Klarinet Archive - Posting 000172.txt from 1998/03

From: "Edwin V. Lacy" <el2@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Band Method Books (Please delete if not interested in topic)
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 18:30:36 -0500

(I gave some thought to whether to reply to the list or to the individual
who inquired, but decided to send my response to the list. I'll try to
make it clarinet related.)

On Tue, 3 Mar 1998, GombKonen wrote:

> I am writing a paper for graduate school on the development of beginning
> band method books. The paper is about how method books have changed,
> and stayed the same from Rubank to Accent on Achievement. I'm also
> including Breeze Easy, First Division, the Weber-Lowry Clarinet Student,
> Best in Class, and Essential Elements. I'm looking for suggestions from
> people who have used different method books, what you liked about them,
> and what you don't like. Also, if anyone knows of any method book
> trivia, such as, when the first book was published that could with
> different instruments in the same class, or anything else that might be
> interesting to include in the paper, I'd appreciate the input.

Some interesting ones:

1. Easy Steps to the Band. Published by Belwin Mills, about 1939 or
1940. Still a very good method book, but you might not be able to buy it
today. Its main problem: (here comes the clarinet-related part) It hardly
introduces the clarinets to B natural, 3rd line, until late in the book.
There is also Intermediate Steps to the Band, and possibly Advanced Steps
to the Band. I started in this book, so I'm partial to it. It might have
been one of the first ones designed to be used for heterogeneous groupings
(the "different instruments in the same class" you mentioned) as opposed
to homogeneous groupings, or like-instrument instruction.

2. Another from about the same time frame was the "SYB," or
"Smith-Yoder-Bachman" method. I didn't like it quite as well. BTW, the
three authors were Claude Smith, Paul Yoder, and Harold Bachman. At that
time, all three were teaching in the public schools of Evansville,
Indiana. Smith stayed here, and became the supervisor of music in the
public school system, Yoder gained fame as a composer and arranger for
bands, and Bachman became the director of bands at the University of
Alabama. I don't know who published this method.

3. Another old one, but in this case not a very good one, in my opinion,
is the original Belwin Band Method, by Fred Weber, and naturally published
by Belwin. Originally published in 1945.

4. My all-time favorite band method series is the "Master Method for
Band," by Charles Peters (formerly band director at Joliet, Illinois,
where he had one of the best high school bands in the country)
(Ironically, he was a violinist.) and Paul Yoder (see above). This one
was published by Kjos, first issued in 1958. It is rather slow going
through this one, but if a class gets through it, they have a really solid
foundation of correct techniques. There is an elementary, intermediate
and advanced methods, plus accompanying supplementary studies or etudes
for each instrument. Also, there are collections of solos, coordinated
with the level of the method books, a book of pieces for full band, also
coordinated, and a whole series of accompanying theory books. All in all,
absolutely the best method book ever printed, in my opinion.

5. A pretty good later publication is the "Best in Class" method by Bruce
Pearson, published in 1982 by Kjos. In general, quite a good book, but it
still can't touch the Master Method series.

As you probably have already discovered, there are two diametrically
opposed philosophies which guide beginning method books. In one type (see
Easy Steps to the Band, Master Method and Best in Class, for example) on
the first two or three pages of the book, you will see a few notes
introduced, along with several rhythms, possibly whole, half and quarter
notes. Then, a few simple tunes are presented right away. In the second
type (see Belwin Band Method, for example), the first couple of pages
consist only of whole notes, but quite a lot of different pitches and
fingerings are presented. The theory here is that by isolating the
learning of several fingerings, things will go easier when these notes are
used in learning different rhythms and different tunes. There is only one
trouble with this theory - it doesn't work! Kids will learn the
fingerings for several notes, but will then be unable to remember them
when they are faced with learning additional aspects of playing music.
Experience has indicated to me that it is far more efficient, though
perhaps slow at first, to simultaneously introduce all the different
musical elements at the same time.

That should give you some things to think about.

Ed Lacy
*****************************************************************
Dr. Edwin Lacy University of Evansville
Professor of Music 1800 Lincoln Avenue
Evansville, IN 47722
el2@-----.edu (812)479-2754
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