This blog post doesn't contain as much thought as I would like it to. Instead of questioning and comparing, I'm simply going to talk about an idea I came up with for a lesson plan.
When we were making models out of balloons, paper, and other materials, I realized how difficult it was for me to think of a way to do something similar in a music classroom. Most of the examples I came up seemed to stretch so far that they might actually take away from the lesson. However, I was determined to think of something that I would use... so I kept thinking about it like a madwoman.
My conclusion: I could use models to demonstrate the concept of intervals in music theory (measuring the distances between pitches).
I spent the last two summers working as a performer, camp counselor and teacher's assistant at a Fine Arts Camp in Michigan. One of my several (awesome) job duties was assisting with the music theory class. I don't remember much about learning my scales and about chords, but the teacher I worked with taught intervals first because it was the best way to teach the students how to build scales. Once they do that, they can use the scale degrees (Do, Re, Mi, etc.) to learn chords. Even when learning types of chords, one needs to address the intervals between the chord tones to understand the chord qualities.
Major Triad: A simple, major triad is Do Mi Sol - The first, third and fifth of a major key. The chord has two intervals (between Do and Mi and between Mi and Sol). It is major because it has the Major Third on the bottom and a minor third on top. A minor triad has a minor third on bottom and a Major Third on top.
If I had blocks that were labeled and of different heights (and probably colors), we could discuss building triads and I could stack the blocks to demonstrate.
As triads would only use two blocks, it wouldn't really be worth it. However, once we get into seventh chords, which are built with stacked thirds of various qualities, I think the blocks would help students a lot to grasp the concept.
I'm still not completely sure if this is something I would do. I think - if anything - I'd have them using measured pieces of paper instead of blocks. It also depends on the ages and musical background of the students. (If they know piano or read music fairly fluently, they may not need the extra example).
- Sarah Ruby Keene
P.S. I started this event last year called "USU Chamber Day," which brought around 40 high school kids to campus for workshops and master-classes. I'm doing it again this year (on April 13) and am leading a couple of the workshops, including the theory workshop. During the "theory tournament" at the end of the workshop, I may experiment with these "blocks" by asking them to arrange the major and minor thirds into a specific quality of chord. I think it would make a good bonus question because - even if they are musically advanced enough to spell out the chord with pitch names, this activity would force them to think of the concept in a more simple, dissecting way.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
If Music IS a language.... Music + Writing
To continue discussing the idea that music is a language with its own set of rules (believe me, there are many).......................
English is my primary language. I was first taught to speak it. A few years later, I learned to read and write it.
How do people learn the language of music then? Well, most of the human population learns to "speak" it. It is very difficult to be raised in any culture without being introduced to music. Children as young as 2 years old can sing along with Justin Bieber or (perhaps a more appropriate example) know "Twinkle Twinkle."
A much smaller number of individuals learn to read music.
Speak, Read, Write. If you can do all three, I'd say you are fluent.
Here's the question that recently popped up in my brain: Why is it that we require our students to be able to read music well... and play music well (equivalent to speech), but...... rarely ever do we have students write it???
This is what an English Class would be like if it required the same amount of writing as music:
Just to clarify: I don't actually consider music a language. I do think it is very easy to draw connections between it and actual spoken languages, though. (This blog is just toying around with the popular idea of music being viewed as a "foreign language.")
English is my primary language. I was first taught to speak it. A few years later, I learned to read and write it.
How do people learn the language of music then? Well, most of the human population learns to "speak" it. It is very difficult to be raised in any culture without being introduced to music. Children as young as 2 years old can sing along with Justin Bieber or (perhaps a more appropriate example) know "Twinkle Twinkle."
A much smaller number of individuals learn to read music.
Speak, Read, Write. If you can do all three, I'd say you are fluent.
Here's the question that recently popped up in my brain: Why is it that we require our students to be able to read music well... and play music well (equivalent to speech), but...... rarely ever do we have students write it???
This is what an English Class would be like if it required the same amount of writing as music:
- You could have high school classes capable of reading Moby Dick - and carrying on detailed discussions about the book. However, the only writing those students could do is single letters. Perhaps even a few words and incomplete phrases if they are really advanced.
It is so odd to me that a student can be an advanced musician, understanding several of the basic "grammar" rules of music, without ever being required to write it. They learn how to draw treble clefs, eighth notes, quarter notes and rests (the ABCs of music). But can they combine those "characters" together to make their own musical "arguments?" Can they create phrasal (sentence) fluency in a composition?
I'm going a bit overboard with this thought... I know that it takes a lot of musical training to be a decent composer, but... Perhaps composing wouldn't seem so difficult if students were being taught to write music at the same time they were learning to read it - like with English.
