Questions to Ask Your Student Musician at the Dinner Table

In order to keep up-to-date on how your child is progressing with his or her band skills, you may want to consider the following questions as topics at the dinner table.  When discussing "how fast" they can play, encourage them to practice these skills using a metronome and note the metronome marking.   For example, "I can play my B-flat scale in eighth notes with the metronome set at 100 beats per minute."  This can be used a positive way to challenge your child to push their limits on these skills.  Hopefully your child will want to please and impress you, as well as take pride in challenging themselves to meet their potential.

All players(winds and percussion):

1.  Which major scales can you play by memory?

2.  What is the fastest you can play any of your major scales?

3.  How fast can you play your chromatic scale without a mistake?

All Winds:

1.  How long can you sustain a long-tone?

2.  What is the highest note you can play on your instrument?

Brass players:

1.  How fast can you lip slur between two notes of the same fingering?

2.  What are the highest two notes that you can lip slur between?

Percussionists:

Go to http://www.pas.org/Learn/Rudiments/RudimentsOnline.aspx and see which of the listed rudiments your percussionist can play.