Opportunities for Creativity in Beginning Band Method Books

Method books serve as a key curricular resource in beginning band classrooms. Previous examinations of beginning band method books focused primarily on performance technique and pedagogy; however, a curriculum with a singular emphasis on performance will not meet all elements of the 2014 National Core Arts Standards. Therefore, we analyzed 16 beginning band method books for exercises that included creative activities such as compose, arrange, and improvise. Results indicated that 2.53% (n = 66) of the total exercises (N = 2,612) contained creative activities. The most frequently identified creative activity instruction type was improvise (n = 31, 44.93%), followed by compose (n = 27, 39.13%), and arrange (n = 11, 15.94%). These data provide insight into the degree to which beginning band method books contain exercises that include creative activities, specific activity types, and instructional directives, and may support inservice music educators and fine arts administrators in selecting method books.