Fixing Road Map Problems With Color

November 04, 2024

Fixing Road Map Problems With Color

by Samantha Stevens

Band Director, Independence (MO)

Are you frustrated teaching D.S. and D.C. al Coda? No matter how many times you tell students to "mark your music," it just doesn't seem to get the job done, does it? I have a solution for you if you've got $6 and 5 minutes. While I'd be happy for you to Venmo me the money, use it to buy a 24-pack of erasable colored pencils. And the five minutes? Use it to stop class and have your students mark their music with my 2-color color coding system.

We mark the two sets of signs with two colors:
D.S. al Coda/𝄋 in one color and To Coda/Coda in another.

Click images to enlarge.

Now, the students have a color-matching system to quickly find their way around the page (see images). In the several years I've used this system, we rarely revisit "navigating the road map" in class. I have found that students infrequently use the color-coding method in subsequent songs because of their high level of understanding with the $6 and 5-minute investment. As a side note, I prefer erasable colored pencils over highlighters as students make mistakes, and the thought of something permanent on an original piece of sheet music makes my skin crawl. Happy coloring!

Samantha Stevens is in her 18th year of teaching 6-12 grade bands. She is currently the associate band director in Independence, Missouri (4 years), and was the director of bands at East Buchanan (Gower, Mo) for 14 years. Samantha is passionate about researching and developing simple solutions to common music reading problems. She previously published an article, "Blocks & Cubes" (2018), and presented on recruitment and retention (2021) with Palen Music Center.

(417) 882-7006

Fixing Road Map Problems With Color

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