Page 13 - Info Magazine nr 17 april may 2021

I'm using Class Band Easy Pieces part IV. My music school.
colleague works with chord charts, divides the I am also very much in favour of the method
group into 3, each group plays a note from the that they learn to play an instrument immedia-
chord and this with whole notes. tely and that theory runs parallel to practice. In
When learning a new tone, let the students try contrast to classical music school, where they
it out for themselves first, compare the tone first learn how to play music and only then
with each other, do we sound the same? choose an instrument.
An advantage is that we can work with two
teachers, my colleague Robbe is a saxophonist
and clarinettist and helps the pupils from this What would you like to learn?

instrument group, I myself am a trumpet play- It is difficult to specify one thing. I like to learn
er/copper and help this instrument group. in different areas (pedagogical, musical, perso-
When learning new songs, I first try to get the nal) and am convinced that as a teacher/con-
pupils to look at the notes, what fingerings, ductor you can and must constantly learn and
what rhythms, then a sight-reading without adjust. I always find it interesting to observe or
interruptions, so that there is an overall picture hear colleagues, their point of view, approach,
of what we are going to learn. Then we work organisation, working method.
further on specific particles.
The accompanying music via the online plat- Would you like to say something to your Eu-
form is also an added value and I try to encou- ropean colleagues?
rage the pupils to use it at home when practi-
sing. Pass on that musical itch to as many students
as possible, let them make music and have fun
as much as possible.
What additional material do you use?

We have a whiteboard on which we sometimes
write short theory notes.
But I like to work with the accompanying mu-
sic from the platform. This helps enormously
in maintaining the tempo, with which you can
also 'play'. Start at 80% of the tempo and then
come the challenge of getting to 100%. This is
even more fun with the accompaniment.

What is your goal for pupils who participate
in the Yamaha Class Band?

That they learn to play the instrument of their
choice in the right way, but above all that they
enjoy learning to play the instrument and play-
ing in a group. That we play as much music
as possible during the lessons, in addition to
theory.

What do you think is the added value of a
Yamaha class band?

That the children can discover music in this
way, in a familiar environment (their school)
and with classmates. I think that when the
school offers this, the threshold to start is
lower than when they have to go to an external