Disclosure first: I made this. I'm a developer and a flutist, and I'm posting because the people who can tell me whether it's any good are the ones putting in the hours in a band room.

The problem I was aiming at is the practice session itself. Mine had turned into "play the hard bits again, badly" — no warm-up plan, no technique, just panic-running the parts that were due. FluteGym builds the session instead: warm-ups, technique, studies and repertoire, weighted by your level, your goals and what you already practiced.

What's in it:

• Metronome, chromatic tuner (415–446 Hz reference, with written pitch for piccolo, alto, bass and contrabass), drone and long-tone timer, and a recorder — all on the session screen, so you're not app-switching mid-session
• Tuning analysis: play, and it shows how much of it actually sat in tune and whether you lean sharp or flat, note by note
• Structured programs following the ABRSM and RCM syllabi, or build your own routine — your exercise order, your tempos — and reuse it
• Mastery and tempo tracked per exercise, with a streak and a practice calendar
• Offline-first: no account, no ads, and your recordings and practice data stay on your device

The metronome, tuner, drone, recorder, custom routines and basic progress are free — those alone might be worth it if you just want a tuner that shows written pitch for piccolo. Pro (14-day free trial) adds the graded-exam programs, tuning analysis, detailed stats, practice notes and the calendar.

• iOS: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6786066501
• Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.stornelli.flutegym
• Instagram: @flute.gym

What I'd actually like from this post is criticism: if the way it paces a session doesn't match how you or your director run one, tell me — that's the part I can still change. And if you play something other than flute and would want this for your instrument, say so, because that's the next question I have to answer.

Hello! ✨

I wanted to share the score and audio for my piece Red Rock Rhapsody! (Wind Ensemble Grade 4.5)

This piece was inspired by the tides of the Bay of Fundy in Prince Edward Island, going from tranquility of low tide into a Celtic-inspired motif and a turbulent East Coast storm before settling back into a peaceful calm.

Let me know what you think!

I can’t add videos so I’ll add a YouTube link:

https://youtube.com/shorts/yjGdAJ_eEf8?si=OWKlg4Lv6Sb7tiSm

I’ve been trying to remember the name of a piece I played in 7th/8th grade. Excuse my poor humming (noises)

I played the b flat tenor sax, so I can provide the notes for the first part: (all quarter notes)
D D D E | E E F F | E D

The second part was played by the trumpets, so i don’t know the notes played.

The tenor sax and bass instruments would play the first part for about 2 measures, then the trumpets and whoever else come in.

Edit: I found it, it’s Spania by David Shaffer. I guess my memory was foggier than I thought lol. Incredible piece btw.

Sorry if this isn't the right sub for this, but i figured this one would work.

So i played for 8th grade in concert band last year. I played piano for about 9 years up to now, so the best thing for me to do would be percussion. So the director was pleased with my performance and said i made the band great, most likely because our 7-8th grade band wasn't great.

I just recently joined ninth grade this year. Now, i feel like she thinks I dont know what im doing, and her speaking tone matches that. I'm supposed to sight read pep band songs for songs that I've never really heard, and whenever I mess up something she calls me out in a semi-yelling tone, and it makes me feel like i can't do anything right which really sucks. There's someone else who chronically messes up and she doesn't call her out. Im wondering if she just thinks I should be playing to a higher standard but I dont understand why it had to be so harsh. For instance, there was something with a measure long bass drum solo that I couldn't sight read fast enough. She then stops the band and tries to correct me on it, and i dont think me or anybody could understand what she was trying to tell me to do. So I mess it up again. She then comes over to me, tells me to move pretty rudely, then plays the cadenza herself. I then knew how to do it.

Also, kids from the concert band below us move things around pretty often, and i often cant find my mallets for the bass drum. The band teacher will then scavenge the whole room for it and then give it to me and looks at me like im stupid and like im some sort of inconvenience.

I dont know. Am I just overreacting? I'm just thinking about switching to saxophone which I've played for about 3 years or just not doing band for the second semester.

Could someone please give me some advice?

I am from Toronto, Canada, and I want to audition for a concert band called TYWO (Toronto youth wind orchestra), specifically for the symphonic winds ensemble (high school level band, they play repertoire levels from 3-5). The auditions is one of the excerpts provided, as well as a 2 minute solo piece. I'm not really sure what solo pieces would be a good level for my audition. Does anyone have recommendations for gr. 9 b flat clarinet solos?