-- Sarah Ruby Keene
Just to clarify: I don't actually consider music a language. I do think it is very easy to draw connections between it and actual spoken languages, though. (This blog is just toying around with the popular idea of music being viewed as a "foreign language.")
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Music Vocab....Also, Pop Music in the Classroom?
"Music is a foreign language."
People say it all the time. While I've learned that it is not a universal language (as other cultures have music systems that do not translate to Western music), I am learning more and more that it is its own language with it's own set of rules.....and dialects I guess (I mean, Taylor Swift and Pavarotti can use the same notes and rhythms, but they are going to sound different and would probably have a difficult time understanding one another).
I heard a student in our class say "I teach a foreign language. Everything we do is vocab." .....And I realized that there is a lot more vocabulary to teach in music than I've ever noticed. To be honest, I don't remember my teachers focusing on vocabulary. At least not in any creative ways. I think we had a test once a year that would list 20 or so words and we were expected to write down what they meant. When did I learn the definitions? I have no idea. I suppose it was just repetition. After playing in band for four years, I was bound to figure out that rit. (ritard) meant the teacher would slow down.
My teachers didn't leave us to figure out everything on our own - that's not what I mean. They'd just teach us through performance. Explain these things as they came up in rehearsal - or even prompt us to figure it out on our own and discuss it (briefly of course) as a class. I wonder if that's the best way to go about teaching vocabulary in an ensemble setting. If I have a specific set of related words I want to teach to my band, I could find specific examples in our music to assist in the process.
Something that was stressed at two separate workshops I attended at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago last December was the idea of using "WORD WALL" in your band program. You have a wall full of vocabulary words. When you use one of the words in rehearsal, you ask a student to pick it off the wall and place it on the board. For the rest of the week, you can make reference to the words on the board.
I thought about the WORD WALL for a while, but I don't know if I like it. Writing words on the board is fine by me, but.... When I picture a word all, I picture a first grade classroom, not a middle school band room. The idea behind it is good, though.
And now, with no transition whatsoever, I'd like to discuss pop music:
For my IB Music Class in high school, we were led in a discussion about whether or not pop music should be used in high school curriculum. Our teacher helped the conversation along sometimes, but avoided sharing her opinion. There were students who strongly opposed using pop music (probably thinking they were pleasing the teacher) and there were students who thought some references to pop music were okay. In general, however, we were of the opinion that there was little to no educational value in pop music.
Then our teacher introduced the next unit.......Active Listening/Analysis. Part of the testing process was listening to a classical piece of music and writing down information under the headings: Instrumentation, Form, Style, and Texture. To introduce us to this kind of listening assignment, our teacher used Pink Floyd and film scores. Those four music elements were present in the examples she used. YES, you can learn an awful lot about texture and instrumentation from The Lord of the Rings!
I think we can learn from that - use what the students know to introduce new concepts. We can then build a bridge that will connect the concepts to more "intellectual" repertoire - or the music they'll be playing in their ensembles.
- Sarah
People say it all the time. While I've learned that it is not a universal language (as other cultures have music systems that do not translate to Western music), I am learning more and more that it is its own language with it's own set of rules.....and dialects I guess (I mean, Taylor Swift and Pavarotti can use the same notes and rhythms, but they are going to sound different and would probably have a difficult time understanding one another).
I heard a student in our class say "I teach a foreign language. Everything we do is vocab." .....And I realized that there is a lot more vocabulary to teach in music than I've ever noticed. To be honest, I don't remember my teachers focusing on vocabulary. At least not in any creative ways. I think we had a test once a year that would list 20 or so words and we were expected to write down what they meant. When did I learn the definitions? I have no idea. I suppose it was just repetition. After playing in band for four years, I was bound to figure out that rit. (ritard) meant the teacher would slow down.
My teachers didn't leave us to figure out everything on our own - that's not what I mean. They'd just teach us through performance. Explain these things as they came up in rehearsal - or even prompt us to figure it out on our own and discuss it (briefly of course) as a class. I wonder if that's the best way to go about teaching vocabulary in an ensemble setting. If I have a specific set of related words I want to teach to my band, I could find specific examples in our music to assist in the process.
Something that was stressed at two separate workshops I attended at the Midwest Clinic in Chicago last December was the idea of using "WORD WALL" in your band program. You have a wall full of vocabulary words. When you use one of the words in rehearsal, you ask a student to pick it off the wall and place it on the board. For the rest of the week, you can make reference to the words on the board.
I thought about the WORD WALL for a while, but I don't know if I like it. Writing words on the board is fine by me, but.... When I picture a word all, I picture a first grade classroom, not a middle school band room. The idea behind it is good, though.
