Take your band program to the next level!
Essential Elements for Band - Eb Alto Saxophone 1 Book/Online Audio is an ideal introduction for beginners looking to learn the foundations of the alto saxophone. This comprehensive method book offers an engaging balance of music theory, technique exercises and popular songs tailored specifically for the alto sax. Students and teachers alike will appreciate how Essential Elements for Band pairs familiar classics like "Ode to Joy" and "Amazing Grace" with instrument-focused lessons, helping new players master proper breathing, fingering and embouchure.
Interactive Resources Enhance Learning
Essential Elements for Band comes complete with Essential Elements Interactive (EEi), an extensive library of online tools for in-class and at-home practice. EEi provides instant access to tutorial videos, play-along recordings, assessment capabilities and more, enabling students to learn at their own pace. My EE Library allows players to stream or download recordings to accompany the exercises in their book, with backing tracks for duets, trios and full band arrangements.A Proven Pedagogy for Success
The Essential Elements methodology has endured for over 30 years thanks to its gradual progression and reinforcement of new concepts. Notes and rhythms are introduced systematically, beginning with simple quarter notes and building up to more complex time signatures and syncopation. Each lesson focuses on developing strong fundamentals like breath support, hand position and tone quality. By exercise 14, students will be playing recognizable melodies and gaining confidence as part of a full band. The Essential Elements for Band series ensures students have the skills to continue their musical journey for years to come.Practice Resources for Home and Class
Essential Elements for Band provides resources for both individual practice and group rehearsals. The book includes warm-up exercises, scale and arpeggio studies adapted from Rubank's famous method books and 12 full band arrangements perfect for first-year concerts. Rhythm raps teach pulse and coordination in a fun, engaging way. With regular use, the Essential Elements methodology instills good habits and helps students achieve their full potential as musicians.Specifications
- ISBN: 9780634003172
- Width: 9.0"
- Length: 12.0"
- 48 pages
Features
Each Book Includes My EE Library
- Start-up Video learn the basics
- Play-along mp3 features a professional player on your instrument
- Duets and Trios print and play parts with friends
- Music Listening Library hear great pieces for band
- SmartMusic exercises 1-100
- Book 1 uses unmeasured Long Tones to establish good tone production from the very beginning, and uses Quarter Notes to teach pulse and rhythm. By exercise 14 your students will be playing well-known melodies and enjoying the excitement of playing in the band!
- The unique considerations of Horns and Oboes are difficult to address using a classroom band method, so we've created special pages for these instruments with their own optional starting systems.
- New material is carefully paced, sequential and immediately reinforced. New notes are approached in the easiest ways, then gradually played within wider skips and different rhythms. Each new rhythm is introduced as a Rhythm Rap, then repeated on simple pitches, and finally placed in an appropriate melodic setting.
- It's all right in each student book, correlated with the music and concepts they are currently learning. This is by far the most efficient way to meet the National Standards, integrate other subjects into the music curriculum, and still teach the essentials of music performance.
- Establish good practice habits, tone and technique with the two sets of Daily Warm-ups included in each book. The Rubank Scale and Arpeggio Studies cover the four major keys taught in Book 1, all adapted from Rubank's "best-of-the-best" to expand your students' technical skills.
- Research shows that students are more likely to succeed (and stay in band) if they perform a concert for parents within the first 8 weeks. That's why we've created an impressive early concert featuring 6 full band arrangements after they've learned just 7 notes! The concert is the first of the Performance Spotlight features, which include 12 full band arrangements and 2 solos with piano accompaniment.
- The additional Rhythm Studies pages include progressive measures of rhythms, which you can use to enhance rhythmic development at any stage. To make it fun and interesting, the Online Audio-ROM includes infectious percussion accompaniments at varied tempi.
- With a quarter-note pulse starting in the first lesson, the motivating rhythm raps, and plenty of reinforcement, Essential Elements students learn new rhythms quickly and easily