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Are you and your students getting the most out of your daily warm-ups? When we first began teaching band, we definitely were not using warm-ups in the most effective way possible. We’d spend a few minutes playing scales and then go right into playing sheet music. Because of the way we were warming up, the students were not able to sight read leading to all sorts of issues when we would try to play new pieces. We knew we needed to find a better way to tie daily warm-ups to sheet music so our students could be successful.
One of the main goals of warm-ups is to prepare the body and brain to perform music but they can also be a valuable tool to teach concepts. If we can use warm-ups as a way to teach new concepts before we play sheet music with these concepts, we are setting our students up for success! Practicing in isolation makes it much easier for our students to play music without frustration. We have found a way to make our daily warm-ups an essential part of how we teach new concepts and prepare our students for playing upcoming sheet music and we are sharing how we do that in today’s episode!
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In this episode we cover:
- What we have previously done for warm-ups that did not work well
- The importance of effective warm-ups to prepare for music performance
- How to use backwards planning to ensure your warm-ups are covering skills students need for upcoming sheet music
- Why it’s important to work on phrasing, rhythm skills, and articulations during warm-ups and how we do this
- Looking to easily implement effective warm-ups? Check out our Warm-Up Bundle
Related Resources:
- Check out the Concert Band Warm-Up Bundle
- Classroom Management in the Music Room by David Newell
- Join the Facebook Group
- Shop the TpT Store
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More about The First Six Notes with Classroom Composers
The First Six Notes Podcast with Classroom Composers is for band teachers and string teachers looking for great information from experienced teachers.
Every other week, we’ll dive into everything about teaching band and string music students. We’re covering everything from pedagogy to fundraising and interviewing successful music teachers, composers, admin, professional private studio teachers, and more to uncover and share their strategies for musical success.
Classroom Composers is a married team of two music teachers, Kevin Hoff and Jessica Frank. Between the two of us, we have experience teaching K-6 general music, elementary 4/5 band/strings, and middle school band/strings/guitar who want to share our knowledge and experience with other teachers.
Grab a chair and stand and join the conversation!