Slow and Steady: Beginning Band –Eric Sokolowski

SLOW AND STEADY: BEGINNING BAND

BY ERIC SOKOLOWSKI

When I started my career in music education, I felt like there was an unofficial race to finish the method book as quickly as possible. Some colleagues consider it a sign of pride to be deep into the method book, as if the number correlated with the quality of the program. I took an alternate path. I decided to stay on an exercise until it was perfect. I was after good sounds and rhythmic perfection. As I learned later, this was as detrimental for my students as sprinting through the book may prove for others. The obvious issue with sprinting is not fully absorbing the educational intent of the material.

On the other side of the spectrum, my method of rehearsing the exercises so much causes its own host of issues. Primarily, when dealing with beginning students, this becomes boring to the entire room (especially percussion). As it turned out, in the beginning, students were not interested in perfection and wanted to have fun and play their instruments.

Then my struggle to find a balance between pacing vs. mastery began. It seemed to be the primary goal of the beginning class. How do I teach them solid fundamentals, but keep the pace of the class energetic and interesting? Would it surprise anyone to know I am still working on this? This will be the tenth year of my teaching career and I am still refining and trying to improve my method.

What follows is my current approach to the beginning band class. It still favors the slow and steady approach but feels like a good balance for my classroom. My beginning classes have varied in size from 13 students to 45, but I try to keep the same approach regardless of the number of students. Smaller or larger groups will have advantages and disadvantages, but some degree of flexibility will always be required. My approach is one of many, and while it works for me, it may not work for everyone. My class is broken into: Routine (5 minutes), Breathing (5 minutes), Rhythms (5 minutes), Method Book (25 minutes), and Music (10 minutes).

ROUTINE (5 MINUTES) This portion of the class will change based on the time of year. At the beginning of the year, we focus on the very basics: how to walk into the room; where to put your school supplies; and where to put your instrument, chair, music, etc. We focus on sitting on the front portion of the seat, having good posture, and keeping our feet flat on the floor. The quicker we develop a classroom routine, the quicker we can focus on more important aspects of musicmaking. We work to get the logistical parts taken care of and use this as an opportunity to focus on classroom expectations, behavior, and the physical rules of sitting in a chair. Having a smooth logistical transition for your class will save time, which is always in short supply.

Eventually, part of the routine will be how to hold the instruments and better sit in the chair. The teacher’s role is to reinforce and properly maintain this routine until it becomes a habit. The ultimate goal is that

Eric Sokolowski is the Director of Bands at the Model Laboratory School at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, where he teaches elementary, middle, and high school band and class guitar. He has served on the instructional and design staffs for several award-winning marching band programs throughout Kentucky.

Mr. Sokolowski holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of the Cumberlands and a Master’s degree in Percussion Performance from Eastern Kentucky University. He also holds a Rank I Certification in Music Education from Eastern Kentucky University. He is a Performing Artist/Clinician for Innovative Percussion drumsticks and mallets.

Slow and Steady: Beginning Band, Eric Sokolowski, cont.

students become efficient in entering the classroom, are quickly ready to go with instruments in hand, and know how to dismiss at the end of class. Eventually, the time needed will be minimal and can be phased out, as it will become part of the daily class routine. A successful band needs successful habits.

BREATHING (5 MINUTES) Breathing, as it relates to a wind instrument, can be awkward for the untrained. Students have to be taught to take a deep breath from the bottom of their lungs, and then learn how to exhale. The fundamentals of developing breath control are here. There are countless methods and books available for this, so pick your favorite. I go for a simple quick method. Early on, I have my students breathe in for four counts and out for four counts. Then in for three counts and out for five counts, in for two counts and out for six counts, and eventually in for one count and out for six counts. We’ll also do this pattern in for two counts and out for four, eight, twelve counts, etc. My focus here is showing students they can actually take deep breaths quickly. I also have them “hiss” or “sizzle” through their teeth when they breathe out to provide a little resistance.

I use a metronome to keep this steady, and eventually elect a student to run this part every day. While this is happening, I am walking around, looking at seat technique (feet, back, front of the seat posture), and when students have instruments in hands, are they holding them correctly in the non-playing position? This breathing process will evolve into playing long tones with the same breathing intervals. We do unison notes and some chords when we learn enough notes. All the while, I am walking around the classroom reinforcing proper instrument and seat techniques. It will be very easy for this to become rote, but it must be done with intent and consistency every day.

