According to Scholastic (www.scholastic.com), here are a couple of benefits to Summer Reading:
• Children who read 4 or more books over the summer fare better on reading-comprehension tests in the fall
• Teachers typically spend 4-6 weeks re-teaching material students have forgotten over the summer
• Reading as a leisure activity is the best predictor of comprehension, vocabulary and reading speed
(these statistics taken from the ‘Scholastic Summer Challenge’)
What on earth does this have to do with Retro Hymns 2?
Everything…
It’s the summer and with summer vacations, there are tons of things going on with the youth and the children (and thusly, the parents who transport them). Instead of taking the summer off and letting all of your horn players and rhythm players (and orchestra for that matter) ‘turn off their musical reading brains’, why not give them something, fun and different that will stimulate their brains and give them a great reading challenge this summer?
• Reading fun, challenging music this summer helps your band fare better on reading-comprehension in the fall
• Playing Retro Hymns 2 this summer helps your band remember articulations, phrasing, pitch and time so you have to work on it less when you dive in to Christmas music in September
• Sightreading these charts and then working on them will make your players more gooder. 🙂
(see what I did there with those reading/reading comparisons?) 🙂
With the modern worship movement in full swing (pun intended), there is the concern that the band (especially the rhythm guys) can sort of get stuck in a rut of playing the ‘typical’ worship band sound every week. Without a doubt, the Retro Hymns 2 arrangements are some funky, different, challenging and ABSOLUTELY FUN TO PLAY arrangements that will help you keep your players excited. They will LOVE playing these retro funky horn band arrangements!
And…if the band knows you are reading/playing these arrangements in rehearsal, maybe it will help more folks want to come to rehearsal when they could be tired from the daily summer activities.
So if you’re looking for some great summer reading for your band…
Summer Reading – Retro Hymns 2
win/win
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