Full Year Curriculum

Wind Ensemble
2017-2018

Sara Gift
Program Goals (Include connection to National Standards)

Program Goals
 I want my students to have a basic knowledge level of theory.
 Encourage students to gain the skills to be a contributing member of society.
 Prepare students to be confident players as soloist as well as ensemble members.
 Students will be musically literate.
 Developing listening skills.

Wind Ensemble (Year 1)

Course Description
Wind ensemble is the top performing wind band in this music program. The expectations
of the ensemble are to have the music prepared at the appropriate level prior to rehearsal,
bring the required materials to class, and engage in discussion throughout rehearsal that
requires students to think critically. Each student will be expected to know the history,
influences, and other aspects about the pieces studied throughout the year.
Course Goals
 Perform all chosen music at a high level.
 Perform in the full wind ensemble as well as in chamber groups and solo
performances.
 Develop technical, cognitive, and affective skills with a variety of music selected
by both the teacher and the students.
 Learn the levels of listening and apply it to everyday rehearsal.
Course Objectives
 Through daily fundamental practice of scales, students will play all major scales
with minimal mistakes as an ensemble.
Scope and Sequence
Fall Winter Spring Contest
Rhythm Rhythm Charts Rhythmic
accuracy in
sight reading
Musical Melody Phrasing &
Musicality
Elements Harmony Tuning the 3rd
& 5th
Texture Levels of Balance with Levels of
Listening thin & thick Listening
textures
Timbre Transitions
between
timbres of
instruments
Form Suites Variations on
a theme
Musical Making Emotionally
musical connecting to
Expression decisions that the music
are not on the
page
Performance 1 Overview
Content Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland, arr. Robert Longfield
Equilibrium by Michael Oare
Momento by Robert Buckley
Marching Song by Gustav Holst
Skills/ Elements Articulating as an ensemble.
Addressed Unison playing as well as multiple part blending.
(Cognitive,
Physical, Affective)
S, H, C, NS Levels of listening.
Addressed Phrasing and Musicality.
Assessment & Playing tests: The students will perform 2 playing tests that are equally
Rationale spread out before the performance. These playing tests are so I can see
the progress of the students as well as give the students feedback on
their individual playing.

Performance 2 Overview
Content Valley of Fire by Michael Sweeney
Gabriel’s Oboe by Ennio Morricone arr. Robert Longfield
English Folk Song Suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Children’s March by Percy Grainger arr. Mark Rogers
Skills/ Elements Group work
Addressed Creativity and presentation practice
(Cognitive, Transferring ideas to different movements of a piece
Physical, Affective)
S, H, C, NS Suite, balance with thick and thin textures, rhythm charts, musical
Addressed decisions that are not on the page.
Assessment & Rubric: The students will work as a group to create a storyline. They
Rationale will be graded using this rubric. The importance of this assignment is to
make sure they work as a team and are placing important criteria into
the storyline.
Criteria 1 2 3 4 5 Grade
Content The story The story The story The story The story
(Parts of the has no parts has little has some has almost has all parts
story: of the story. parts of the parts of the all parts of to the story.
Character or story. story. the story.
Item,
actions,
conflict,
resolution)
Presentation Students do Students
not use use
enthusiasm enthusiasm
while while
 presenting presenting
their their
storyline. storyline.
Relevance The story The story The story The story The story
has nothing has little has some has connects to
to do with connection connection connection the music
the music. to the to the to the very well.
music. music. music.
Teamwork One person Only a few Some group Almost all Each group
did the group members group member
work for the members contributed members contributed
group. contributed equally. contributed equally.
equally. equally.

Lesson Plan
Play a recording of Valley of Fire.
T- “What does the music sound like?”
T- “Let’s create a storyline for the piece. Look up the culture of the piece before writing it and
include that culture in your story. In your sections, you will have 10 minutes to create a story.
Use your imagination as each section will not have the same story as you. Spread out into
different areas of the room and collaborate. GO”
Transition back to the full group:
T- Give the students a 5-minute reminder, a 1-minute reminder, and once it gets to 20 seconds,
tell the students to start moving back to their seats. At 10 seconds, start counting down so they
know when you will begin the full class discussion.
T- “Let’s go ahead and share our ideas one section at a time… flutes?” Have each section share.
T- “All of us have our own ideas about how we depict the music, so while we are learning it,
let’s keep these ideas in mind and use this as a basis for our stylistic and melodic
considerations.”
T- “Let’s play through the piece and give it the meaning we created with our storylines.”