And now, with no transition whatsoever, I'd like to discuss pop music:
For my IB Music Class in high school, we were led in a discussion about whether or not pop music should be used in high school curriculum. Our teacher helped the conversation along sometimes, but avoided sharing her opinion. There were students who strongly opposed using pop music (probably thinking they were pleasing the teacher) and there were students who thought some references to pop music were okay. In general, however, we were of the opinion that there was little to no educational value in pop music.
Then our teacher introduced the next unit.......Active Listening/Analysis. Part of the testing process was listening to a classical piece of music and writing down information under the headings: Instrumentation, Form, Style, and Texture. To introduce us to this kind of listening assignment, our teacher used Pink Floyd and film scores. Those four music elements were present in the examples she used. YES, you can learn an awful lot about texture and instrumentation from The Lord of the Rings!
I think we can learn from that - use what the students know to introduce new concepts. We can then build a bridge that will connect the concepts to more "intellectual" repertoire - or the music they'll be playing in their ensembles.
- Sarah
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Wall of Improvement
I want the main focus in my classroom to be improvement. Individual improvement as well as improvement as a whole. I've been thinking so much about the word "potential", that I've been missing the big picture. I cannot be concerned with potential because I believe there is NO WAY of knowing it. Because improvement is always possible. Besides, focusing on improving is dealing with the now and focusing on potential is thinking in a future sense (which is only good in small doses).
SO... I will attempt to create an environment focused on constant improvement. As players, as students... as human beings. :)
This brings me to my main topic: A Wall of Improvement - a visible representation of progress. :D It's borderline cheesy - and probably as cheesy as I'll get as a teacher - but I like it.
Here's how I think it will work:
I will have a box (or a slot... something, anyway) in the front of the room. Next to it will be slips of paper (preferably school colors).
Whenever a student has become aware of progress, he or she will write it down on one of the slips and put it in the box. (They can remain anonymous if they want to). An example might be that Johnny finally hit a G on his trombone - things like that.
I will have a set time to share the notes - probably one rehearsal a month or every two weeks. I'll just read them out loud. The students can clap or snap for each other. Then I'll tape the little notes on a wall. Not an entire wall, but a section of a wall. :)
Or maybe I'll just have sticky notes and they can post them on the wall and skip the whole box thing.
I think it will be something unique to our program. I can see it becoming a fun tradition in my classroom. If something AMAZING happens in a rehearsal, I can point to students and say "Go fill out a [blue] slip!"
I may do this every year. What will I do with the notes at the end of each year?...hmm...Maybe pile them all onto a poster board and have it laminated. :) And I can be selfish and take those posters wherever I go. They may end up in my office at a university some day.
That's enough planning for tonight. I don't need to have this completely figured out. I mean, I don't get to teach for another two years or so. :)
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
10 General Goals for My Future Classroom
1. Everything I mentioned in my first post about an environment that keeps anxiety at a low level (not condemning mistakes, encouraging chamber group participation, etc).
2. Making the top goal the progress of my students - individually and as a group. I'm helping them become the best musicians and people they can be. The top priority is NOT to get the music down as perfectly as possible. (See goal #8)
3. Routine
- Start every rehearsal the same way. Not sure how exactly... I want to walk in like Professor Maiello demonstrated in his rehearsal lab. He showed us three examples. One was a very casual slouch up to the podium and an almost bored preparation for the warmup. The second was an almost conceited entrance, nose held high on the way to the podium and a very serious (and quite snooty), "Let's begin." The THIRD demonstration was recommended. He walked in with his head held high, but not so high that his nose was in the air. He stepped onto the podium and said "Good afternoon. Let's begin."
- Warming Up. I want something that is the same EVERY rehearsal and something that is new EVERY rehearsal. The new warm up will hopefully be focusing in on an area we need the most improvement on or - even better - relevant to something we will be addressing later on in that rehearsal. (A conductor at a music camp I worked at was very into using warmups to address specific problems in the music. I loved it when the students figured it out. "Oh THAT'S why we spent so much time on that rhythm!")
- Lesson plan every day. I believe that any growth that happens when a director is "winging it" would be greater with a lesson plan. People who disagree are like those music majors who say "I always do better when I don't practice."
- End every rehearsal the same way. I will hopefully be able to plan and time the best closure possible for each rehearsal, but - even if I fail miserably at that - I want to always end my rehearsals and classes by saying "thank you."
