A Different Percussion Approach

A Different Approach to Percussion Instruction by Aaron Griesser

I attended this workshop at the Indiana MEA Development Conference last January. Aaron works in aMishawakaarea public school where they have a very large number of percussionists in the school band programs.

It was interesting to see the response others had to the way they set up their program. I thought the session would be useless to me (since I have anywhere from 3-7 percussionist)until he mentioned curriculum suggestions and requirements. I have been looking for this for quite some time. I already have developed graded requirements for SR Bandestra for wind players, but have been struggling to find anything that would be consistent for the percussionists.

Here are some standards that I will be choosing from for percussionists in the SR Bandestra:

Keyboard (marimba, orchestral bells):

1. Students pass off their major scales and arpeggios each year.
2. Different tempo benchmark for each grade level.
3. minor scales and arpeggios for extra credit.

The handout for this workshop included a great beginning list of ideas for most common percussion instruments.