GETTING CREATIVE
making music
Brimmer’s vibrant band program ensures students of all ages explore instrumental music
S
top by a Brimmer band rehearsal and you might see third graders playing their first notes on a new instrument, Middle School students thinking critically about ways to improve their group sound, or Upper Schoolers learning to improvise in 5/4 time. With three concert bands and two jazz/rock combos rehearsing a total of nine times each week, the Brimmer band program offers a vibrant environment for students of all ages and skill levels to explore instrumental music.
14
Fall 2020
Brimmer Magazine
Second graders prepare for the band experience through studies on the soprano recorder, a year before the program officially begins in Grade 3. The recorder is easily accessible to young musicians, and students learn to express music through a wind instrument for the first time with relatively simple technique. In studying recorder, students hone their note-reading skills and begin to develop the fine motor skills needed to play a band instrument. By spring, they are excited to learn about the instrument families and explore
the instrumental options that await them in the coming year. Grade 3 students kick off their Beginning Band experience when they meet their chosen instruments for the first time. Under the careful guidance of Lower School Music Teacher Caroline Scheibe and the After School Music Program faculty, students meet weekly in small groups to learn the fundamentals of their instruments. By the end of the first semester,