4. Notice the individual needs of my students and meet them.
5. Treat all of my students equally. At the music camp I worked at, I had 44 campers over the summer. I am not lying when I say I did not have favorites. (I don't know why people always assume it's impossible.) My goal is to never have favorites, but - even if I do - I will always be aware of how I handle it and will make sure to treat them equal to my other students. My job will be to give as much to each one of my students as they'll allow me to. I don't have any desire to pick 10 or 15 students to cater to. Jane is the most responsible student in the school. John is (currently) the best player. Tom's parents are always friendly to me. I will treat those three exactly the same as Justin, who is late to every rehearsal, and William, who showed up for the concert in jeans. Granted, I will have discipline in my program, but the point is that they will all be my students and I will care about each of them equally because I truly believe all students have the same potential - even though some of them will be further along than others while they are in my classroom. (I'll probably post a blog about my theory on potential later... I've put a lot of thought into it. It's pretty much the center of my philosophy).
... I apologize for the length of that last paragraph. I can safely identify that as a "touchy subject."...
6. Positive and Negative Reinforcement
In general, I like the idea of positive reinforcement. I think it accomplishes more. However, I will have to react to each individual situation as it comes to me. Before I give negative reinforcement, however, I will always ask myself this question: "Is this going to help fix the problem?" Or am I punishing a student simply because I'm angry? Am I doing it just to make them feel bad, or do I think it will actually make them do better? (I want to be extra careful with my students' feelings. As far as consequences are concerned, I will be as fair as possible. This means, the students will know the consequences and I will follow through with them. But I will ALWAYS give the student the benefit of the doubt. Because I'm there for them after all and NOT me.
I will cross these bridges when I come to them (I still have a few years before that happens.)
7. Be spontaneous and creative
- Have silent rehearsals... or at least 20 minutes of silent rehearsal time.
- Have them play without a conductor some times.
- Mix up the seating arrangement
- Always ask more of them. To "recognize the limits of your students" is to undermine the meaning of the title "educator." As much as I'd like to believe they don't, limits DO exist. But they only stay put when you refuse to push them.
8. De-emphasize the competition element
Goal number 2: My number one goal will be the progress of my students. I will try to make them understand that we only go to competitions to: a.) Play for other people, b.) Receive outside feedback, c.) To hear other groups, and - the oh-so-famous "to have fun!" ...... But it doesn't matter so much what THEY think. I have to make sure I keep my priorities straight. I can't spend entire rehearsals perfecting music for competition. There's more to accomplish. The music is there to assist in the growth and the learning.
9. Create a comfortable environment in which they are treated with respect from me and from each other. I want all the petty high school (or middle school) behaviors left outside the classroom. I guess what I'm looking for is that magical "To Sir With Love" kind of classroom. I understand how incredibly difficult (or impossible) this may be, but I’m dead set on it, anyway.
10. Find the happy balance between the extremely funny teacher and the “let’s get down to business” teacher.
I don’t want to be the band director that is all business. I don’t want to be the band director that lowers to the social level of his/her students and accomplishes nothing. I don’t want to be the band director that scares everyone and I don’t want to be my students’ best friend.
I want to be enthusiastic and passionate. I want them to be comfortable with me, but still respect me. I want to take rehearsal seriously, but I also want to recognize when it’s time to make them laugh. It can’t all be intense learning. They have to have fun, too. They aren’t old enough to think that intense rehearsing is fun. It takes at least a year of college education (or brainwashing) to understand that.
2. Making the top goal the progress of my students - individually and as a group. I'm helping them become the best musicians and people they can be. The top priority is NOT to get the music down as perfectly as possible. (See goal #8)
3. Routine
- Start every rehearsal the same way. Not sure how exactly... I want to walk in like Professor Maiello demonstrated in his rehearsal lab. He showed us three examples. One was a very casual slouch up to the podium and an almost bored preparation for the warmup. The second was an almost conceited entrance, nose held high on the way to the podium and a very serious (and quite snooty), "Let's begin." The THIRD demonstration was recommended. He walked in with his head held high, but not so high that his nose was in the air. He stepped onto the podium and said "Good afternoon. Let's begin."
- Warming Up. I want something that is the same EVERY rehearsal and something that is new EVERY rehearsal. The new warm up will hopefully be focusing in on an area we need the most improvement on or - even better - relevant to something we will be addressing later on in that rehearsal. (A conductor at a music camp I worked at was very into using warmups to address specific problems in the music. I loved it when the students figured it out. "Oh THAT'S why we spent so much time on that rhythm!")
- Lesson plan every day. I believe that any growth that happens when a director is "winging it" would be greater with a lesson plan. People who disagree are like those music majors who say "I always do better when I don't practice."
- End every rehearsal the same way. I will hopefully be able to plan and time the best closure possible for each rehearsal, but - even if I fail miserably at that - I want to always end my rehearsals and classes by saying "thank you."
