Style

CONTEXT

Build a Musical Vocabulary

When teaching your child their first language, you might talk through experiences with them to build up their vocabulary, such as “These dishes sure are making a racket!” Children will hear the clanging in the kitchen and learn to associate “racket” with “loud.” The more words they know (“clatter,” “crash,” noise,” etc.), the more accurately they understand and can describe the situation.

In music, the way we expand our musical vocabulary is to listen to multiple pieces in the same style and learn about the context of the piece. For instance, if you are learning a march, maybe you would have your students listen to other marches, discuss the form, or learn about John Philip Sousa. Students will hear the distinct bass line or offbeats in the horn part and learn to associate that with “marches.”

Learning Sequences in Music (pp. 114-116)

MUSICAL TEMPOS

Hoooot Crooooss Buuuuuuns…

I know this is geared toward high school teachers, but you’ve all heard the middle school band that plays Mary Had a Little Lamb like a death march. This is doing our students (and our sanity) a disservice by making the tune almost unrecognizable. After all, whole notes are the hardest rhythm to get right; eighth and quarter notes come much more naturally to us. Introducing songs in the tempo and style that they are supposed to be will help students play the song musically and save you time later on trying to get the saxophones not to drag.

Learning Sequences in Music (pp. 271-272)

Advanced Technique: Musical Enrichment

Say you just taught your students to play Hot Crossed Buns in Bb major (at a musical tempo, obviously). Now that they can play that, ask if they can figure it how to play it in a different key or in minor or in triple meter. One of the best ways to learn what something IS is to learn what something ISN’T. So don’t just stick to one tonality, one key, or one meter. Band kids are smart - give them a challenge!

Take these examples from Jump Right In: The Instrumental Series (Grunow & Azzara, 2020). They introduce the melody, bass line, and two inner voices in its original major duple, then introduce in minor duple, major triple, and minor triple!