Horn is such a versatile instrument, thus the concept of characteristic tone is actually quite situationally dependent. But for our purposes as teachers, horn sound should be really round, warm, open and resonant.
Power Up! French Horn Tone
Power Up! Tips for Teaching Beginning Snare Drum
Teaching beginning percussion students can be a very exciting experience. However, without the proper first steps, bad habits can be set that could take years to undo.
Power Up! Creating a Resonant Sound: Starting Your Clarinet Students Off Right!
Who doesn’t love a dark, rich, and vibrant clarinet sound? It’s a beautiful instrument, and when our clarinet section sounds amazing, our band does too!
Power Up! Percussion Accessories Fundamentals
In the middle and high school setting so much time is devoted to the teaching of snare drum, timpani and the keyboard instruments that the proper techniques needed to play some of the smaller percussion instruments are often neglected or overlooked.
Power Up! Oboe Technique, Tone, and Performance
A good reed can make a “mediocre” to “not so strong” player sound beautiful.
Power Up! Timpani Fundamentals for Beginning Percussionists
Timpani is often overlooked by band directors, especially at the middle school level, and can be intimidating for young students.
Power Up! Euphonium and Tuba Tone
As a band director whose primary instrument is trumpet, there were a lot of things that I took for granted when I started teaching low brass as a young teacher.
Power Up! Teaching and Correcting Flute Tone
Approaching flute tone early on, even on just the headjoint, will not only create more vibrant, clear sounds from your section but helps with projection and tuning.
Power Up: Focusing on Tone with Your Beginner Saxophones
During my 34 years of teaching beginning saxophone, I always tried to teach our students the importance of playing with great tone from day one.
Power Up! Smart Solutions for Solo Contest
Alicia DeSoto & Chris Meredith are currently band directors at Lewisville High School in Lewisville ISD, TX.
We have been using MakeMusic Cloud (formerly SmartMusic) for a number of years now and one of our favorite applications is the impact of providing students with accompaniment tracks for their solos that can be adjusted for the performance speed of each individual performer.