Summer Homework
Please direct any questions to
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. Please note that over the summer, I will only be checking email once every week or two. Your continued work on the elements below will help improve your playing and help prepare you for seating tests in the fall. Scales and Jazz transcriptions will all be graded.
Wind Ensemble I / Marching Band
• Listen to recordings of professional soloists who play your instrument.
• Improve your tone by doing tone exercises on your instrument. Play long tones with a tuner. Percussionists should focus on rudiments.
• Learn all 12 major scales the full range of your instrument.
• Continue working on etudes and solo pieces.
Wind Ensemble II / Marching Band
• Listen to recordings of professional soloists who play your instrument.
• Improve your tone by doing tone exercises on your instrument. Play long tones with a tuner. Percussionists should focus on rudiments.
• Learn all 12 major scales, natural minor scales, harmonic minor scales, and melodic minor scales the full range of your instrument. If this is too easy for you then begin playing them in intervals of 3rds, 4ths, etc.
• Continue working on etudes and solo pieces.
Orchestra I
• Listen to recordings of professional soloists who play your instrument.
• Improve your tone by doing tone exercises on your instrument.
• Learn all 12 major scales the full range of your instrument in one octave. If you can do your scales in one octave, then move on to two octaves, and eventually the full range.
• Continue working on etudes and solo pieces.
Jazz B
• Listen to recordings of professional soloists who play your instrument.
• See all the Wind Ensemble I summer homework.
• Transcribe a solo by a legendary Jazz artist who plays your instrument.
• Obtain a copy of, “The Real Book,” and begin reading and playing combo tunes on a weekly basis.
• All students must learn to solo by using transcribed vocabulary in their combo tunes.
• Pianists: Utilizing two hands, come prepared with at least 3 different voicings of minor, dominant 7th, and major chords. (ii-V-I progression.) No inversions of 1-3-5-7 please.
• Guitarists: Comp in the style of Freddie Green and learn at least 2 Jazz voicings over the ii-V-I progression.
• Drums: Do the above requirements and continue working on different styles.
Jazz A
• See Wind Ensemble II homework requirements posted above.
• Transcribe a solo by a legendary Jazz artist who plays your instrument.
• Obtain a copy of, “The Real Book,” and begin reading and playing combo tunes on a weekly basis.
• All students must learn to solo by using transcribed vocabulary in their combo tunes.
• Pianists: Utilizing two hands, come prepared with at least 4 different voicings of minor, dominant 7th, and major chords. (ii-V-I progression.) No inversions of 1-3-5-7 please. Begin applying these voicings to combo tunes.
• Drums: Do the above assignments and continue working on different styles.
Faculty 
