Free Materials for Download
Items on this page are things we have found
very useful in our teaching.
They are provided here free of charge for your use.
Fingering Charts
ApRo Theory Level One
Corrected pages 6, 7 and 8 for the Final Exam
Tunes for Reading
This is a set of 96 tunes, on 24 pages, correlated with the 10 levels of SoundStart for Band. They are intended to provide material for extra music reading practice, or sight reading work. They allow students to practice and test the music reading skills they have developed by completing the SoundStart lessons.
Individual pages may be introduced whenever the corresponding lesson in SoundStart is completed. They also work very well if they are compiled into booklets, which can be handed out occasionally for sight reading practice.
The links below are zip files. Click the link to download the zip file. Once the file is downloaded (it may take a few minutes) it can be unzipped to produce a folder containing all of the necessary files.
The first link is to pdf files. Once upzipped, you will find one folder containing the 24 pages grouped by lesson, and another folder containing the pages grouped by instrument. This is to give you maximum flexibility when printing.
The second link is to the mp3 files for the accompaniments. These work the same way as the accompaniments found on the SoundStart CD's.
Rondos by Brian Appleby
The Rondos are intended for use as enrichment projects at various stage of beginner band. The compositions consist of an four-measure “A” section, which can be played by a large group, followed by a series of short (four measure) two-part sections, which work well as duets. They are performed as a rondo by alternating the “A” section with as many of the duets as you wish.
This material can be used in a variety of ways. My approach is to hand out the material to all students and go over it briefly in class, then invite students to find their own partner(s) and try working out one of the duets on their own. Groups audition for me when they think they are ready and if successful are given that line for performance at the next concert.
Rondo Primo can be played after Lesson 4 of SoundStart, or once students have learned their first five notes. It is an easy way to introduce simple two-part playing to students, and can be worked into a nice performance by featuring different small groups on each of the Rondo parts. Great first concert feature.
Return of the Rondo follows the same format as Rondo Primo, but uses all the notes and rhythms introduced in the ten lessons of SoundStart.
Rondo 3 Continues the tradition established by the first two in the series, but uses the Concert B flat scale as the basis for all the lines. It is playable after Lesson 14 of the ApRo Intermediate Band Method.
Sarabande by Scott Rogal
This is a three part composition, with melody, harmony, and bass lines.
Students should learn all three parts. They can then divide up into groups and put together their own arrangement.
Encourage them to be creative - the can make their own decisions about tempo, dynamics, phrasing, road map, and part assignments. They may even add their own musical ideas and blend them with those on the sheet.
We have been consistently astonished through the years at the very creative performances our students come up with, using Sarabande as their raw material. Each group's performance is always very different from the others.
They seem to very much enjoy the chance to create their own performance, rather than always working to realize the teacher's vision.
Declaration by Brian Appleby
This is a three part composition designed to offer maximum flexibility in a variety of teaching and performing situations.
Every instrument has all three parts on their page, providing possibilities for many different instrumentations and student groupings. It is expected that the piece will be played most often by small groups, although it also works for full class warmup or study.
The emphasis is the first and last sections is on triads moving in a block, fanfare-like style. The middle section of the piece is a canon.
Tempo, dynamic, and style indications have been deliberately omitted so that each group can make their own decisions about these matters