School Band Flute Tutorials

Important information for all Students & families involved in School Band Group flute tutorials

QUICK LINKS

- Current Term Goals / What to play at home -

- Useful Resources for Training Band Flute Students and Families -

- Useful Resources for all Band Flute Students and Families -

Current Goals / what to play at home

Below is a record of the music and technical skills your child should be playing/practicing at home between lessons.

If your child is in training band, please look at the back of their band book to find their 'training band flute goals' sheet. Any material which is dated in the developing column but has no date in the proficient of advanced columns is material that they should be working on at home.

If your child is in concert band, please check under your school below for information on what your child is currently playing at home.

To see the overall progress goals for the current year for all students involved in the band program please see the overall goals section below the individual school goals

(schools are listed alphabetically by name and work goals are updated within 24 hours of each tutorial occuring)

Please note that these goals are what is considered to be achievable for students who practice regularly at home between classes and achieve their weekly practice goals. Students who choose not to undertake practice at home are unlikely to keep up and achieve these goals as they are less likely to attain the required physical learning as quickly as their peers who are playing more regularly.

Overall goals for the coming year for Training Band & Concert Band Students

All Training Band students

Please note that all of the below goals are based on use of the Flying Start Band method book. Additionally backing tracks for all of the 'band' songs in this book can be found here

This section is a high level overview only. Weekly homework goals for each school are specified here.

Term 1

Students should be working towards achieving following goals by the end of term:

General goal

Jingle Bells (p9)

Extension Goal

London Bridge(p13)/Twinkle Twinkle(p15)

Technical Goals

Scales - 5 note Bb Major scale(p9)
1 bar rhythm drills (p47)
Articulation - beginning every note with the tongue (all tongued)

Term 2

Students should be working towards achieving following goals by the end of term:

General Goal

Swallow Dance(p17)

Extension Goal

Bingo(p19)/page 21 songs

Technical Goals

Scales - Bb Major scale & Arpeggio (p47)
1 & 2 bar rhythm drills (p47)
Articulation - - All Tongued, All Slurred

Term 3

Students should be working towards achieving following goals by the end of term:

General Goal

Inanay/Penguin March(p27)

Extension Goal

The Dove Flew Out(p29)/Pirate Dreams(p31)

Technical Goals

Scales - Bb & F Major scales & Arpeggios (p47)
1 & 2 bar rhythm drills (p47)
Articulation - All Tongued, All Slurred, Slurred in groups of 2 or 4
Octave Study (p28)

Term 4

Students should be working towards achieving following goals by the end of term:

General Goal

Waltzing Matilda(p37)/Christmas Carols

Extension Goal

Any of the songs toward the end of the book

Technical Goals

Scales
- Bb & F Major scales & Arpeggios (p47)
- C Major scale & Arpeggio (p40)
All rhythm drills (p47)
Articulation - All Tongued, All Slurred, Slurred in groups of 2 or 4, Two Slurred & Two Tongued
Octave Slurs (extended over full known range)

Technical Extension

All of p47

All Concert Band students

Repertoire

Repertoire for concert bands is determined by conductors.

Technique

All technical work will be from the book 'Grow Your Technique Flute' - this can be purchased here as an e-book and required pages printed as specified by you schools current goals below
Technical Goals for concert band students will relate to specific repertoire however all students are expected to:
- practice regularly between classes and rehearsals
- play with good posture and always use a music stand to hold music so as to avoid any poor habits developing
- hold the flute correctly
- be able to play a range of Major and minor scales and arpeggios based on the repertoire that has been chosed for their band by their band conductor
- Be able to understand and apply the below articulations:
  - tongue
  - slur
  - accent
  - staccato
  - pause (dependent on repertoire chosen by conductor)

Knowledge

Knowledge Goals for concert band students will relate to specific repertoire however all students are expected to be able to demonstrate:
- understanding of dynamics in their music
- understanding of any tempo markings
- understanding of (and apply) all articulation indications
- ability to correctly interpret notes and rhythms
- Understand and interpret divisi markings (where chosen repertoire includes this)

Useful Resources for Band Group Tutorial Students & Families

For Training Band Students and families

About Practice

In order to progress confidently on the flute it is important that all students play their flute at home regularly between lessons. When we play the flute, we cannot see our instrument to check on what we are doing as it is held to the side so our body needs to learn how it feels to coordinate our fingers and how it feels to place the flute correctly against our lower lip so as to be able to generate a sound. This physical learning can only be gained through ensuring we are connecting to our instrument on a daily basis so please encourage your young flute player to at least get their head joint out and do their best to make a sound every day this week. As we progress there will also be notes and songs to play in between classes.

Help at home

I have gathered some video resources to help you at home as well and have shared these in the 'resources' section of this website so you can connect with them at any time to help with assembling the flute, cleaning it, generating a sound, how to hold it and how to play each of our first 5 notes. To access these resources please follow the link below: https://www.flutecentral.com.au/resources/practice-resources#h.h3a4u7hzfk2e

For All Band Students and families

About Practice

In order to progress confidently on the flute it is important that all students play their flute at home regularly between lessons. When we play the flute, we cannot see our instrument to check on what we are doing as it is held to the side so our body needs to learn how it feels to coordinate our fingers and how it feels to place the flute correctly against our lower lip so as to be able to generate a sound. This physical learning can only be gained through ensuring we are connecting to our instrument on a daily basis so please encourage your young flute player to at least get their head joint out and do their best to make a sound every day this week. As we progress there will also be notes and songs to play in between classes.

Conservatorium information and news

https://centralcoastconservatorium.com.au/

Find Fun music to play

https://www.flutecentral.com.au/resources/music-where-to-find

Note: a lot of students ask for music for 'happy birthday' - this music is linked on the above page however a direct link is below:

Information on upcoming events, term dates and more.

https://centralcoastconservatorium.com.au/events/