Learning Objectives This section of the course prepares you to: This section of the course prepares you to: Identify a breath mark Define duet Identify quarter note

Practice Assignment Focus Points Time to practice! Time to practice! Turn to page 7 in your book. Practice exercise #8 “Good Neighbors.” Start each note with your tongue. You need to hear each note starting clearly. You should not need to take a breath between each note. Take in enough air so you can play two whole notes in one breath. There are two whole notes in a row and then a whole rest. Take a deep breath before starting.

Breath Mark When you take a long trip in a vehicle, it is important to have a sufficient amount of gas to get where you are going. On a smaller scale, the same thing is true when you learn to play a wind instrument. As gasoline keeps a car going, air keeps a wind instrument playing. A wind instrument is any instrument that uses air to produce sound. Because air is most important to wind instruments, it makes sense that the wind player must breathe often and efficiently. Sometimes, a composer would prefer to tell musicians at what point in the music to breathe. The symbol used to tell musicians when to breathe in music is called a breath mark. It looks like this.

Breath Mark Let’s practice breathing correctly first. Sit or stand with your back straight. Imagine your lungs as a vase that has a large bottom. Take a breath through your mouth while thinking about filling up your lungs from the bottom of the “vase.” Let the air out.

Breath Mark Now let’s use a breath mark within a music staff to show us when to breathe. Using the staff below, sing whole notes or quarter notes while keeping a steady beat. Use the sound “tah” on each note. This time, take a breath where the breath mark is placed on the staff. Once you have finished this activity, return to the course.

Practice Assignment Focus Points Time to practice! Time to practice! Turn to page 7 in your book. Practice exercise #9 “Mix ‘Em Up.” You will be playing all 3 of your new notes but in a different order. There is a breath mark after the second measure. Take a breath and be prepared to tongue the next note. Start each note with the tongue.

Quarter Note Music notes contain time values that are important to understanding how to read music. You already learned one of these time values when you covered the whole note section. Now you will learn another note value called a quarter note. Notice how the circle is darkened in. There is also a line attached to it called a stem. A quarter note can sit in between two lines, or it can sit with a line going straight through it. Here are a few quarter notes placed within a staff.

Quarter Note In the time signature portion of the course, you learned that in 4/4 time, the quarter note is played along with each steady beat. Let’s practice that steady beat by tapping your foot on the floor. Following the staff below, tap your foot while you speak each number attached to it.

Quarter Note Next, tap along with the numbers in a steady beat like you just did. But this time, instead of counting out loud, sing a pitch with the syllable “tah” every time you tap your foot. You may sing a high note or a low note, or mix them up. Do this activity one more time, singing “tah” along with each quarter note, but this time do not tap your foot. Simply think through the number counts in a steady beat while you sing. Now, practice playing a few quarter notes on your instrument. Be sure to count “1, 2, 3, 4” steady beats in your mind while you play each note. You may choose any notes you have learned. Just remember to keep a steady beat! Do this activity several times before returning to the course content.

Practice Assignment Focus Points Time to practice! Time to practice! Turn to page 7 in your book. Practice exercise #10 “Four in a Row.” Each Quarter Note will get 1 count. Each time you say a number in your head, you will play a note. Quarter Notes will feel like they are going very fast compared to the Whole Notes. Make sure to tongue each note. Each note should sound clear and have the same volume. Look ahead to the next measure during your whole rests and prepare your fingers for the next note.

Duet Think about your favorite video game or TV show. Do you think you could remember how the theme song goes if someone asked you? What about a friend who might also play that video game with you or watch that TV program also? Would your friend recognize the music that signifies your favorite show? Going one step further, do you think you and your friend could sing that song together? If you answered “no,” that’s ok. But, if you answered “yes,” you and your friend would be singing what we call a duet in music.

Duet A duet is any music where two players are making music together. These musicians could be playing the same music together. Or, they could be playing different music, but together at the same time. Any two instruments played together, whether they are the same or different can make up a duet. Some examples may be: 1 Trumpet with 1 Trumpet 1 Trumpet with 1 Trombone 1 Trumpet with a Singer There are hundreds of possibilities. As long as there are two, it is called a duet.

Duet Here is a fun activity you may like to do with a friend or family member. Think of a song you can sing in your mind. It could be a simple song like “ABC’s” or “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” or something else you may know. Ask your partner if he or she is willing to sing and play a duet with you. Tell him or her which song you would like them to sing. You may either sing along with your partner, or you may find an instrument. This time, your instrument may consist of something simple, such as a set of keys, a toy drum or piano, or anything that makes interesting sounds. Start the song together and end together. Now take the instrument you are learning in this course, and repeat this activity, playing any notes you wish along with your partner’s song. Try out different notes in your part. See if you like some notes better than others when your partner is singing. You have just experienced playing music together with another person. Welcome to a world of fun through musical sound!

Practice Assignment Focus Points Time to practice! Time to practice! Turn to page 7 in your book. Practice exercise #11 “Passing Notes (Duet).” Playing a duet is fun. You must always keep your counting steady. In this duet notice while one player is playing the other is resting. While one plays Quarter notes the other plays Whole notes. What fun! Players must keep their speed or tempo steady to be able to play together well. Remember to look ahead to the next measure while you are counting your Whole rest.

SmartMusic Assignment Focus Points Time to practice! Time to practice! For help using the SmartMusic application, please refer to the SmartMusic Help file found in your course. Turn to page 7 in your book. Practice exercise #12 “Take Five.” Using SmartMusic, make a recording of your performance and submit the assessment results to your teacher. Some songs will not have any rests. You must try to breathe only where you see the breath marks. Tonguing each note is very important. Even though there are no rests, keep your eyes moving forward to the next measure. This helps to keep the music flowing evenly.

ACCENT ON ACHIEVEMENT, BOOK 1* By JOHN O’REILLY and MARK WILLIAMS © 1997 ALFRED PUBLISHING CO., INC. All Rights Reserved Used by Permission A larger, high bandwidth version of this video can be found on the next page. Practice Partner Video

ACCENT ON ACHIEVEMENT, BOOK 1* By JOHN O’REILLY and MARK WILLIAMS © 1997 ALFRED PUBLISHING CO., INC. All Rights Reserved Used by Permission Practice Partner Video

Practice Assignment Focus Points Time to practice! Time to practice! Turn to page 7 in your book. Practice exercises #13 “Three-Note Samba” and #14 “Accent on Theory.” When practicing, take a deep breath even though you may only be playing one whole note. Eventually you will be able to play 3 or 4 measures at a time with one breath. Take time to fill in the note names and fingerings. Try to remember them without looking at the fingering chart on page 6. The more you practice the easier it is to remember the names and fingerings of the notes. Play this page as many times as necessary to feel comfortable with the notes, rests and rhythm changes.