4. Notice the individual needs of my students and meet them.
5. Treat all of my students equally. At the music camp I worked at, I had 44 campers over the summer. I am not lying when I say I did not have favorites. (I don't know why people always assume it's impossible.) My goal is to never have favorites, but - even if I do - I will always be aware of how I handle it and will make sure to treat them equal to my other students. My job will be to give as much to each one of my students as they'll allow me to. I don't have any desire to pick 10 or 15 students to cater to. Jane is the most responsible student in the school. John is (currently) the best player. Tom's parents are always friendly to me. I will treat those three exactly the same as Justin, who is late to every rehearsal, and William, who showed up for the concert in jeans. Granted, I will have discipline in my program, but the point is that they will all be my students and I will care about each of them equally because I truly believe all students have the same potential - even though some of them will be further along than others while they are in my classroom. (I'll probably post a blog about my theory on potential later... I've put a lot of thought into it. It's pretty much the center of my philosophy).
... I apologize for the length of that last paragraph. I can safely identify that as a "touchy subject."...
6. Positive and Negative Reinforcement
In general, I like the idea of positive reinforcement. I think it accomplishes more. However, I will have to react to each individual situation as it comes to me. Before I give negative reinforcement, however, I will always ask myself this question: "Is this going to help fix the problem?" Or am I punishing a student simply because I'm angry? Am I doing it just to make them feel bad, or do I think it will actually make them do better? (I want to be extra careful with my students' feelings. As far as consequences are concerned, I will be as fair as possible. This means, the students will know the consequences and I will follow through with them. But I will ALWAYS give the student the benefit of the doubt. Because I'm there for them after all and NOT me.
I will cross these bridges when I come to them (I still have a few years before that happens.)
7. Be spontaneous and creative
- Have silent rehearsals... or at least 20 minutes of silent rehearsal time.
- Have them play without a conductor some times.
- Mix up the seating arrangement
- Always ask more of them. To "recognize the limits of your students" is to undermine the meaning of the title "educator." As much as I'd like to believe they don't, limits DO exist. But they only stay put when you refuse to push them.
8. De-emphasize the competition element
Goal number 2: My number one goal will be the progress of my students. I will try to make them understand that we only go to competitions to: a.) Play for other people, b.) Receive outside feedback, c.) To hear other groups, and - the oh-so-famous "to have fun!" ...... But it doesn't matter so much what THEY think. I have to make sure I keep my priorities straight. I can't spend entire rehearsals perfecting music for competition. There's more to accomplish. The music is there to assist in the growth and the learning.
9. Create a comfortable environment in which they are treated with respect from me and from each other. I want all the petty high school (or middle school) behaviors left outside the classroom. I guess what I'm looking for is that magical "To Sir With Love" kind of classroom. I understand how incredibly difficult (or impossible) this may be, but I’m dead set on it, anyway.
10. Find the happy balance between the extremely funny teacher and the “let’s get down to business” teacher.
I don’t want to be the band director that is all business. I don’t want to be the band director that lowers to the social level of his/her students and accomplishes nothing. I don’t want to be the band director that scares everyone and I don’t want to be my students’ best friend.
I want to be enthusiastic and passionate. I want them to be comfortable with me, but still respect me. I want to take rehearsal seriously, but I also want to recognize when it’s time to make them laugh. It can’t all be intense learning. They have to have fun, too. They aren’t old enough to think that intense rehearsing is fun. It takes at least a year of college education (or brainwashing) to understand that.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
An Open, but Skeptical Mind
12/12/11
Recently, I was thinking about the approach I want to take to the Colorado symposium I’m going to attend in June. I thought about how I didn’t like some of the things that Mr. B--- said during Tri-State weekend – about how I found that I actually disagreed with him a few times.
Do I have a right to disagree?
I mean, I’m a wee college student who doesn’t really know anything yet. By disagreeing with Mr. B---, was I making an intellectual decision, or was I just ignorantly pushing his views aside because they were different from what I’ve seen so far?
This was my conclusion: I don’t know very much, so I have to be willing to accept all views and opinions I encounter. How else am I supposed to grow? But I still have to be skeptical. Because – if I adopt every single opinion, I won’t develop my own personal philosophy. So it’s okay that I didn’t agree with Mr. B--- the entire time.
An open, but skeptical mind… that’s what I will have. I need to go into that symposium ready to learn from everyone. I will allow myself to question, but I must always know why I’m questioning – and it certainly can’t be because “Dr. R----- doesn’t do that.”
