Janice and I were in Ithaca, New York, last week, where I had the pleasure of presenting at the Conn Selmer Institute (CSI) Northeast Conference. It was a wonderful end-of-summer trip and a great opportunity to share new ideas in music education with colleagues and new friends. Make sure to mark your calendar for a NAfME webinar I’ll be presenting on October 15th, titled Eleven Leaps to Literacy—I’d love for you to join!
Last spring, I completed the 2nd edition of It's Time to Play a Band Instrument. This method features 50 songs from around the world and aligns beautifully with Elementary General Music and my new recorder curriculum, It's Time to Play the Recorder. This fall, I’m excited to begin writing It's Time to Play a String Instrument.
Another key goal of mine is to broaden the band repertoire to include more diverse music and allow more opportunities for creativity and improvisation.
Pentatonic Expressions in Eb – A Grade 2 concert band piece with a beautiful A section, a strong contrasting B section, and an open middle section for improvised solos using the pentatonic scale. https://www.jwpepper.com/Pentatonic-Expressions-in-Eb/11589535.item
Burning Fire (Tina Singu) – A Grade 2 concert band piece that includes three hopeful and energetic folk songs from Africa. https://www.jwpepper.com/Burning-Fire-%28Tina-Singu%29/11577311.item
See the Dragon Come – A Grade 0.5 beginning band piece celebrating the Chinese New Year. https://www.jwpepper.com/sheet-music/search.jsp?setStickyDepartment=true&suggested=&departmentDescriptions=&keywords=see+the+dragon+come
You can explore all of this music at JWPepper and on my website, mfsmithmusic.com. If you haven’t yet seen the 2nd Edition of It's Time to Play a Band Instrument, take a look now at JWPepper: https://www.jwpepper.com/It%27s-Time-to-Play-a-Band-Instrument/11576038.item
Enjoy the days leading up to Labor Day, and please feel free to reach out if there’s anything I can do to help.
Best wishes for an amazing school year,
Michael Francis Smith
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