Getting Started with the NQRP Band Music

Below are some suggestions for getting started with the new music. ALWAYS, feel free to email me (or call) if you have questions. I can usually help quite a bit, even on the phone or in an email. So first, a bit about using sound files to help you learn the music.

There are several really good reasons for listening to the sound files of music you are playing:

To get a sense of how the music sounds, its style, its phrasing, its harmonies
Following your music while listening to the sound file (not playing) helps you learn how your part fits with the whole and helps you learn to keep your place
Playing along with the music (once you can play it on your own) gives you more opportunities to "practice with the group" than you can get just in rehearsals.
If you purchase the software, Amazing Slow Downer (from http://ronimusic.com/) and you can practice with the sound file slowed down to where you can play along.
(Sound files must be on the same device where the Slow Downer resides; you can not use YouTube or sound files that are streamed from the web). For those of you cautious about what you download, this software site is safe according to Norton. Slow Downer is cross-platform and available for Mac and PC.)
You can also slow down YouTube by clicking the gear and adjusting the percentage. You don't have the minute control of the speed, but it is better than nothing!

If you are new to working with sound files, DO NOT try to play along right away. Your first task is to listen several times while just following along in your own music (not playing), and I recommend that you use your finger to keep your place in the music. See if you can stay with the music, whether or not you can hear your own part (sometimes it doesn't sound like your instrument because you are playing the same thing as some other instrument and your part adds to the overall, but isn't itself distinguishable). Watch for things like holds or sudden loud spots or a change from legato to staccato to see if you can hear those as you listen. Until you can reliably follow along & keep your place in your music while listening and looking at your part, you will never be able to play along. Be sure to do the listening first or it is just frustrating! Once you get good at that, try listening and speaking your rhythms. Once you can do that, then try playing with it, although you may find that it is too fast for you to keep up.

OUR MUSIC (we will be choosing two of the three)

--Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky, arr. Balent): This quiet, lovely melody is a very famous theme from the ballet, Swan Lake, by the Russain composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). Click HERE to listen to the publisher’s demo recording.

--Slavonic Dance No. 1 (Dvorák, arr. Michael Story): Another very famous piece of music, this time by the Czech composer, Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904), this is also a dance, but a more lively one. Click HERE to listen to the publisher’s demo recording.

--Royal March (by John Kinyon): Just a fun piece to play in march style! Lively and toe-tapping.

ALSO - the whole camp, all three bands, plays one piece all together. When I find out what it is and get the parts, I will simplify it for us, so that those of you who wish to, can play it with the rest of the camp.