Although I DID learn a lot from Mr. B---, there were some things I didn't like. Here are the things I disagreed with:
• I didn’t like how he was trying to make everything bigger. He made it seem like the conductor’s responsibility was to overdo the gestures in order for the music to do anything. I don’t like that. I think that conductors who are big like that… don’t really accomplish much more than spectacle – entertainment for the audience. I like the idea of being small and leaving more responsibility to the ensemble. And – if you are consistently smaller, they will adapt. They are sensitized to the subtlety. Then you can do gestures and get a response without having to over-conduct.
• He did this cut off a few times during “Ellington Suite” and I noticed it wasn’t ever together. I also just didn’t like the look of it. BUT I know why it didn’t work. He swung his left arm off to the side and then made a fist. It was like two cut offs! Some people stopped when his hand stopped, others stopped when he made the fist. That gesture probably works for a more professional level ensemble, but it just didn't seem to cut it for the high school honor band.
Thanks to Mr. B---, I finally distinguished between a conductor and an educator. All this time, I thought I aspired to conduct. I still do in a way. Because educators do need to know how to conduct so they can communicate non-verbally with their students. But there’s more to it. Educators have an extra goal beyond music preparation. Like Dr. D------ said at last year's Tri-State: “I want you to leave with a pocket full of things to think about.” That was HIS goal for Tri-State. I got SO MANY notes from him. From Dr. R----- as well. Mr. B---? Not as many. He only focused on the music right there in front of him - which is fine! It was great to see him rehearsing! But aside from a few random cool moments, it was mostly playing, replaying and putting into context.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Mr. B---. I LOVE playing his music. The man knows what to do with a euphonium section. I respect him and his opinions and accomplishments… But I’m allowed to have a questioning mind. In fact, I sort of demand it of myself. So long as I know why I disagree, I will disagree. And that’s the only way I can find out what kind of a band director I want to be.
(Overall, I DID agree with Mr. B---. I'm lucky I had a chance to observe him and learn from him.)
Recently, I was thinking about the approach I want to take to the Colorado symposium I’m going to attend in June. I thought about how I didn’t like some of the things that Mr. B--- said during Tri-State weekend – about how I found that I actually disagreed with him a few times.
Do I have a right to disagree?
I mean, I’m a wee college student who doesn’t really know anything yet. By disagreeing with Mr. B---, was I making an intellectual decision, or was I just ignorantly pushing his views aside because they were different from what I’ve seen so far?
This was my conclusion: I don’t know very much, so I have to be willing to accept all views and opinions I encounter. How else am I supposed to grow? But I still have to be skeptical. Because – if I adopt every single opinion, I won’t develop my own personal philosophy. So it’s okay that I didn’t agree with Mr. B--- the entire time.
An open, but skeptical mind… that’s what I will have. I need to go into that symposium ready to learn from everyone. I will allow myself to question, but I must always know why I’m questioning – and it certainly can’t be because “Dr. R----- doesn’t do that.”
Although I DID learn a lot from Mr. B---, there were some things I didn't like. Here are the things I disagreed with:
• I didn’t like how he was trying to make everything bigger. He made it seem like the conductor’s responsibility was to overdo the gestures in order for the music to do anything. I don’t like that. I think that conductors who are big like that… don’t really accomplish much more than spectacle – entertainment for the audience. I like the idea of being small and leaving more responsibility to the ensemble. And – if you are consistently smaller, they will adapt. They are sensitized to the subtlety. Then you can do gestures and get a response without having to over-conduct.
• He did this cut off a few times during “Ellington Suite” and I noticed it wasn’t ever together. I also just didn’t like the look of it. BUT I know why it didn’t work. He swung his left arm off to the side and then made a fist. It was like two cut offs! Some people stopped when his hand stopped, others stopped when he made the fist. That gesture probably works for a more professional level ensemble, but it just didn't seem to cut it for the high school honor band.
Thanks to Mr. B---, I finally distinguished between a conductor and an educator. All this time, I thought I aspired to conduct. I still do in a way. Because educators do need to know how to conduct so they can communicate non-verbally with their students. But there’s more to it. Educators have an extra goal beyond music preparation. Like Dr. D------ said at last year's Tri-State: “I want you to leave with a pocket full of things to think about.” That was HIS goal for Tri-State. I got SO MANY notes from him. From Dr. R----- as well. Mr. B---? Not as many. He only focused on the music right there in front of him - which is fine! It was great to see him rehearsing! But aside from a few random cool moments, it was mostly playing, replaying and putting into context.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Mr. B---. I LOVE playing his music. The man knows what to do with a euphonium section. I respect him and his opinions and accomplishments… But I’m allowed to have a questioning mind. In fact, I sort of demand it of myself. So long as I know why I disagree, I will disagree. And that’s the only way I can find out what kind of a band director I want to be.
