Jump Start Part 2: Helping your beginning students succeed in the first few weeks (Brass Edition)
Introduction Here is an overview of some concepts I have found to be helpful when starting beginning brass players. During the first year of study, I start students on all five primary brass instruments--trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba--and we start on these instruments from the beginning of the year. Currently, our classes at South Forsyth Middle School are in homogeneous groups by instrument family; brass in one class, woodwinds in the other and percussion evenly divided between the two classes. NOTE: I have used these same techniques in heterogeneously grouped classes, but the instructional pace is much slower in this grouping. Helping the Students Select the Correct Instrument Helping your students select an instrument that matches both their interests and aptitudes is an essential prerequisite to their future success in music. This process may be even more important for students selecting an instrument from the brass family of instruments. The