Developing Internal Musicianship in Beginning Band by Teaching the “Big 5”

Abstract

Early in my teaching career, my goals were to teach students to play their instruments beautifully and to help them correctly and independently interpret music notation. However, many of my students were missing the internal musicianship skills that enable high-level music-making. As we teach instrument technique and notation, we sometimes overlook the important skill of audiation. When our students perform, we want them to do so not only because they have visually interpreted their written notation, but because they have aurally internalized what makes musical sense. This article offers activities for developing beginning instrumental students’ abilities in three areas of musicianship: rhythmic ability, tonal ability, and creativity.