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Learn to implement a new method of music instruction for band/orchestra that enables students to improvise, play expressively, and understand theory organically from the very beginning. This method is primarily intended for use by those who teach beginning band and orchestra, though it can be implemented at any developmental stage and can be used by those who teach high school, private lessons, guitar classes, keyboard classes, and any other type of instrumental music education. 

For over 100 years, we have focused almost exclusively on reading music, and have almost exclusively used our carefully honed skills as musicians to enact the will of the composer, through the baton of a conductor. Since the 1920s, the purpose of band programs in schools has been heavily focused on reading, with the purpose of preparing concerts, especially adjudicated performances in the spring. While the body of instrumental music is a rich cultural tradition which grows ever more expansive each year, it is a sadly small proportion of musicians who continue making music after high school, and even fewer after college. Band and orchestra instruments seem to have only served a purpose when students are gathered together under the baton of an instructor. In contrast, the Sound Before Symbols method puts “speaking” music before reading music, enabling each performer to learn to speak with a voice of their own. 

This method teaches students music holistically and naturally, the way we learn our first language as small children. Students develop skills at rhythm reading, and then learn pitches in a simple and logical way that also reinforces music concepts often not learned until college theory classes. Students engage with elements of music one at a time, always using the aural first, and not using the visual until aural can be done with confidence. By the end of the first year, students will be able to improvise and compose melodies with harmonies, bass lines, and rhythms in various textures with ease. When the time comes for students to learn to read musical notation, they already know how to play all of the notes and simply need to connect their existing skills with the reading component.  

By participating in this summer workshop, you will develop the skills to teach your students in a way that will enable them to not only perform the musical ideas of others, but to express their own musical ideas at any time, with any size group, to express any thoughts or feelings they wish to express. Students can continue performing the amazing body of repertoire developed for our ensembles but can also perform what is in their hearts, and form relationships with other musicians to develop their own unique ideas and styles.  

Dates 

The second annual Sound Before Symbols workshop will take place Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, June 24th-26th, 2025. Each day runs 9am-4pm, with a one-hour lunch break at noon. 

Cost

The cost of the workshop, which includes instructional materials to use with your students, is $275. In order to enable all participants opportunities to engage in the practice-teaching activities, each session must be capped at 12 participants, on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Register

To register, please click the link below.  Participants will need to bring an instrument they feel competent using, and will need to secure their own lodging. The workshop is held in the Fine Arts building of the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ. Daily parking in the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ Fine Arts garage is $5, operated through on-site kiosks. 

For further information, you can email Dr. Timothy J. Groulx, Associate Professor of Music Education at the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ at timothy.groulx@unf.edu.