Develop sight reading with 14 Weeks to a Better Band

Roger Maxwell's "14 Weeks to a Better Band"

WHY IT WORKS!!

Repetition is the key to students learning and retaining their understanding of rhythmic figures.

In order for students to develop sight reading music, they must be allowed to concentrate their learning to one rhythmic figure at a time.

The continued use of teaching one rhythmic figure per week supports the theory that this approach can develop sight reading bands often in the course of seven weeks. It is during this period that students learn the seven most important rhythmic figures used in music.

A Rhythmic Figure is comprised of 2-4 notes/rests and is either 1 or 2 counts in duration.

Examples:

The abbreviated "Exercise 1" and Related Study "Spiritual", shown below indicate the use of Eighth Notes during Week One of "Fourteen Weeks to a Better Band." The chart below indicates the number of times rhythmic figure(s) are played each week during an eleven week period. (Example: two eighth notes are played 1812 times during Week 1 by playing "Exercise 1" and "Spiritual" twice a day.)

Exercise 1 - develop sight reading

Spiritual - develop sight reading

The Eleven Basic Rhythmic Figures found in "Fourteen Weeks to a Better Band."
No. and use of rhythmic figures by week
	WEEK											TOTAL
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	1812	2004	2472	2784	3144	3228	3360	3648	3768	3864	3996	3996
		1388	1388	1388	1412	1412	1412	1412	1412	1412	1412	1412
			924	1056	1248	1248	1248	1248	1248	1248	1248	1248
				936	936	936	936	936	936	936	936	936
					864	864	864	864	864	864	864	864
					7,604
						948	948	948	948	948	948	948
							840	840	840	840	840	840
							9,608				10,244
								672	672	672	672	672
									852	852	852	852
										636	636	636
											840	840
GRAND TOTAL:												13,244

The above numbers are based upon each exercise and related study being played twice a day to develop sight reading improvements.

WHY IT WORKS!!

Repetition is the key to students learning and retaining their understanding of rhythmic figures.

Examples:

The Eleven Basic Rhythmic Figures found in "Fourteen Weeks to a Better Band."

The Eleven Basic Rhythmic Figures found in
"Fourteen Weeks to a Better Band."