(Overall, I DID agree with Mr. B---. I'm lucky I had a chance to observe him and learn from him.)
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Dealing With Performance Anxiety
While at the Midwest Clinic, I attended a presentation on performance anxiety. Although the clinic did provide a lot of information about how to deal with it on an individual basis, I was hoping to learn how to deal with it in a rehearsal setting. I wanted to learn about ways to create a classroom environment that would prevent anxiety.
That presentation didn't answer my questions, but one of the high school rehearsal labs did, although it wasn't one of the clinician's main points. After thinking for a while, I've come up with some ideas for keeping performance anxiety at a low level in middle school and high school programs.
Until I have a job and an ensemble to rehearse, I won't know if my ideas will work or if they'll fail miserably. But in the meantime, I can ask questions and develop temporary opinions. I imagine my opinions will always be changing as I learn and experience more. I hope so, anyway.
1. Individual Attention
I expect I will have students like Gertrude Lang from Mr. Holland's Opus. These are the students who seem the most nervous. Perhaps they play too softly to be heard from the podium, or they freeze when asked to play something alone or with a small group of people. Although I will hopefully not create an environment to encourage that high level of anxiety, I know I will have some students like that... Students like ME.
My junior year of high school, I was very new to euphonium. However, my high school band director put me in the top band. One day, after several rehearsals of my section leader completely destroying a solo, my band director decided to give the solo to me. I don't know how many times I started the solo and stopped halfway because I cracked a note. I even cried a few times. What did he do? He took me aside and explained that he knew I could do it and that the group needed me to step up and play it. Then he offered me private lessons.
The individual attention he showed me didn't cure me of performance anxiety altogether, but it did help me improve.
2. Chamber Groups
A lot of presentations at Midwest touched on the importance of chamber groups in high school - and even middle school - programs. This is something I'd really like to do in my own program. Small ensembles improve musicianship in several different ways because they expose players. (You can hide in the sound of a symphonic band, but you can't hide in a quartet.) I think that encouraging students to play in chamber groups will be a fun way to help them get used to the pressures of performance.
3. Don't Condemn Mistakes
Although a large part of teaching music is error-detecting, one should try not to create an environment that condemns mistakes. Some may argue that fear of messing up is a good thing - that students are then more aware of their playing and are more likely to play well.
Here's a thought I had on this subject: A while ago, during marching band fundamentals week, my group was told to go through a drill by memory without messing up. If one of us did mess up, we'd have to start from the beginning. I was terrified, but I somehow got through without messing up. ...But was that the goal? Think about it... Wasn't the point of the drill to learn proper marching technique? I was too afraid of making a wrong move to even think about making the right move correctly. I'm not trying to criticize the technique my teacher was using (it did help us to get used to thinking ahead in the drill), I'm only noticing what might be one of its flaws.
No one wants to mess up. You can encourage someone to try their hardest to not make any mistakes, but that's probably what they were trying to do in the first place. Anyway, it's better than making them scared. It's a mind game. No matter what you do as a director, getting through something without making any mistakes will always be a reward and messing up will always be a punishment. You only have to decide which of those two you want to pay more attention to.
Dr. Maiello always says "please" and "thank you." I watched him create a rehearsal environment that was so comfortable and encouraging that you could literally see the kids changing and - more importantly - you could hear them changing. He created that environment in fifteen minutes - and he wasn't even conducting the ensemble (he believed their director needed to direct - that it was about them and not him).
This is how he reacted to mistakes: "It's okay, be brave!" Be brave. He said that often. He also said, "Everyone makes mistakes. Anyone who says he doesn't is a liar and a communist." He talked about how things are different every time you play them. "Thank God for that!" he said. The ensemble opened up and the result was so powerful that it almost brought me to tears.
The kids weren't as afraid of messing up, so they took more risks. And they were more successful because of it.
The best part is that Dr. Maiello still detected errors - errors that he immediately corrected. How could he do that while almost encouraging the students to make mistakes? Well, that's just it. He was detecting errors and NOT mistakes. According to Dr. Boonshaft, errors can be intentional or unintentional. Mistakes are purely unintentional. If you stop an ensemble every time someone cracks a note or uses a wrong fingering, you aren't accomplishing anything.
My point is not that a good band director ignores mistakes. My point is simply that one should use their good judgement to deal with mistakes in a way that will keep the level of anxiety down. The goal should be an environment like the one Dr. Maiello created. An environment in which students are brave. Think of how much more growth can happen in a classroom like that.
