Arpeggio study for Elementary Band

Joseph C. Maleno
grmaleno@dumontnj.org
Grant Elementary, Dumont, NJ

TI:ME Technology Areas Addressed:

Notation

Level:

Elementary

Class:

Instrumental

Equipment:

Sibelius 3

Duration:

5-10 Minutes

Prior Knowledge and Skills:

Students must understand the concept of skips and leaps in music. Students need to have learned to play A3 through G4 of the concert Bb flat scale on their instruments and have knowledge of tounguing, breathing, and phrasing techniques relative to performing a pattern consisting of four quarter notes followed by a whole note.

NAfME Standard of 1994 Addressed:

NAfME Standard of 1994: Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
NAfME Standard of 1994: Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.

NAfME 2014: Performing 

NAfME Standard of 1994: Reading and notating music.

NAfME 2014: Creating 

Materials:

Band score: Arpeggio study for elementary band.

Objectives:

This is a warm up which would be used after band students have played sereval stepwise excercizes in concert Bb flat. The highlighted concepts are skips and leaps and their fingering, phrasing, and lipping ramifications.

Procedures:

2-3 minutes singing on solfege syllables with hand signs, and then perfroming instrumentally, several ascending and descending stepwise patterns using the pitches concert A3 through concert G4.

2-3 minutes singing on solfege syllables with hand signs, and then perfroming instrumentally, several ascending and descending skipping and leaping patterns using the pitches concert A3 through concert G4.

3-5 minutes performing from notation three arpeggiated paterns (outlined root position tonic, second-inversion sub-dominant, first-inversion dominant-seventh) using the rhythm of four quarter notes and one whole note, The first pattern returns at the end of the excercize, proving tonal finality.

Evaluation:

This excercize focuses on breath support and lipping, particularly for brass players, of pitches of varying distances from eachother, articulation of initial quarter note of each of the four phrases, proper duration of whole notes, and appropriate phrasing.

Follow Up:

This lesson could be used to highlight the sence of finality that accompanies the arrival of the tonal center of a melody. This lesson could also provide preparation for tonic, sub-dominant, and dominant harmonies in music theory.