Welcome to Literacy First Literature, a space where you can find affordable, exciting new music for your band/orchestra written for directors by directors. As a composer and educator, I am passionate about providing musical opportunities for students across the world which maintain high levels of accessibility to the developing young musician while simultaneously providing depth and meaning to the musical experience we are engaging children in. My goal is to bring joy and accomplishment to rehearsal halls everywhere and provide directors with easy access to repertoire that will enrich their teaching practice.

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     In my position as a middle school director, I have spent many nights browsing publishing websites and being inspired and awestruck by all the possibilities of repertoire I could select for my groups. However, I'd often find myself putting a lot of works in my "wish list" for one or multiple of the following reasons:

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-the grade level marking doesn't match the nature of the work

-my instrumentation doesn't match the work (and the piece wouldn't work with my instrumentation)

-there are too many new concepts presented in the piece at one time

-my students simply are not ready for the work developmentally

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     So I sought to create solutions for what I feel is a real challenge in our field: today's students need a more structured, carefully constructed approach to beginning ensemble repertoire. As directors, we often aren't looking for works within the broad categories of grade levels, but rather we seek to find music that teaches and reinforces specific concepts. This is why my compositional approach is focused on one thing: music literacy first!

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     Rather than shopping by grade level, my goal is to make your life as a director easier by constructing and organizing affordable repertoire by learning targets and developmental benchmarks. With literacy first as my objective, your success in the classroom is my number one priority! May your teaching be excellent and your students successful!

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Love, laughter and music,

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Aaron Fonzi

Literacy First Literature