Woodwind Proficiencies

I took over the Jazz saxophone professor position at Portland State University a few weeks ago, so I had to design an entire teaching curriculum for undergrads and graduate students in a hurry. One of the components of the curriculum I devised was a graded series of proficiencies. Something that impressed me about Berklee's program was the woodwind department's proficiencies. It wasn't anything revolutionary, just very thorough and well thought out. By the time a Berklee performance woodwind major gets out of school they (at the very least) have a solid gasp on the fundamentals of musicianship (scales, arpeggios,intervals, ect).

I wrote Bill Pierce, the woodwind department chair, to see if I could get a copy of the the woodwind proficiencies and he was kind enough to direct me to the department's web page where they have posted complete documents detailing the different levels. Berklee is on a semester system, so there are eight levels for the four year program. PSU is on a trimester system, so I had to split those eight levels into twelve. I also added a few things to the requirements that I thought were important to know.

These proficiencies would be a good way to to approach practicing the fundamentals for any woodwind student, or for any teachers wishing to be a bit more organized in their teaching practice.

link to a compressed file containing the proficiencies