SKU: GI.G-10177
Composed by Jim Childers.
Music Education. 168
pages. GIA Publications
#10177. Published by GIA
Publications
(GI.G-10177).
ISBN
9781622775224.
List
ening Excerpts to Develop
Band Musicianship is a
resource that can sit
near your workstation for
ease and speed. I feel
listening has been a
great benefit to my
students. I have spent a
lot of time attempting to
be more efficient, and I
want to share the fruits
of my labor with others.
Incorporate listening
excerpts into your
teaching, and you and
your students will
benefit greatly.
—Jim Childers
Providing great listening
models for band students
can be an incredibly
efficient and effective
way to convey musical
concepts—provided
directors have a library
of well-organized
recordings that catalog
everything from
expressive styles
(“Heroicâ€) to
technical issues
(“Double-Tonguingâ
€). With this
essential book, Jim
Childers does the hard
work of classifying the
top wind band recordings
to provide efficient
excerpts for just the
right concept. Imagine
teaching students to do a
lifting release. If they
heard members of
“The
President’s
Own†in one of
their amazing recordings,
students can be
enlightened and inspired.
With added coaching from
the director, students
will have a shortened
trip to improved
performance. In this
resource, Childers
collects hundreds of
quality listening
excerpts into tables and
categorizes them both by
instrumentation and by
characteristics such as
expressive elements,
articulations, tempo, and
more. This book helps
directors be efficient in
using small, but
effective, listening to
develop students’
musicianship—and
is particularly helpful
in a distance learning
environment. When
considering how much time
directors spend in
rehearsals trying to
describe and redefine the
musical effects they
desire, words and their
connotative meanings
often fall short and fail
to produce what a
director hopes to hear.
But providing students
the opportunity to listen
to great bands playing
those desired elements
from within great pieces
of music can, and will,
improve musicianship and
inspire students! Jim
Childers is Director of
Bands at Marion (IL) Jr.
High School, where he
directs all band
activities in grades six
through eight. He has
directed bands since
1991, at Marion Jr. High
School since 2002 as well
as Highland High School
and Mt. Vernon Township
High School. He earned
his bachelor’s and
master’s degrees
in music education at
Southern Illinois
University–Carbond
ale, studying trombone
with Dr. Robert Weiss. He
has guest conducted many
camps, including ISYM at
the University of
Illinois, and has been
invited to present at
several conferences,
including The Midwest
Clinic.
