A Complete Year of Band Series
Musical Arrangements on CD-ROM
Elementary Band • Elementary Strings
Print individual parts, scores, even selections by instruments in order of
increasing difficulty, from the CD-ROM.
Features
• PDF files print from any computer with Adobe Acrobat Reader
• Replace parts and score as needed without additional purchases
• A complete year of music for the average elementary school band
• Graduated Difficulty designed to progress with your student’s playing ability
• Songs your students know and will enjoy playing
• Arrangements designed around specific musical concepts
• Scores and parts sorted by arrangement, individual part, and instrument
Dear Band Director:
Several years ago when I began my instrumental teaching career, I had difficulty finding elementary band music that sounded good and was easy to learn. Even more problematic was replacing parts every time a student lost his or her music – something that most elementary students repeatedly do. Since music publishers forbid photocopying and require the purchase of replacement parts, I had a choice between breaking the copyright law, or waiting for an approval from my business office to order more music.
Having spent a number of years as a professional arranger in New York city recording studios, I decided that I would try writing my own music to fit the needs of my program and at the same time solve my duplication problems. What I came up with was A Complete Year of Band, a collection of 10 full-band arrangements and warm-ups in 3 keys, on CD-ROM. In addition to the great-sounding arrangements, A Complete Year of Band licenses the purchaser to make an unlimited number of copies, year after year.
Scores and parts are stored and organized in PDF files where they can be read and printed from any computer (IBM-compatible, or MAC) that is equipped with the adobe acrobat reader software and a printer. Now, when students lose or destroy parts, I simply print out a new one. At the end of the school year I let students keep their music. The next time I want to play one of the pieces, I print out a new, fresh copy.
Music can be printed in one of three formats: complete arrangement with score and all parts; instrumental folders with all selections in order of increasing difficulty; and individual parts. In addition, audio files of each arrangement are included on the CD which can be duplicated to create a demo disk for students.
To see how easy it is to use the Complete Year of Band CD, click on the interactive menu screen below to listen to audio files, and print sample parts and scores. Please note that the file directories on this web site do not emulate the graphics of the CD-ROM, which uses file folders and PDF icons.
I hope you will try Complete Year of Band and wish you much success in your music programs.
Sincerely,
Michael Treni
MTreni@BellProductionCo.com
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Complete Year of Strings
Contents
This Old Man
Ode to Joy
Jingle Bells
Good King Wenceslas
Silent Night
Surprise Symphony*
Pomp & Circumstance*
St. Anthony’s Chorale*
William Tell Overture*
My Country ‘Tis of Thee
Arranged for: Violin 1, Violin 2, Violin 3, Viola, Cello
(all arrangements include Piano reduction)
* includes optional parts for flute, oboe & French horn
___________________________________________________________________________________
Here’s what people are saying about A Complete Year of Band
“A concise and systematic approach to musical development…highly recommended!”
Vincent Cutro
Hackensack School System
Hackensack, New Jersey
“A Complete Year in Band” offers success for all beginner band programs. Michael Treni’s stylish arrangements facilitate young players with a wealth of programmable repertoire. A musical gem!”
Pat Merlucci
Instrumental Music Specialist
Wayne Board of Education
“Familiar tunes that all students (and parents) will recognize. It is very convenient to be able to print out parts from a disc at your desk. I highly recommend this program for grades 4 - 6, with possibilities for somewhat older students.”
Mary Nussear
Band Director, Grades 5-8
Dumont, NJ
"A Complete Year of Band is a great addition to my band program! The range of difficulty is appropriate for both of my 4th and 5th grade bands, and it is music that they like to play. Printing parts is a breeze, especially when a student will invariably lose them!"
Michele Hughes
Instrumental Music Specialist
Wayne Board of Education
Product Review:
by Ron Gruber
Shelby, MT
A Complete Year of Band is a CD-Rom program written by Michael Treni. The program provides ten songs and eight warm ups that are designed for band students that just started learning to play their instruments. The songs included in the software are: Go Tell Aunt Rhodie, Au Claire de la Lune, Banana Boat Song, Jingle Bells, My Dreydl, America, Ode to Joy, When the Saints Go Marching In, The Star Spangled Banner, and You’re a Grand Old Flag. The warmups include the B-Flat, E-Flat, and F Major Scales, Chromatic Scale, and a Chorale Theme.
When you insert the CD-Rom into your computer the program runs automatically, taking you to a start-up menu that allows you to view an introduction, open the musical files, listen to the songs, or view links provided by the composer. When you open the musical files you have two different avenues, you can open the songs or warm ups as full band arrangements or you can open the instrumental books. Since purchasing this software allows you to print an unlimited number of copies for your band, you could start the year by printing out a book for each student in your band. I have found that also to be very handy when my fifth graders come into class and say they lost their music. I can simply insert the CD-Rom and print out a new copy of the song. They don’t have to wait until the next time I see them after I have time to run across the school to the copy machine and illegally make them a copy of the song.
In using the software this year, I have found that the songs actually work well for not only my first-year students, but also my second-year students. Since my first and second-year bands meet only five days every two weeks, we are not able to complete the first method book during the first year of band so we begin the second year finishing the first book.
Half the songs that Mr. Treni has arranged have worked well with my second year band. We have been able to find many educational moments in addition to reinforcing some fundaments perhaps forgotten over the summer. In addition to getting music for multiple groups, most songs come with multiple parts for flute, clarinet, and trumpet. Some of the parts are divided by range, while others like the clarinet part for Au Clair de la Lune has the first clarinets playing an eight note pattern while the second clarinets play the melody. Printing out both parts for the entire sections lets us work on different parts each day with the goal of having half the section play each part. The percussionist also have multiple instruments to play with arrangements including snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, and sometimes other percussion instruments. I always opt to give them the oboe part so they can also practice playing the keyboard instruments.
The only drawback I found is that all the scores are in concert pitch, meaning you have to do the transpositions in your head when you want to talk with your beginning band about playing correct notes. For most of us this it does not take much time or thought. However if you don’t remember to do that all-important step your young saxophone players may look at you strangely. Some of the score had some inconsistent notations compared to the parts, but it was nothing major.
I think this software is worth the price if you are looking for some music to supplement your beginning band method books. The songs will excite your students and give you a wider variety of styles to teach. If you are like me and always looking for songs to spice up your beginning band program than A Complete Year of Band might be for you.
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