Creative Activities for Young Bands

Description

While creating is one of the four artistic processes that guide national core standards for music education, very few of the best-selling band methods emphasize creativity in a beginning instrumental setting. The goal of this e-book is to supplement the executive skills, notation reading development, and instrument-specific techniques that are often the focus of method books with a variety of activities that foster creativity in young band students. These activities are organized into the categories of exploration, improvisation, and composition, and require little to no prior understanding of standard five-line staff notation.

The seven creative activities presented in this e-book are designed to work with any instrumentation in small group and large group band settings. Pitches are identified by movable-do solfege syllables to eliminate the need for transposition. The activities vary in length, ranging from 5-minute exercises, to a larger creative project spanning several weeks. The e-book includes interactive features, such as YouTube bubbles with links to video examples and play-along accompaniments and Dropbox bubbles with links to customizable handouts and PowerPoint presentations. Readers are encouraged to download and edit the files to best suit their needs and make adaptations for the individual learners in their classrooms.