Reply To: Music Theory in Band

[nafmeadmin]

I teach HS band with a feeder program that is pretty nonexistent, so I think theory wise, my kids would probably be right around where yours are. I use Sandy Feldstein’s “Practical Music Theory” workbook. It breaks down concepts into 3 lessons and then has a review of those 3 lessons. It’s definitely more of a workbook than a book, but the concepts are introduced before the examples, so I guess it kind of doubles as both. You would definitely want to supplement the materials with your own info for kids that young.

Here’s a sample of the first few lesson topics:

Lesson 1: The Staff
Lesson 2: The Treble Clef and Staff
Lesson 3: The Bass Clef and Staff
(Review)
Lesson 5: Whole-Half-Quarter Notes
Lesson 6: Measures-Bar Lines-Double Bar Lines
Lesson 7: Time Signatures and Note Values
(Review)

They also go on to minor keys, harmonizing melodies, non-harmonic tones, composition, etc.

Hope this helps!