Danger Levels 1-1 – Key Relationships

Danger Levels 1-1 – Key Understanding

Target Grades 6-8

Includes – Four Major Keys, all Diatonic, Half, Quarter, and Eighth Note Rhythms.  All Common Time.

Danger Notes- Danger Notes are marked with arrows. ▼

Danger Levels focus on the Danger Scales.  They are meant to allow students to self-promote themselves and remediate players who need extra attention.   Each series of Danger Levels focuses on Key Relationships, Reading, and Technical ability.   

How It Works – Every student will see three lines – A, B, and C.  Part A sets the outline of the exercise in the simplest rhythmic patterns. Part B adds variations while retaining the same note of each primary beat.  Part C is the full version of the exercise while retaining the same note of each primary beat.   All three parts can be played together with the student able to promote themselves.

Teaching Tips – You can teach each line individually, meaning everyone plays A, B, and C together.   My suggestion would be to use a slow or moderate tempo to do this.   All the exercises are designed to be played in various tempi.   When increasing the tempo, ask students to choose the part they are most proficient at.  When ready, ask them to self-promote to another line.   Depending on the tempo you should also ask players to move back a part until they are ready for the faster tempo.   You may also encourage them to play parts of each line, such as 2 measures of B and two measures of C.    Another option would be to rehearse individual measures horizontally, such as measure 1 – A, B, and C.  

You can view a sample score and listen to an audio file here.