The Growing Band Director Ep 301 Successful Beginner Practices with Mike Perez
Dec 15, 2025
Mike Perez, a Fort Collins middle school band director who specializes in beginning band pedagogy, shares practical classroom systems and fun engagement ideas. He covers instrument placement routines, small-room adjustments, using mirrors to fix embouchure, starting percussion on mallets, pacing the first weeks, and creative motivators like Band Wars and a summer carnival.
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Practice For The Worst Room
- If your band sounds balanced in a tiny, difficult room it will sound excellent in a concert hall.
- Teach students to play softer and shorter in rehearsal so balance and blend improve on stage.
Delay Then Diagnose Articulation
- Delay articulation until week seven or eight after students can play their first five notes and develop a stable embouchure.
- Teach slow 16th-note articulation (e.g., at mm=56) to diagnose tongue placement and technique early.
Use Mirrors And Teacher Modeling
- Give beginners hand mirrors so they can watch jaw and embouchure mechanics during practice.
- Model problem sounds on the instrument yourself to help students understand internal technique issues.
