Introducing Contemporary Music: A Method for Young Bands

The introduction of contemporary music to elementary and junior high school students in performance classes is hindered by a shortage of such music playable by young students. For example, in Contemporary Music for the Schools (Music Educators National Conference, 1966) which is the major source of contemporary music for school bands, 85 band pieces are listed, but only five are designated as suitable for junior high school bands, and only two are designated as suitable for elementary school bands. In this project, five original band pieces (Bodo, Whispers and Shouts, Malcolm, Fission and Fusion, Newton\u27s Number Three,) of a difficulty playable by elementary and junior high school bands and coordinated with representative elementary band method books, were composed to be used to develop in young instrumentalists an understanding of the following aspects of contemporary music through performance: quartal harmony; large and small cluster harmonies; hi-tonality; the Twelve-Tone Technique; mild dissonance, severe tonal dissonance, several atonal dissonance, severe atonal dissonance emphasizing white sound or noise rather than specific pitch, and severe dissonance caused by partially random clashes of independent groups in different tonalities; frequent meter changes; abrupt treatment of rhythms and phrase endings; simultaneous playing of two and three groups independent of each other in thematic material, meter, tempo, character, tonality and instrumentation; phrases with two-measure basic substructure contrasted with phrases with three-measure basic substructure; asymmetrical phrase lengths; melodies doubled at the interval of a second or seventh; and abrupt, fragmented melodic elements. Introductory material to each piece, including technical requirements for performance, struc tura 1 ana lysis, suggestions for performance, and an Introducing the Music section found also in the students\u27 books were included to complete a Method for Young Bands intended to supplement regular band materials. Suggestions to teachers for the use of the Method were also included