The Band Director's Sightreading Guidebook

Music, like any written language, has limitless power. But to fully appreciate music's hidden secrets of notation, theory, and structure and "open the world" for young learners, sightreading is an essential skill and a key aspect of becoming a well-rounded musician. Sightreading is the ability to look at any piece of written music, regardless of familiarity, and play or sing it. Just like learning to read new books in school, the ability to sightread new works of music is developed by studying with good teachers and reinforcing the development of skills over many years of practicing. These original etudes are designed to help teachers and their beginning/middle students develop sightreading skills. Most of the etudes are in A-B-A song form. They are somewhat progressive in difficulty. Under the tutelage of a teacher, students should attempt to read an etude first without hearing it played by the teacher. Once initially read, the etude can subsequently be used for additional instructional development of sound, rhythm accuracy, technique, intonation, articulation, and more. Each etude includes six (6) parts in concert key: C Instruments in Treble Clef, Bb Instruments in Treble Clef, Eb Instruments in Treble Clef, F Instruments in Treble Clef, C Instruments in Bass Clef, Low C Instruments (Tuba) in Bass Clef. The etudes are designed for use in like or mixed instrumental classes or even for full beginning and middle-level bands. The guidebook table of contents provides a description of each etude. Simply make copies before a class and teach