1st Place Etudes is a tool that Band Directors have been asking for. The 35 melodic studies will follow your band students from grade 6 well into high school with a systematic introduction to common keys, time signatures, articulation and rudiment combinations, rhythms, and styles. These Etudes are developed to facilitate individual playing assessments that can be used to measure student achievement, but can also be used an extension of your warm ups, for sight reading, or prepared for individual or sectional performances, recitals, or auditions.
The system presented in this Etude Book offers everything a Band Director needs to assess individual progress, but also to practice them as a full ensemble. Many Etude books are unique for each instrument. This book of correlated studies makes it easy for teachers to engage the entire band, including percussion, while challenging each member individually. The Snare Book was edited by DCI Hall-of-Fame member Charley Poole, offering a ‘1st rate’ approach for your developing percussionists as well.
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So how does this work? After choosing an age-appropriate Etude for your ensemble, set up as many recorders as possible in practice rooms and have each student enter the room (Flute room, Trumpet room, etc.) and record the chosen Etude. Teachers can then listen to each performance and quickly give each student feedback using one of the grading sheets provided – from simple Star systems to more in depth ‘checklist’ formats.
Some of the assessment sheets use a 100-point system for grading or to rank and rate for seating, while others incorporate a 20-point system for grading against a school or district-wide standard, lessening the competitive approach. (Many people can get an A without ‘beating’ other students). There is a form for both student self-assessment and teacher feedback on the same sheet. A student rubric assists preparation of the piece through the use of guiding questions that address those areas the teacher will be assessing. (Tone, Rhythm, Articulation, Musicianship, etc.)
The Assessment Sheet Variety Pack and accompanying teacher guide gives options to teachers, and the degree of difficulty presented in the 35 Etudes (from 8 bars to full page Grade 4+ material) allows teachers to choose pieces suited to their students experience level. High school teachers could assign different Etudes by grade level, while using the same grading scale to rate each student.
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1st Place Etudes can also be used in Private Lesson programs – purchase one book, or the whole set. They also have value as a tool for sight reading activities. Etudes include swing studies, classical pieces such as Hungarian Dance, Minuet, Can-Can, etc, modal pieces, songs in 2, 3, 4, 5, 6/8, and cut time, march melodies, ballads, a spiritual, and many original melodic lines intended to introduce and assess different technical and expressive skills. Something for everyone! Some of these could also be used for Jazz Ensemble auditions.
As always, when you but a 1st Place product, you also purchase unlimited copying rights for your school. Why buy a new set of books every year? By buying the master set of parts and teacher score, you can decide how many to make, whenever you choose, for as long as you teach at that school! Why pretend that people don’t copy? Buying our materials gives you the right to copy as needed, whether your program has 50 or 500 students. It’s available via pdf so you can store them on your computer or use them with SmartMusic, or for an additional cost we also can ship an archival quality master set available for future use along with a CD of all assessment sheets in Word format. These can then be customized to fit a band programs specific needs.
This is a product will be used for years and a great value for a one-time purchase. The assessment sheets alone offer teachers useful and easy to implement materials for incorporating authentic assessment into their band programs. They could use their own or other melodic studies, or choose different pieces for each instrument or grade, and just purchase the assessment sheets. It’s a very flexible system that’s developed over more than 20 years of teaching middle, high school, and college-aged students.
If interested or in need of more info, contact me at:
jeff@bolducmusic.com