Currently, I am concerned about the readiness of students who are entering 5th grade and beginning band. The focus at this level should be on learning to play the instrument - using the appropriate technique to create a characteristic tone. In order to be able to focus on this facet, the students should be musically literate - able to read notes and rhythms with impressive accuracy and capability. Of course, reading notes requires instruction and then practice. Instruction could be approached in one of two ways: gradual or complete. In gradual instruction, the students learn about notes in a successive order (preferably in the order that they would learn them on the recorder, e.g., starting with B-A-G) until they have learned all of the notes, including ledger line notes. Whether they should also learn bass clef could be determined by which instrument they would like to play in 5th grade. The second type of instruction, complete instruction, essentially includes one lesson in which all of the notes are introduced, followed by repeated practice throughout the year. This method has its benefits and drawbacks. It is a theoretical approach, whereas the other is a practical approach. This approach teaches the "why" of note names, and allows students to find notes based on a systematic method, rather than memorization. Also, note naming is a rather limited set of information - small enough to hypothetically avoid overwhelming students.
After teaching for several years, I have discovered several prerequisites to note reading with young children. For my teaching situation, which includes combined 1st-2nd and 3rd-4th grade music classes, it would be ideal for the students to learn these prerequisites by the end of the 2nd grade. They include the basic concepts of notes and the staff. For example: knowing that there are five lines and four spaces, knowing how big a note should be, knowing that notes are either on a line or a space, knowing that the "musical alphabet" has only 7 letters. Using xylophones and white boards, 1st-2nd grade students can begin experiencing the fundamentals. Then, in 3rd-4th grade, they learn the systematic method of identifying notes and reinforce recognition through repetition. Ultimately, the goal is to understand the underlying system and, more importantly, to quickly recognize notes by sight - possible by memorization through repeated practice. At the end of the 4th grade, students should be extremely proficient in identifying any common note on the staff and capable of identifying less common notes through a methodical approach. By the time they have a band instrument in their hands, they should not be worrying about note names - they have enough to worry about!
While writing this, I am becoming more aware of rhythmic concerns. The students should not be learning rhythms during their first year of band - they should already know them by then. Just as recorders and xylophones can be used to focus their attention on reading note names, a percussion ensemble could be used to reinforce rhythmic reading. What type of instruments would work the best for this? Why not traditional percussion instruments, or nontraditional ones such as garbage cans and buckets? By age 9-10, I think that the enthusiasm for rhythm sticks, hand drums, and jingle bells, etc., have worn off. In other words, I would like to try including percussive music throughout the year at the 3rd-4th grade level to develop rhythmic reading. As with note naming, rhythm reading also has prerequisites. Younger students need to have experience with rhythmic concepts such as steady beats, meter, subdivisions, and notation differences for different rhythmic values. They should be able to identify whole note, half note, etc., and their related rests, and put them in order from longest to shortest. All of this can be done through various activities at the 1st-2nd grade level.
To summarize, the 3rd-4th curriculum needs to include both note reading and rhythm reading activities throughout the year, at least on a bi-monthly basis (theoretically). Note reading should be taught holistically at the beginning of the year and practiced often. Rhythm reading should also be taught holistically at the beginning of the year and practiced often through non-pitched percussive exercises. In short, 5th grade students should not be learning notes or rhythms while playing their band instrument - the focus should be on technique and execution, not on theory. This is only possible if the students have already learned everything they need to know for their first year of band by the time they finish the fourth grade.
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