September is here. We usually think of “Spring” as the symbol of new beginnings: warm weather, birds returning, flowers blooming. Now we have a different set of beginnings: a new football season, apples, frost on the pumpkins, leaves changing colors, and the excitement of starting a fresh new school year.
One of the options 5th graders get to choose is joining elementary band and string programs. Now the obvious job of the music directors is of course to introduce the basics of playing their chosen instruments. Just as important though is to nurture and enhance the unbridled enthusiasm the children walked in to class with.
Most students get bored quickly with playing exercises they don’t recognize or excerpts of songs they do like. While band methods are very comprehensive, all beginner students just want to do is have fun and play complete songs they know.
We all know how fast the weeks go by and then the holiday season is suddenly upon us: Thanksgiving, Chanuka, and Christmas, not to mention Halloween. How many songs do you have access to or have prepared?
Here’s a suggestion for an elementary band or string supplement for the new school year. The Yankee Collection. It makes life easy for band directors, and for parents is a great stocking stuffer. You will find easy songs for almost every traditional holiday of the school year.
As they say: “Try it, you’ll like it!”….You might even tell your friends or colleagues.
Have a great school year!
