality (sound) on the instrument. This may sound like "noise" to you, but it is "music" to my ears. It is the first sound of many sounds to come. This is the most exciting time for me as a teacher. The moment going from nothing, to something! :)
Class of 2017 below
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Class of 2015 below
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Beginning Band - Our first note together
Once we have a grasp on how to make the correct sound on the mouthpiece and we have learned how to put our instrument together (safely) and can hold it together, we learn the first five notes. Below is the first note we learn, Concert Bb.