Director Book: 412 pgs.
Excerpt from the Foreward:
Performing a piece of music for the first time can be an intimidating experience for a young musician. There are multiple elements to interpret simultaneously including key, meter, accidentals, dynamics, not to mention playing the right pitches and rhythms in time! Sight-reading is hard. In a sense, it is the ultimate test of a students’ musical skill because it assesses every component of playing at the same time. It is no surprise that oftentimes the students who are the best readers are also the top players. Their reading ability allows them to learn their part quickly, freeing them to focus their attention on other areas of musicianship such as tone, technique, and ensemble skills. From the teacher’s perspective, students who can read are independent learners that help the band to progress more efficiently. In my opinion there is no easier way to quickly assess a student’s ability than sight-reading.
The content covered is broken down into 5 Levels. Each level introduces new rhythmic vocabulary and focuses on 5 additional areas: key signature, time signature, ties, accidentals, and dynamics. All the material is written in unison for two reasons: 1) to provide a clarity of sound that gives students immediate feedback regarding pitch accuracy and rhythmic timing and 2) to aid the director in assessing student performance in a group setting. Each level starts with two pitches and systematically adds on up to the first five notes of the scale (Studies using larger pitch sets can be found in the supplemental materials). Combination Studies review previous rhythmic content combined with newly introduced material and provide a separate staff to aid in isolating the rhythm. A summary is provided at the conclusion of each level which recaps the material covered throughout.
The chart below provides an overview of the book:
|
Rhythmic Vocabulary |
Key |
Time Signatures |
Accidental |
Level 1 |
Whole Note/Whole Note Rest Half Note/Half Note Rest |
C Major/C Minor |
4/4, 2/4 |
Eb |
Level 2 |
Quarter Note/Quarter Note Rest |
F Major/F Minor |
4/4, 2/4 |
Ab |
Level 3 |
Eighth Note Pairs |
G Major/G Minor |
4/4, 3/4 |
Bb |
Level 4 |
Dotted Half Note/Dotted Half Rest Dotted Quarter Note/Dotted Quarter Rest |
Bb Major/Bb Minor |
4/4, 6/8 |
Db |
Level 5 |
Eighth Note/Eighth Note Rest |
D Major/D Minor |
4/4, Cut Time |
F natural |
$20.00