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Creating the foundations of a comprehensive junior concert band program

University of British Columbia

The Curriculum Development Branch of the Ministry of Education of the Province of British Columbia issued Secondary Music (8-12) A Curriculum/Resource Guide during the 1980-81 academic year. The Guide contains the learning outcomes and content for band with sample outlines and units intended to guide band instruction through the introductory, intermediate and senior levels. Specific, sequential and comprehensive lesson plans, exercises and examinations designed to accomplish and evaluate each of the learning outcomes and content are not provided. The Guide has not created consistent standards throughout the province. My observations of numerous classroom situations and discussions of the problem with my collegues and supervisor lead me to speculate that an inadequate or incomplete distribution of resource materials made band directors unwilling or unprepared to supplement the Guide. A review of the literature showed that many books pertaining to the stated learning outcomes and content of the Guide exist however the information has not been compiled and organized into complete, self-contained lesson plans, exercises and examinations. After ten months of research, I had gathered thousands of pages of material relevant to each of the stated band skills and objectives in the Guide. I recognized that the dimensions were beyond my immediate resources so I contained my planning to the first three learning outcomes (technical competency, articulation and theory) and further reduced the scope by limiting instruction to the first three years (8-10). Preliminary and revised instructional materials and evaluation devices contained in this thesis were prepared based on the long-term learning outcomes of the Guide and the medium- and short-term learning outcomes from various sources in the literature. The process of developing the foundations of a comprehensive junior concert band program involves teaching students how to read and understand music (chapter 1), how to recognize and perform melodic and rhythmic patterns (chapters 2-3), and how to develop musicianship by correctly applying articulation and dynamic techniques to the scales and drills that are the rudiments of performance (chapters 4-5). The Guide has outlined the goals of a Secondary Band Program. This thesis provides possible methods for the accomplishment and evaluation of selected goals within the program. Subsequent coverage of the goals could provide a textbook for band instruction throughout the province which would permit students to move from district to district and be as prepared musically as they are academically.

Text

2010-05-24

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/24973

Music Education

University of British Columbia

Graduate