Alfred Music has announced the new flexible instrumentation series—Alfred Flex and Belwin Flex. Each series contains a variety of styles and grade levels (Grades ½ through 3+) to meet the needs of ensembles with incomplete or unique instrumentation.
These newly reimagined pieces are available throughout the Belwin and Alfred Concert Band Catalogs, written by a variety of composers and arrangers, such as Michael Story, Michael Kamuf, Victor López, Chris M. Bernotas, Scott Watson, Vince Gassi, and others.
The pieces and arrangements in this new series will have complete flexibility of instrumentation which will allow directors to use them for: full band, string orchestra, a mix of band and string instruments, a mix of woodwind and percussion, a mix of brass and percussion, percussion ensembles, mixed chamber ensembles, and most like-instrument ensembles.
Alfred Flex and Belwin Flex both include a teacher map with each piece that will help to not only guide the teacher to instrument choices but more importantly, provide a way to document who is assigned to which part. Flexible Options, Suggested Instrumentation, and Teacher Part Assignment spaces are all included, in a clean, clear, and uncluttered layout.
To help with teachers’ changing needs throughout the school year, the purchase of these flexible instrumentation series titles include permission to photocopy parts as needed for their ensemble. There is also a percussion audio track available as a free download.
Additionally, Alfred Flex and Belwin Flex are available in SmartMusic, allowing students’ practice to be transformed from passive repetition to active learning, giving teachers the ability to monitor and assess student progress while remote teaching. Students will be immediately shown what pitches and rhythms they hit or miss so they know what to work on, and they don’t learn their music incorrectly. They can play along to the accompaniment, encouraging at-home practice, while helping you track their progress while teaching remotely.
