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This is a question, mainly, for people who teach beginning band and orchestra.

In a class I am taking we are reviewing different beginning band method books. I have noticed some seem to be more helpful for the student and some are more helpful for the teacher.

My question is: What do all of you use for beginning band? And Why?

The Essential Elements does a good job of gradually building a beginner's skills of reading music. I also like the Hal Leonard book. It doesn't bring a beginner through the basics like Essential Elements, but does teach the fundamentals of tone production very well. The Hal Leonard also contains the only sort of practice that Arnold Jacobs ever wrote.

I use Standard of Excellence now, but the way it deals with French Horn SUCKS! Oboe and Bassoon aren't great either, but is still WAY better than horn. Next year I'm going to use Accent on Achievement as it starts a little higher. This means that tuba players have more time to get a good low Bb and horn players start off completely on the Bb side of the horn. WAY better for the kids. The tunes are also a little more recognizable, too.

Hope this helps!