Habits of a Successful Intermediate Band Musician

Habits of a Successful Intermediate Band Musician is a field-tested, vital, and—most important—musical collection of 172 sequenced exercises for the intermediate band student. Features include:

• Melodic contouring to shape phrases and develop expression.
• A focus on range development and timing exercises with more rests.
• Teacher tips for each exercise.
• More work in Concert C, D-flat, and G.
• More sequenced diatonic solfege that begins on the first day of instruction.
• One-octave scale studies in twelve keys.
• Sequential rhythm charts embedded in the book. These same rhythms are then presented with pitches for a seamless transfer to the music students are performing.
• Slower pacing of scaffolded concepts.
• An emphasis on rhythm vocabulary, aural literacy, and the components of playing (the “three buckets”).
• An introductory exercise for developing vibrato.
• Expanded whole tone scales.
• Left (L) and right (R) indicators for woodwinds, along with appropriate chromatic alternate fingering indicators.
• Rhythm charts in simultaneous coordinating lines to promote part independence.
• Guided questions to encourage student-centered instruction.
• Rhythm vocabulary that progresses through dotted quarter–eighth, sixteenth-note denominations, cut time, and 6/8 time.
• New supplemental exercises with an expanded rhythm curriculum.
• Technique and skill-building exercises embedded within the method, which help to prepare students for future Habits exercises.

Written by Scott Rush and Jeff Scott