Teaching Brass Laboratory

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• An ability to solve many common problems that brass students encounter
• An ability to use clear, positive language to guide brass students toward successful habits and approaches to performance
• An ability to locate appropriate musical materials for brass students of all levels
• An ability to incorporate an effective warm-up routine, practice schedule, and techniques into their teaching
• Characteristic tone on brass instruments
• An ability to teach brass instrument assembly
• An ability to teach proper hand position on brass instruments
• An ability to teach brass embouchure formation
• An ability to teach proper brass articulation
• An ability to transpose music to and from concert pitch for each transposing brass instrument

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Peer Teaching Episodes (2)	35%
Written Tests / Assignments	25%
Playing Assessment	20%
Brass Arranging Project	20%
Total	100%

Grading Scale

Percentage	Letter Grade
≥ 93.0%	A
90.0–92.9%	A−
87.0–89.9%	B+
83.0–86.9%	B
80.0–82.9%	B−
77.0–79.9%	C+
73.0–76.9%	C
70.0–72.9%	C−
60.0–69.9%	D
< 60.0%	F

Attendance/Participation:

Students are expected to attend all scheduled class meetings, including the Friday Instrumental Music Micro Teaching Lab (IMML). Students may miss no more than four (4) scheduled classes for any reason. Each absence beyond four will result in a reduction of one complete letter grade per absence. Two instances of tardiness are equal to one absence.

Example: A student with a B+ final grade who has 6 absences and 2 tardies (7 total absences, 3 over the limit) will receive a D+ as a final grade.

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

Vining, D. (2020). Teaching brass: A guide for students and teachers (2nd ed.). Mountain Peak Music. This text includes access to an online textbook portal and a book of exercises (PDF or hard copy) to be used throughout the course. Hard copy version: mountainpeakmusic.com/teaching-brass-a-guide-for-students-and-teachers-hard-copy-version/ Digital (PDF) version: mountainpeakmusic.com/teaching-brass-a-guide-for-students-and-teachers-pdf-download-version/ IMPORTANT: Each copy comes with a unique registration code. Purchasing a used copy may restrict access to the online content. If purchasing from the UNCG Bookstore, purchase a new copy to ensure the access code is valid.

Students should also bring a washable cloth to each class session to catch condensation from their instrument.