TONE IN MIDDLE SCHOOLMandy Burton

“If you are not willing to look stupid, nothing great will ever happen to you.

-Dr. Gregory House

BUT FIRST, TONE➤ Intonation

➤ Blend

➤ Balance

BREATHING

➤ Start with students, before horns

➤ Continue to practice away from horns, as well as with

➤ Posture

➤ Daily check

➤ Stand height

➤ Exercises/Games

➤ Breathing Gym

➤ Paper tricks

FIRST SOUNDS

➤ “Sound before Sight”

➤ No books

➤ Guests

➤ YouTube

➤ Demonstrate

➤ Empathy

➤ Tessitura

➤ Aural matching

CHARACTERISTIC TONE➤ Aiming without a target

➤ “Music Mondays”

➤ Home Helper

➤ Demonstrating

➤ Mouthpieces

➤ Embouchure

➤ Vowels/Tongue position

➤ Tools

➤ Repetition

BALANCE & BLEND

➤ Teach blend right away!

➤ Team sport

➤ “Listen louder than you play”

➤ Then balance

➤ Pyramid or pear

➤ Low to high, but also dark to bright

➤ Teach it wrong!

➤ Balance in dynamic changes

Pyramid!of!Sound!

AIR!

POSTURE! BREATHING!

Group!4!!

Piccolo!!

Flute!!!!!!!!Oboe!

!

Group!3!!

Trumpet!!

Horn!

Group!2!!

Trombone!!

Euphonium!

Group!1!!

Tuba!

Tenor!Sax!

Alto!Sax! Clarinet!

Bassoon!

Bari!Sax! Bass!Clarinet!

The!foundation!of!sound!is…!

Open!

airway!

&!

syllable!

CONSISTENCY & CONCEPTUAL TEACHING

➤ Addressing does not always mean fixing!

➤ Warm-ups

➤ KISS

➤ Buzzing, singing

➤ Conceptual Teaching

➤ Chicken vs. Egg

ARTICULATIONS

➤ Right away

➤ Before books

➤ Singing, air

➤ On mouthpieces, then instruments

➤ Call & Response

➤ Varied articulations

➤ Singing syllables

➤ Unison, single pitch

➤ Break it down

“Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal.

-Igor Stravinsky