Twelve Famous 3-Note Sea Chanteys

Your students know their first three notes. They’re working hard, making progress, and having a great time—but they’re just not ready for the next ones.

So what do you do? Give them another method-book exercise? Again?

Beginning Band Sea Chanteys gives you another option: 12 short, fun tunes written for beginning concert band using only Concert B-flat, Concert C, and Concert D.

The collection was born from a real classroom problem. I had a beginning band class that needed more time before moving ahead, and I didn’t want to keep drilling the same exercises. So I wrote music that let my students keep practicing while actually feeling like they were performing real pieces.

The nautical theme is deliberately silly. These aren't historically authentic sea chanteys—they're simply fun musical adventures with ridiculous titles like “Cap’n Hidalgo Slashface” and “Admiral Poopypants.”

Use these tunes to add variety to your beginning band method book, reinforce early note reading and playing skills, provide extra rehearsal material, or give students a welcome change of pace. You could also use them as a prompt for a writing assignment...have the kids write a story about their favorite one. Earn bonus points with your administration as well as your Language Arts teacher colleagues!

Perfect for first-year band students when your they need more music—but aren't ready for more notes—send them to sea.

Twelve tunes. Three notes. Zero boredom.

Includes score plus individual parts.