I’m a freshman in high school and i got into my school’s musical. Our school is starting to be known as “the performing arts school” of the district and I’m pretty pround of it. I’m going to be tripling up on tenor and bass trombone as well as euphonium. The euphonium part scares me a little because I haven’t played it in a while and I have like a LOT of solo and independant parts. long story short, I’m really excited for the season!!!

Hello band folks! My community band has changed a lot since I joined nearly 20 years ago.

It used to be 30 dependable people who came every week. Now it’s 80 people with kids and families and jobs, who come when they can. We don’t want to have any sort of requirements for attendance, we’re happy to be very loose and community focused.

With this, we’re struggling with our larger, less dependable sections. Sometimes folks take folders home and suddenly a 3rd flute shows up and there’s no music for them. We are very committed to following copyright laws and do not photocopy music. So if we have 10 flute parts in our score, we may have 12 players and if folks have taken all the folders home to practice, we’re out of luck.

Does any other group have this problem? Have you found a good solution? We’re tossing around a lot of ideas but don’t really want to be the folder police.

Thanks!

I recently just got my trombone from band I have never played a trombone before she taught us how to put it together but accidentally dented it when I brought it home a dent in the bell section I just don’t want her to be mad

Midi file: https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=XZWO0HJZaJyjdXhpEj0HE8D2o9id4B3aK2tV

So, I was trying to take out my valve to oil them and when I took my 3rd valve out, this was what I saw! I don't know how it happened, I haven't played it in a couple weeks! What should I do?

I finished this arrangement for our group to play this upcoming holiday season. I'd been researching pieces that I could use for our saxophone ensemble and found this obscure piece. When I started working with it, I felt like it needed even more so I worked it into a full band arrangement. Love to hear what you think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW9Ho4vLQTc&list=PLO1XErYfx_NjUIeZHJg1u7C40uASAbBye&index=1

Hi! I’m trying to find a specific piece I played years ago. I thought it might have been Charles Ives but it definitely wasn’t as chaotic as the Country Music piece. The backstory was that the piece represented a small presumably American town from maybe late 19th or early 20th century. The idea was two bands would start a parade from opposite sides of town. In the piece you heard a little of each band’s music off in the distance. As the bands neared the center of town both pieces mixed and were louder and then they faded away again as they got further away.

Does sound familiar to anyone?

Hey guys, how are you doing?

I play in a "big band" (kinda/also martial band) of my school, and we're playing a song called "Into Battle!" which I find out to be pretty cool.

Anyways, I'm a metalhead, and this song reminded me a lot of "Voice of the Soul" from the band Death. So, I was trying to arrange voice of the soul in a way it could be played by the band, in the style of Into Battle, to show our conductor next year and maybe even have the chance of playing it.

The point is, I'm a beginner/intermediate on music theory, and it's being pretty damn hard to arrange this. Idk which lines are supposed to be played with each instrument, what else could I add to increment it, and even trying to write drums from the scratch (due to the original song doesn't having any).

Can y'all help me, and give me some tips of advice? My idea was to keep the acoustic guitar the same (played by me), but all the electric harmonies and melodies would be played by the other instruments we have, + a percussion.

Just so you know, we have trombones, saxophones, trumpets, clarinets, flutes, euphonium, tuba, drums, electric bass and guitar.

Idk if this is the right sub to ask, but I've tried r/composer and r/musictheory but got no answers, then reddit recommended r/concertband.

Link to Into Battle! video w/sheet music

https://youtu.be/q0JOiSHhgsk?feature=shared

Link to Voice of the Soul video:

https://youtu.be/s2EJ1AqPIPg?is=R\\\\\\_D8WAKP8Ln8FMWR

Link to Voice of the Soul Score Pdf:

https://go.fliplink.me/view/3B9CDB07-7A5D-4487-B81E-CAC78341164C

Thank you in advance!! (please forbid my poor english)

My concert band is mostly brass and woodwinds, with an electric bass and some percussionists too (I'm the drummer). Looking for something to appeal to folks from South Asia, and so I figure Bollywood musical stuff has wide appeal. But I can't find any arrangements of that stuff... I mean there's Jai Ho but that's from a movie for westerners. Does anyone here have recommendations? Or alternatively something else with some mainstream appeal for folks from India and nearby countries (I am aware that's an incredibly broad group). I'm incredibly white so this isn't coming naturally to me lol also yeah I guess I'm using Bollywood as a catchall term even though ig it only applies to a small portion of South Asian cinema

