The literature students should sing and play is a matter of curricular choice. The method book a program or teacher chooses is an obvious choice of such material. Especially in the initial stages of instrumental instruction, teachers should introduce melodies by rote singing before having students attempt them on the instruments or worrying about notation. This provides students with the best opportunity to know how a melody sounds in their minds before adding the complications of instruments. When students decode notation without understanding, they require a teacher to tell them whether the pitches, rhythms, intonation, and other musical characteristics are correct. Conversely, when they know a melody, they are able to compare that knowledge to what they produce from their instruments. They learn to critically listen to their own playing, which serves them well as they move into ensemble and solo literature as well as any other instrumental music context.
While method books can offer a range of melodic materials, they often lack much beyond single line melodies. Further, many of the melodies are similarly in major tonalities and duple meters, which isn’t a problem except that students experience only a very limited range of music. Teachers can enrich these materials and introduce deeper concepts of harmony, tonality and meter through a few simple techniques (see Rote Songs).
- Bass Lines. When initially teaching rote songs, they can teach the simple bass lines (typically comprising tonic and dominant chords for melodies found in beginning method books) that, while probably not directly indicated in texts, can readily be inferred.
- Harmony Parts. More advanced classes might learn or even create multiple associated harmony parts. Exercises that create polyphony from monophony offer additional benefits in exposing young students to concepts in ensemble performance such as balance of parts, blending of instruments, and listening skills.
- Variations. Teachers and students can alter the tonality of songs, sometimes by changing just one pitch in a three-note melody to create minor from major. A melody in common time can become a song in a triple or asymmetric meter. The important principle is that students sing, buzz, play, and read a variety of tonalities and meters beyond the materials typically found in most beginning method books.
As instrumental classes start to utilize ensemble compositions and arrangements, worthwhile materials for certain instruments become even scarcer. Tuba players who played actual melodies in their method books suddenly become relegated to half notes and whole notes in uninteresting bass lines. Other low brass players and hornists fare better, yet off beats and dull inner parts become more the norm as trumpet players take most of the melodic lines and technical passages. Although all brass players ideally continue on parallel developmental trajectories, the dearth of good materials often results in musical and technical discrepancies based on instrument choice rather than ability. It becomes imperative that teachers continue to challenge all students through supplemental materials and interesting exercises that require students to think musically and creatively.