Click on your instrument to download a .pdf book that can help refresh your skills.  If you want a comb bound book printed, you can put the .pdf file on a memory stick and take it to Staples, Kinkos or any other print shop.

Alto or Baritone Saxophone

Bb Clarinet or Bass Clarinet

Tenor Saxophone

Flute

Oboe or mallet percussion

Trumpet or treble clef Baritone
French Horn

Trombone or Bass Clef Baritone

Tuba

Snare/Bass drum (concentrates on rudiments)

Bassoonists will want to download both the trombone and tuba book.
Band directors can click here to download all the books in a zip file.

Here is information on these books:

Unison Songs for Band

This book has multiple uses:

• It can be used as a supplementary book to any band method.
• It can be used as a beginning band method. No fingering charts or fingerings are included, as these are intended to be provided by the teacher.
• It can be used by intermediate players to learn to play in additional keys.
• It can be used by experienced instrumentalists learning another instrument.
• It can be used by persons of any age who played in the past but need a refresher course to play again.
  

The songs in this book are “public domain” which means the copyright on them has expired, so they can be used and copied without any permission or payment needed. This book can also be copied as desired without any permission or payment. Some of the songs are “hymn tunes” and we have listed them by the “tune name” rather than by the first line of the lyrics usually sung to those tunes, as the lyrics vary from one organization to another. Other songs are folk songs, mostly from the nineteenth century or by nineteenth century or earlier composers. The songs are arranged in an order that gives an orderly progression of skill development. For the drum book the basic drum rudiments are included for slow practice.

Here are some tips about these books.

You can use the Trombone book for Baritone. The Alto Sax book can be used for Baritone Sax. The Tenor Sax book can be used for Soprano Sax. The tuba book is probably better suited to converting people to Tuba than for pure beginners. The songs have been adjusted--with some octave switches-- for some instruments to bring the songs into a reasonable playing range.

The songs progress through most of the common keys.  Playing the songs in the order presented will help technic development.

The percussion book has a number of rudiments designed for slow careful practice. Care should be taken that the left and right hand sounds the same. In a class setting drummers should take turns playing bass drum, as this part has a progression of rhythmic difficulty also.

The quarter note passages on the opening page make a good band warmup for elementary level bands.

On the rests section, have a class or individual say the number out loud where the rest falls. This aids in getting them to count in their minds as they have to be counting to know what count they are on when they get to the rest. Flutists can just open the mouth to say the number. Others should leave the mouthpiece in place and open the corners to speak around the mouthpiece.

If used in a band class the goal should be for enough explanation to be given so the students can play each song without error on the first try. Then try for five times in a row with no mistakes.

There are no fingerings or fingering charts. If a student has to remember the fingering in order to play the songs, that will be done.

Feel free to distribute these files to any colleagues who might be able to use them.