During term 4 your child has been invited to participate in a ‘Christmas Recording Project’. The song their band director has selected is “Santa Comes Marching In” and this webpage will be your main source for all the resources and information needed to participate. New resources will be regularly added so please bookmark this page on your child’s device and encourage them to check it each time they practise at home. Don’t forget, if you have any questions please speak to your child’s band director/tutor or contact TSA office.
How To Participate
- Download and print off your music
- Download the pre-recorded audio track to play along with at home
- Learn your part during the holidays and first five weeks of term 4 (your tutor will help you learn it during your Zoom lessons)
- You then have the last five weeks of term 4 to record yourself at home – see below for simple instructions
- Your band director will let you know what the deadline is for recordings and any other details specific to your school
1. Download Music
Select your child’s instrument and print all pages:
Euphonium/Baritone Horn (if you need the ‘T.C.’ version click here instead)
Tuba (and Keyboard Bass)
Percussion (full set including drums, auxiliary & mallets)
2. Download Pre-recorded Audio Track
Click on the hyperlink below and hit ‘download’ (top left corner) to save on your device
3. Learn Your Part
If you are having any trouble learning your part please remember that your child’s band director and tutor will be available to help. Contact them via email or call TSA office and we can put you in touch.
Keep an eye on the bottom “Other Helpful Resources” section of this page as well where any extra learning resources will be added.
4. Record Yourself At Home
The ultimate goal of this project is to learn our songs well enough that students can record themselves and submit so we can combine together and create an ‘online band recording’ to share. Recording yourself at home is extremely simple but there are a couple of important points you need to know to make sure we can include your recording.
IMPORTANT POINTS:
- Audio recordings only (no video please)
- Students must record themselves playing at the right speed (see below for details)
- Submit your recordings via email – your band director will let you know who to send them to
How to Record Yourself At Home
- Learn your part well enough to play along with the audio track you have downloaded from the link above
- You will need to be listening to this audio track through headphones and play along with it during the recording so you play your part at the right speed
- Use ‘Voice Memo‘ app on iPhone (Android phones have a similar free app such as Samsung Voice Recorder) – no fancy microphone required
- Find a quiet room in the house – best room is one with plenty of soft surfaces (bed/doona/carpet/curtains)
- Don’t point the instrument directly at the phone, angle it away for the best sound (about 1.5m away)
- Make sure when you record that we can only hear your instrument (and we cannot hear the audio track you are playing along with through your headphones)
- Listen back to your recording before submitting to make sure you are happy with it
5. Submit Your Recording
Submit your recording via EMAIL to the nominated tutor at your school.
Your Voice Memo / Voice Recorder app should have a ‘share’ button which will allow you to send the file as an email directly from within the app.
Don’t forget to include your child’s:
- Name
- School
- Instrument
- Name of the Song
If you have any questions please contact your child’s band director or TSA office.
Other Helpful Resources
Vimeo audio file for Santa Comes Marching In (can be slowed down for practice – please don’t use this track for recording)