RHYTHMS (5 MINUTES) Rhythmic development in the method books I have used feels slow. There is a lack of complex rhythms, primarily to focus on tone production from the wind players. They typically move a little quicker for percussion, but the early part of the year is very basic. The percussion section ends up getting stuck playing the same quarter note for weeks while the band tries to master the concert F. What I have done to combat this boredom is provide a slideshow of rhythms starting extremely basic, that get progressively more difficult throughout the year. I have made around 200 of these and every day a new rhythm is introduced. I have the class clap and count the rhythms. We break it down, and model it. Keep in mind, if I do not feel mastery of the rhythm from the group, I will reintroduce that rhythm the next day. (Basically, if it sounds like applause, it probably needs a little more work.) I want the group to be ahead rhythmically from the book as much as possible. I also use these rhythms in the percussion section when the winds are working long tones or exercises that are repeated frequently. Again, this is another opportunity to walk around the room and look at sitting technique and hands in the percussion section. Also, sometimes students master the rhythm quickly or even immediately. There is no reason to take all five minutes if they are nailing it. Move on!

METHOD BOOK (25 MINUTES) (SINGING, CLAPPING, HARMONY DIRECTOR) The method book is the bulk of my classroom focus. The time used will vary depending on the success of the other tasks. In the early days of the method book, time is spent working on fundamental sounds and introductory notes. As in all previous sections, introduce new concepts with modeling, clapping, singing, etc. I like to use a harmony director to model the exercises as well as give students confidence when singing. It is critical to get them singing early and often. Much like the routines established at the beginning of class, singing will become second nature.

While students are playing the exercise, I will rotate through each student. Much like every part of my class, I am away from the podium visually inspecting the students’ posture, technique, and sound. It is critical to their success that you see every student and make corrections constantly. If they have poor technique, that will eventually turn into a habit, which then becomes extremely difficult to correct as time passes. Those beginning exercises are good for developing air but are less than interesting for the percussion. I will move the percussion further in the exercises than the wind players. For instance, if we are on number 5 with the band, the percussion may be on number 20. I’m not concerned that the parts line up, I just want to feed the content to the students, as they need it. For the long tone

Slow and Steady: Beginning Band, Eric Sokolowski, cont.

exercises, if the daily rhythm needs more repetition, I will use that as well. I usually keep that rhythm on the screen for the duration of class.

Another method I use early is having the wind players face the percussion during the class. There are days where the percussion is going to struggle, particularly with keyboard instruments. It allows me to be in front of the band, while staying in the percussion. It also gives the students a different perspective of the class. A small change that keeps it varied in the room. It also moves the percussion to the front of the ensemble. As a percussionist myself, sometimes we are forgotten in the back of the room and I want to avoid that feeling.

Pacing will vary, but there is a point where the majority will understand the concept. The human brain learns skills based on repetition, but that doesn’t make for an exciting class. Once a concept is learned, it becomes part of the review we do on a daily basis. I usually review ten exercises back. So, if we are on number thirteen, I usually go back to three and we hit those again. If you are walking around the room, you will learn your group and what they need. Eventually, my review will evolve into selected exercises that I feel are important and not necessarily the previous ten. It’s important to do the repetition, but not drill it into the ground. As I mentioned in the beginning, there is a line between sitting on an exercise and sprinting. On one hand, the skills develop with repetition and reinforcement, but at the same time, as they learn more content, the early stuff will become easier. Find a balance between these. For me, my content review helps me with the repetition.

The goal is to always be moving and correcting hands and faces, posture, etc. I am not concerned with ensemble sound at this point, just creating players with good individual student habits.

MUSIC (10 MINUTES) This may surprise many, but I spend only a small portion of the class on literature. Particularly for beginners, you may not start working on music until the end of the first semester. I focus on fundamentals and good habits during the first half of the year. For my beginners, we do a demonstration concert of all we have learned during class. It is a mini-lesson on stage. We do our routine, breathing, rhythms, and play our exercises from the method book. When we do get to literature, I dedicate the end of class. The first year I did this was very scary, because I was worried about my concerts. As it turns out, it felt like they learned it quicker, with less frustration. I adopted this routine for my older classes as well, and it has been working. Keeping in mind, when we get closer to concerts, we spend more time on the music and process of how a concert works.

THE GOALS My goal is that students have a positive experience in class. They are learning and the act of music making is fun. As you can see, I spend the bulk of my time walking around inside the band arc. I strive to speak to every student by name every day of class. I also use my eyes more than my ears, particularly at the beginning. I will state the obvious, but these suggested times are not in stone. For that matter, the exercises in the books can be repeated, skipped, and tailored to whatever fits your class. Above all, the purpose of these suggestions is not to be THE end-all approach to teaching. It is just my current approach. As I said in the beginning, there are as many methods and approaches as there are many teachers. Consider this approach a potential tool in the educational toolbox.