Performance 3 Overview
Content The Emerald Isle by Dave Black
Rollo Takes a Walk by David Maslanka
Bugs by David Shaffer
Americans We by Henry Fillmore
Skills/ Elements Transition from 4/4 to 6/8
Addressed Listening and balancing with harmonies
 (Cognitive,
Physical, Affective)
S, H, C, NS Transition between different timbres of instruments, Tuning the 3rd and
Addressed the 5th. Levels of listening.
Assessment & Checklist: I will keep a checklist as I go that lists every students name.
Rationale As I see the students showing their cards, and make marks based upon
their improvements of listening as well as hearing whether the students
fix the harmony issues I am hearing.

Sample Lesson Plan

National Standards:
MU:Pr4.1.E.IIa Develop and apply criteria to select a varied repertoire to study and perform
based on an understanding of theoretical and structural characteristics and expressive challenges
in the music, the technical skill of the individual or ensemble, and the purpose and context of the
performance.
MU:Pr4.2.E.IIa Document and demonstrate, using music reading skills where appropriate, how
compositional devices employed and theoretical and structural aspects of musical works may
impact and inform prepared and improvised performances.
Objectives:
Students will make connections about listening to chords from the warm-up to the chords in the
Emerald Isle.
With the use of colored paper, students will show their ideas of balance and harmonic movement
throughout a section of music.
With prior knowledge of the levels of listening, students will apply those levels to the harmony
activity and adjust their sound based off those levels.
Instructional Materials:
Colored slips of paper description written on the white board.
Warm-up:
T- Split the class into three sections by where they are sitting. Have everyone play a concert Bb.
Take the group to the left and have them continue with the Bb. The group to the right will play a
concert F so show them “5” with your hand. The middle group will move to a concert D so show
them “3”. Move all of them up and down by half steps by using your hand and pointing up and
down. End them on a concert Bb chord and have them listen to the chord.
T- Talk to the students about equal temperament. The 3rd of the chord must be lowered and the
5th of the chord has to be raised slightly in order for the chord to be in tune.
Going into the lesson, the students will make connections with chordal listening from the warm-
up to the piece.
Sequence:
Pass out colored slips of paper: red, blue, green, purple, yellow. Write this on the board:
Red- upper woodwinds
Blue- high brass
Green- low woodwinds
Purple- low brass
Yellow- percussion
Play through the entire slow section.
T- “How well was the balance during that section? What can we do to make it better? Let’s try it
again.”
Play through it again, stopping as needed.
T- “I have passed out 5 slips of paper to everyone, each of a different color. Each color
corresponds to a different section of the band as indicated on the whiteboard. I would like you to
hold up the paper that shows who has the melody at the beginning.”
S- hold up the
T- “Now hold up the paper which indicates who has the bass line.”
S- hold up the
T- “There are a lot more notes than the melody and the bass line. Could someone tell me what
those notes are there for? What they represent? Who has them- show me with your papers.”
S- will talk about the harmony notes and hold up the
T- “Why are all parts important to know? What can we do as an ensemble to make sure each part
is being heard? We have the levels of listening that we have talked about before that help us
figure out how to listen and learn what is important to listen to. These levels of listening start
with listening to ourselves and creating the best tone possible for ourselves. Once we are
confident in our sound, we can start listening to the people around us and in our section. This
time as we play, let’s use this level of listening.”
Play the section again.
T- “How did that change our sound? Were we able to hear all of the parts? Which section stuck
out to you this time that you had never heard before- hold up the paper that depicts the section
you heard.”
S- will hold up the paper that they heard more of that time.
Performance 4 Overview
Content Intrada Jubilante by David Gillingham
Requiem to a Forgotten Land by Robert Sheldon
Courtly Airs and Dances by Ron Nelson
Run Away Circus Train by Erik Morales
Skills/ Elements Levels of listening
Addressed Emotionally connecting to music
(Cognitive, Sight reading skills
Physical, Affective)
S, H, C, NS Changing styles of the music while keeping musicality, balancing thick
Addressed and thin textures
Assessment & Informal Observation: I will observe the students’ progress throughout
Rationale these pieces. Observation is important because it allows me to respond
quickly to the way students are playing and help them adjust.