Article Summaries--Teaching Instrumentalists

Playing Without Pain: Strategies for the Developing Instrumentalist—William J. Dawson

· Prevent problems before they start

· If you do notice a problem, get help for it.

· Allow the body to heal, and then fix the environment or technique that may have caused it in the first place.

o Work toward better posture and technique to correct problems

o Use what abilities to play that you have while recovering from pain or other injuries

o Adapt the environment to benefit instrumentalists

§ Better equipment (seat straps vs. neck straps, floor pegs vs. neck straps, harnesses vs. neck straps; chairs encouraging good posture)

Audiation for Beginning Instrumentalists: Listen, Speak, Read, Write

· To achieve music literacy, build music listening and speaking vocabularies.

o Learn without notation first, allowing students to focus on musical content.

· Encourage aural skills activities in early education, and then transfer those skills to playing instruments.

· Learn concepts by using contrasting concepts (use duple to teach triple, use other sounds to teach a specific sound).

· Singing should come before instrumental instruction.

· Use songs taught by rote in the band setting.

· Teaching patterns (tonal and rhythm) to help students understand structure by reinforcing “pieces” of the puzzle, similar to how sentences are built.

· Use pattern-reading to help develop improvisation skills through comprehension.

Woodwind Vibrato in the Band Class—Mark C. Ely

· 4 types of vibrato: diaphragmatic/abdominal, jaw, throat, lip

· 2 most common in woodwind players: diaphragmatic/abdominal, jaw

o Dependent on instrument

· Diaphragmatic/abdominal vibrato comes from varied wind pressure coming from the abdominal muscles.

o Common on flute and oboe, sometimes bassoon

· Jaw vibrato comes from a change in lip pressure against a reed—hard to distinguish between jaw and lip vibrato.

o Used on saxophone and clarinet in combination with lip vibrato.

· Throat vibrato created by tightening and relaxing the throat muscles.

o Creates more of a tremolo; not very pleasing to the ear.

· Lip vibrato produced by moving the lower lip.

o Nearly identical to jaw vibrato, but more difficult to control.

· Begin using vibrato before high school, perhaps in 5^th-6^th grade.

o Should have a good grasp on fundamental skills and good listening skills first.

· It is best to teach vibrato to certain skill levels and particular instrument groups because each section uses a different kind of vibrato, and all students may not be ready to learn vibrato.

· Vibrato is used to enhance musicality and tone quality, not detract from it.

Dawson, W. J. (2006). Playing without Pain: Strategies for the Developing Instrumentalist. Music Educators Journal , 36-41.

Ely, M. C. (1993). Woodwind Vibrato in the Band Class. Music Educators Journal , 29-33.

Liperote, K. A. (2006). Audiation for Beginning Instrumentalists: Listen, Speak, Read, Write. Music Educators Journal , 46-52.