Review

D. Kim Dunnick and Jane F. Dunnick
Teaching Brass to Beginners:

Ithaca, NY, United States
Publisher: Lyceum Music Press
Date of Publication: 2010

Primary Genre: Study Material - book
Secondary Genre: Study Material - method

Teaching Brass for Beginners is a concise and informative collection of information essential for the successful education of the non-brass playing educator, and equally useful to the brass-playing educator as well. Divided into 18 short chapters, plus a useful Appendix, it covers in a concise manner the acoustics of brass instruments, the history and development of the brass instrument, posture and breathing, embouchure, tonguing and individual chapters dedicated to each brass instrument. Teaching Brass for Beginners focuses mainly on the core instruments commonly taught in brass methods courses or beginner classes: trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba. Other brass instruments are discussed in a separate chapter. Remaining chapters are dedicated to more general topics: transposition for all the instruments, differences and effects of compensating devices, mutes, and maintenance particularly as it applies to valve, piston, and slide instruments. The Appendices include useful information and reference materials, making this a compact and concise repository of information for brass instructors, and possibly brass students advanced beyond the beginner level.

While by no means comprehensive, Teaching Brass for Beginners serves most effectively as a fundamental compendium of the most significant points regarding brass instruments, an instrumental field guide of sorts. I believe it to be a potentially indispensible tool in the young educator’s arsenal as they enter their first teaching experience. And for those of us already teaching, it is definitely a useful addition to any brass methods course. As one who teaches instrumental brass methods to future music educators, brass, wind, percussion, and string players alike, I find that Teaching Brass for Beginners covers in one collection the information essential for doing so successfully. It provides young music educators the most germane information they need to begin their own brass teaching experiences.

-Alexander Treviño
Old Dominion University