STUDY GUIDE for TEACHERS

The focus of today's concert is to introduce the instruments of the concert band and explore and analyze the various ways composers use the elements of music - the building blocks of music.  We will explore how the composer uses the music to help create an image of something.

  To the students:

Have you ever thought about how many times a day you hear music?  Can you think of the many different kinds of music it is possible to hear during the day?  You might hear a folk tune or a symphony; a rock singer or an opera singer; a string quartet or an alternative group; an exciting march or a church hymn.  Maybe you have heard all these kinds of music at sometime.

During the day, you are sure to listen to many people talk.  The words we use are called language.  They are made up of 26 letters called the alphabet.  No matter what kind of speaking or reading is done, these letters are a part of the words used.  The ideas that come from these 26 letters can be very different.  Much depends upon how they are put together.  Just as we use the same 26 letters as the ingredients of our words, composers use the sounds of various instruments to write their musical ideas.

There are four families or groups of instruments.  They are woodwinds, brass, percussion and string families.  Today you will hear many of the instruments from each of those families.

WOODWINDSBRASSPERCUSSIONSTRINGS

   Piccolo    TrumpetSnare DrumHarp

   Flute        French HornBass Drum String Bass

   Oboe        Euphonium Cymbals

   Bassoon                 Trombone           Xylophone

   Clarinet    Tuba           Chimes

   Bass ClarinetWoodblock

   Alto Saxophone                  Timpani

   Tenor Saxophone

   Baritone Saxophone

  

In each of today's program selections, you will hear some of the instruments playing solos and playing as a family.  You will also hear all of the instruments combining to make the sound of a band.  Listen carefully and see if you can identify each instrument's special sound.

Our final selection, "Stars and Stripes Forever," is a very famous march written over 100 years ago by an important American composer, John Philip Sousa.  Known as "the March King," John Philip Sousa wrote music that makes people want to tap their feet and clap their hands.  In his lifetime, Sousa wrote 136 marches and many other kinds of compositions.  People say that in his music, they can hear musical ideas that make them think of America.