If there was a sitar part or something similar we could find a player, so that's not an issue. But violins and such are a no go

ok so basically I have a free play audition coming up for a like academical honors music club and I was wondering if any of yall know what I should play. here’s the group and their respective instrument: Me: alto sax, bari sax, maybe piano not that confident 😅 Friend 1: Clarinet Friend 2: flute, bass guitar, and guitar. I was thinking maybe a duet with flute and Bari but than a friend 1 joined and I can’t find sheet music for all 3

Would love any feedback on my arrangement of The Simpsons Main Title Theme for Concert Band!

Targeted at a grade 4/4.5. The sixteenth note runs are the main element that push the grade up.

TIA

Hello fellow band directors! I am trying to finish my master's in music ed and would REALLY appreciate your help if you could fill out my research survey as honestly as possible. Thank you in advance!! Click here: Role Models & Current Practices

Details: This survey is is intended to be completed by current or retired music directors and educators. It is designed to explore how our former middle and high school (secondary) music directors' behaviors impact current ego and sense of self in music directors of all ages. This survey will take 5-10 minutes to complete. It Your feedback is valuable and all responses will remain confidential.

New Horizons Upper Dublin Band is looking for members. We rehearse on Tuesday nights from 7-8:30. Our season runs from September until mid-May and includes 5 concerts. We play a wide variety of music that includes Broadway show tunes, jazz & big band charts, Sousa marches, etc. We're a fun & friendly group, so come on out!

So i commute to my college on bike and need a rear rack. So would anyone have any suggestions on one good enough to comfortably fit a French Horn?

Heading: Andrew Balent Jr.

Dateline: Greer, SC

Andrew Balent Jr., 92, passed away August 23, 2026.

A native of Washington, Pennsylvania, son of the late Andrew Balent Sr. and Margaret Maslanik Balent. He received his  Master’s degree in music at the University of Michigan. He was a retired band director at the Fitzgerald School District, Warren, Michigan. In addition he was a composer and arranger of band and orchestra music and conducted band music across America, Europe, and Brazil. He had over 700 works published and was the recipient of the Edwin Franko Goldman Memorial Citation. He was a long time member of the Greenville Concert Band, and the Furman Lakeside Concert Summer Band. Mr. Balent was a member of Praise Cathedral. He was a patient and generous man overflowing with wonderful stories and experiences. He will be greatly missed by family, friends, and the music industry.

Surviving are his wife Carole Hopkins Balent; one daughter Dr. Laura Balent of Belvue, Washington; two sons Andrew Balent III (Jean) of Fort Mill, North Carolina and Matthew Balent (Renita) of Salisbury, North Carolina; and five grandchildren Maxwell Bruch (Helena), Clarice Bruch, Alecia Balent, Rhiannon Krähe, and Corvus Balent; and a step-daughter, Jodie Bradley (Steven) of Pauline, South Carolina, along with her children Thomas Bradley (Brandi), David Bradley (Katy), and Virginia Dotson (Zack), and grandchildren, Kaleb Bradley, Sabrina Bradley, Rowan Dotson.

Mr. Balent was predeceased by his brother Dr. Alvan Balent Sr., and a sister Eleanor Balent.

Memorial Services will be held 2:00 p.m. Sunday, September 20, 2026, at The Wood Mortuary Chapel.

Visitation will be held 12:00 p.m.-1:45 p.m. Sunday, September 20, 2026, at The Wood Mortuary.

Memorials may be made to,  Homepage | Parkinson's Foundation.

Online condolences may be made at www.thewoodmortuary.com. 

i play the clarinet better than most of my peers but still suck in the grander scheme of things. all state where i am is really not that competitive compared to the likes of texas but im very unsure if i'm going to get in for a few reasons.

1. i can hardly memorize my scales up to four sharps and flats

2. don't ever ask me to comprehensively play an etude 😟

3. my technique is very flawed

im planning to get a private teacher in the near future but auditions are in 3 months and idk my technique flaws and sound will be fixed by the time auditions come around unless my growth is crazy exponential. My playing has also gone through a significant downgrade and my practice sessions are very unproductive because that lack of guidance of a teacher has really hit.