Here are some competitions to get woodwind players practising!

(The first three are FREE and there is a modest charge for the others.)

These projects have proved effective in producing a fresh motivation to practise - and in getting older and more experienced students to mentor and encourage younger ones.

Full instructions are given in each pack.

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Woodwind Scales Competition

Any scale or arpeggio played correctly scores points, with more points for wider ranges or more complex keys.  There's something here for everyone!

(It's also a convenient source of many printed scales for all woodwind instruments.)

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'La Bourbonnaise'

This competition was conceived for 'Flutes v. Clarinets', but any team format will do.

Couperin's famous tune is presented in four different keys and two different octaves (8 versions in total, each numbered in order of difficulty).  A player must learn them in numerical order, gaining 1 point for the first, 2 for the second, etc.  Can anyone manage all eight?

Why not invite two players from a team to perform the upper and lower versions together for double points?  Remember, if it's not correct, it's not correct!

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Woodwind Speed Competition

This time it's all about accuracy of fingers and tongue at speed!

Simple, short exercises are presented and the aim is to play each one flawlessly to the click of a metronome.  The number of points scored for each exercise is the 'personal best' tempo achieved (e.g. a beat-speed of 120 scores 120 points).  It can be a solo challenge, but is more fun if players are divided into two or more teams of closely matched age and ability profiles.

There's a special double-points bonus feature included . . .

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'La Lasola'

This is an unaccompanied competition study for any woodwind instrument.  Performance must always start from the beginning and the points awarded equate to the bar-number (measure-number) in which the first mistake occurs.  The teacher is encouraged to be ruthless: the aim is perfection.

Can anyone get right to the end with no blemishes? And what is the significance of the title?

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Study 18   * (an accompanied version of this piece is also available in our 'Singles' range)

Divide all your woodwind players into two all-age, all-instrument teams.  (To keep things competitive, try to plan who's in which team - to ensure the likely team totals will be very close!)

The study is a straightforward melody, provided in 8 different versions which are numbered in approximate order of difficulty.  Pick any version and practise it to perfection!  The points scored equate to the number of the version, so there's a strong incentive to push on to the more challenging ones.

As well as scoring points solo, players can get together and score further points in duet (a good opportunity for players of different ages and different instruments to work together to increase the score for their team).

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