High School Band Course Overview/Objectives
Course Overview: We will be learning and playing a myriad of styles this semester. Due to the COVID-19 situation it is necessary for a shift in traditional brick and mortar and adapt to a hybrid (online and traditional) approach to learning and teaching. So, the learning approach will be much more focus on individual playing rather than ensemble playing at the start of the school year. We will still have band but in a different aspect. The goal is always the same: to make music, improve our skills, to be an outreach to the community and to help each other during this unprecedented time in our history. The styles in which we will focus will be jazz, rock, classical and traditional musics. The first part of the semester we will focus on fundamentals and skill development. This is needed because most of us haven’t been playing for a better part of 5-6 months. We will begin the semester with disinfecting the instruments and cleaning as well as the new procedures as recommended by the CDC. The second part of the semester we will focus on learning various styles of music, playing traditional music literature for parades and finishing the semester with a Christmas concert.
50% of the student’s music grade comes from individual performance and practice.
The other 50% of the student’s music grade comes from ensemble rehearsal and performance.
Course Objectives:
Students by the end of this course/year shall be able to:
By the end of this course students should be able to sight-read a grade 2 piece of music and perform at a grade 3 / 4 level.
NOTE: Music is graded from really easy to extremely difficult (both technically and musically). The easiest is grade 1 – the hardest grade is grade 6. Grade 6 is what professional bands/orchestras play.
Grades:
Score is determined by the following:
Individual: (50% of score)
35% Student Individual Assignments Performance/Submitted(Ranks)
15% Attendance at Zoom Session Sectionals (One per week), Practice Log
Ensemble: (50% of score)
35% Performances ( Pep Band, Christmas, Parades)
15% Rehearsal Attendance