It's the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas- little band babies all over the country are receiving their very first instruments! It's glorious!
Do you just allow students to choose what they will play or do you test them out to see what they might be the most successful in playing? There are definitely different schools of thought on this. I have had the most success with students when we spend time trying instrument mouthpieces before letting them choose what they will play. Some directors do this to facilitate balanced instrumentation. While I certainly understand this and agree to a point, I rarely stop a student from playing an instrument just because we already have too many people playing it. I might strongly suggest they play something else but that will mostly be determined by what they made the most natural sound on.
Students join band wanting to have instant success. They want to make music! It can be difficult for a 9-12 year old to truly understand the patience and persistence needed to be an accomplished musician. I never want the first few weeks a student experiences an instrument to be spend struggling just to form a basic tone. Facial structure, body and hand size, and many other factors can effect a student's success on an instrument. For example, it is generally discouraged for someone with a tear drop upper lip to play flute because it splits the tone. I have had students play with this and while they have had some success they always struggle to produce a clear, pure sound.
I generally spend some time introducing the instruments to students. If you are comfortable playing all the instruments yourself you can do this. I have also seen older students from the high school come in and perform for new bandies. Lately there are also a number of incredible resources with videos demonstrating the instruments. One that I really enjoy are Scott Lang's Be A Part of the Music videos. I find some of it a little cheesy for my older beginners but the content is still fantastic. Also, a project from the American Band College resulted in Beginning Band Boot Camp which has some wonderful video resources. I hope she got an A on this project!
I developed a sheet students fill out after learning about all the instruments where they mark their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choices. They come to see me one at a time and I assist them in trying the mouthpieces for their choices. On the back side of the paper I make some notes for myself on how they did and then we discuss which one they felt the most comfortable on and which they made the most characteristic tone easily. Of course, if a student is still insistent on playing one instrument over another I do allow them to. Their happiness is important but I do usually try to convince them to stick with the one that was most natural.
Some things I look for are:
Flute- a resonant tone and natural articulation
Clarinet/Saxophone- matching the mouthpiece pitch, comfort with the mouthpiece in their mouth
Brass- creating a buzz off the mouthpiece, pitch matching on the mouthpiece
French Horn- match pitch vocally in addition to on the mouthpiece.
For percussionists, I used to just see if they could pat a steady beat with a metronome but I am trying something new this year as suggested by a friend who is known for having incredible percussionists. Students will be asked to keep a steady beat in their feet while sitting, then pat quarter notes, eighth notes and possible 16th notes with that beat. Sixteenths are really just an added bonus I think but being able to keep a pulse steady on quarters and eighths is essential. I also encourage students who have piano experience to play percussion since mallets are such an important part of what we do.
Make sure that you are using working equipment so students have an equal opportunity to make a quality sound on every instrument. I will admit (and yes, this is controversial) that I do use a slightly harder reed on saxophone than clarinet. I want to make sure that I have committed students on saxophone who can play with good air. Saxophone is typically a little easier for students to make a sound on and no, I don't want a sax orchestra for my beginning band.
Really my number one goal is to help students find the instrument that they will have the most instant success on. We want them to be able to make music as quickly as possible, if they are struggling to produce a tone for weeks while their peers are moving onto playing songs they are likely to get discouraged and eventually quit.
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