"Never be afraid and never let anyone make you afraid, you understand? Never be afraid to play!" - Dr. Maiello
----
By the way, I went through my notes and realized that Anthony Maiello might not actually be a Doctor (because he's referred to as professor in them). HOWEVER, I'll still call him Dr. Maiello in this post because - in my opinion - he might as well have 50 degrees.
That presentation didn't answer my questions, but one of the high school rehearsal labs did, although it wasn't one of the clinician's main points. After thinking for a while, I've come up with some ideas for keeping performance anxiety at a low level in middle school and high school programs.
Until I have a job and an ensemble to rehearse, I won't know if my ideas will work or if they'll fail miserably. But in the meantime, I can ask questions and develop temporary opinions. I imagine my opinions will always be changing as I learn and experience more. I hope so, anyway.
1. Individual Attention
I expect I will have students like Gertrude Lang from Mr. Holland's Opus. These are the students who seem the most nervous. Perhaps they play too softly to be heard from the podium, or they freeze when asked to play something alone or with a small group of people. Although I will hopefully not create an environment to encourage that high level of anxiety, I know I will have some students like that... Students like ME.
My junior year of high school, I was very new to euphonium. However, my high school band director put me in the top band. One day, after several rehearsals of my section leader completely destroying a solo, my band director decided to give the solo to me. I don't know how many times I started the solo and stopped halfway because I cracked a note. I even cried a few times. What did he do? He took me aside and explained that he knew I could do it and that the group needed me to step up and play it. Then he offered me private lessons.
The individual attention he showed me didn't cure me of performance anxiety altogether, but it did help me improve.
2. Chamber Groups
A lot of presentations at Midwest touched on the importance of chamber groups in high school - and even middle school - programs. This is something I'd really like to do in my own program. Small ensembles improve musicianship in several different ways because they expose players. (You can hide in the sound of a symphonic band, but you can't hide in a quartet.) I think that encouraging students to play in chamber groups will be a fun way to help them get used to the pressures of performance.
3. Don't Condemn Mistakes
Although a large part of teaching music is error-detecting, one should try not to create an environment that condemns mistakes. Some may argue that fear of messing up is a good thing - that students are then more aware of their playing and are more likely to play well.
Here's a thought I had on this subject: A while ago, during marching band fundamentals week, my group was told to go through a drill by memory without messing up. If one of us did mess up, we'd have to start from the beginning. I was terrified, but I somehow got through without messing up. ...But was that the goal? Think about it... Wasn't the point of the drill to learn proper marching technique? I was too afraid of making a wrong move to even think about making the right move correctly. I'm not trying to criticize the technique my teacher was using (it did help us to get used to thinking ahead in the drill), I'm only noticing what might be one of its flaws.
No one wants to mess up. You can encourage someone to try their hardest to not make any mistakes, but that's probably what they were trying to do in the first place. Anyway, it's better than making them scared. It's a mind game. No matter what you do as a director, getting through something without making any mistakes will always be a reward and messing up will always be a punishment. You only have to decide which of those two you want to pay more attention to.
Dr. Maiello always says "please" and "thank you." I watched him create a rehearsal environment that was so comfortable and encouraging that you could literally see the kids changing and - more importantly - you could hear them changing. He created that environment in fifteen minutes - and he wasn't even conducting the ensemble (he believed their director needed to direct - that it was about them and not him).
This is how he reacted to mistakes: "It's okay, be brave!" Be brave. He said that often. He also said, "Everyone makes mistakes. Anyone who says he doesn't is a liar and a communist." He talked about how things are different every time you play them. "Thank God for that!" he said. The ensemble opened up and the result was so powerful that it almost brought me to tears.
The kids weren't as afraid of messing up, so they took more risks. And they were more successful because of it.
The best part is that Dr. Maiello still detected errors - errors that he immediately corrected. How could he do that while almost encouraging the students to make mistakes? Well, that's just it. He was detecting errors and NOT mistakes. According to Dr. Boonshaft, errors can be intentional or unintentional. Mistakes are purely unintentional. If you stop an ensemble every time someone cracks a note or uses a wrong fingering, you aren't accomplishing anything.
My point is not that a good band director ignores mistakes. My point is simply that one should use their good judgement to deal with mistakes in a way that will keep the level of anxiety down. The goal should be an environment like the one Dr. Maiello created. An environment in which students are brave. Think of how much more growth can happen in a classroom like that.
"Never be afraid and never let anyone make you afraid, you understand? Never be afraid to play!" - Dr. Maiello
----
By the way, I went through my notes and realized that Anthony Maiello might not actually be a Doctor (because he's referred to as professor in them). HOWEVER, I'll still call him Dr. Maiello in this post because - in my opinion - he might as well have 50 degrees.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)