I want my students to leave my classroom at the end of their time with me each school year with a conceptual understanding of music performance and a love of the subject matter.  I know my students that have went onto the high school level can play their instruments to varying degrees, I know most have a conceptual understanding of what a good band sounds like, I know they can play certain scales, arpeggios, thirds, lip slurs, etc, I know they can play certain rhythms without hesitation and others with some guidance… but do they love making music?… do they love playing their instrument? 

I am utterly perplexed with the minds of 7th and 8th graders.  My 6th graders wear their emotions on their sleeve… if they are enjoying class, you will know and if they are not enjoying class, you will still know.  When it comes to 7th and mostly 8th graders, they seem to morph into this creature that has an outer protective shell which won’t allow any normal onlooker to see if they are enjoying class – heaven forbid they allow anyone in the real world to see that band (or any subject other than “lunch”) is cool.  Don’t get me wrong – I am not in the dark – I realize, much to my dismay, that some of these kids really are losing interest.  Actually, I am one of those perfectionists that says “all my kids are losing interest” when realistically it’s not everyone, nor would it be a majority, but I still say “all” – ask my mentor – he doesn’t like it.  I don’t completely know why they lose interest starting in 7th grade and I’m not happy about that but at this point I’m not sure what I need to change in order to re-capture them (nor am I certain that I can for every child).  The one thing I do know – I have a passion for music and I want to ingnite that passion in all of my students… not sure how… but bound and determined to figure it out.

Life is short… Live, Love, Leave a Legacy

It’s not about the product… It’s about the process!

It’s concert season and I have to continually remind myself that “It’s not about the product… It’s about the process.”  As I press on towards my middle school concert date, I find myself pushing for the product and allowing some of the process to slide.  In my rehearsals, I try to make band about striving excellence and showing how accomplishing your goals can be enjoyable.  I know not every one of my middle school kids will become a music educator, few will play beyond high school, and even fewer will continue past college.  So then, why do we teach what we teach? 

To say I teach band is a great underestimation of my actual purpose as a teacher. 

Some think I teach a hobby, however making music is…

more than just learning musical terminology 

more than just practice,

more than just performing…

 

making music is about teamwork,

it’s about discipline,

it’s about responsibility,

it’s about the journey,

it’s about learning who you are,

it’s about learning how to work with others,

it’s about determination

it’s about striving for excellence and realizing that you can achieve it, and…

it’s about who you become along the way.

 

Therefore, the benefits of making music…can last a lifetime!

 I know this… I know I teach more than “band.”  Sometimes though I focus so much on “band stuff” that I don’t allow the students to see the connections between hard work and success.  I don’t take time to point out that if your practice chart was full of minutes this week, that you were most likely very successful in class.  I forget to focus on the “team” and then I see students getting frustrated with each other – frustrated with the ones who don’t work hard or physically can’t play perfectly and then I get frustrated myself.  It’s not about perfection… it’s about learning how to put your strengths together and work with others towards a common goal and striving for excellence.  I have to refocus on my true goals as an educator in order to succeed.  It’s not about the product, it’s about the process.

Sixth Grade Percussion Class… without a sense of humor this could be a very crazy class!  I am blessed to have an administration that is willing to schedule classes of like-instruments for our “large group lessons.”  The fact that they call having up to thirty-three people in a room “large group lessons” is still astounding to me since my definition of large group lesson is 5-8 kids on the same instrument, but at least they are all members of only 4-8 different instruments (or 4-11 different instruments if you categorize the percussion section into snare/bass, mallets, timpani, and auxilliary instruments rather than overzealously lumping them into one “instrument” category).  I’d like to change the name to “band chunks” but somehow that may not seem as appealing to many people. 

Anyway, this year, I was given a class of 12 students that consists of just sixth grade percussionists.  At first, I was excited to be able to isolate the group.  Then I realized, I have 12 of the most fidgety, squirrely, blurty, unorganized, scatterbrained students (who all seem to dislike mallets) in one room at one time – armed with sticks and noisemakers (gotta love sleigh bells in the hand of a 6th grader).  Then I realized that I would have to ensure that they were able to follow a conductor and play with the same musicality they will need to play with when the whole band is there and be able to blend and balance with the ensemble (did I mention, I only get to see my full 6th grade band in one room at one time at max one time a week for approximatley 30 minutes).  Fun.  Okay, how do I make this work?!

First, I had to reteach how to read notes on the treble clef staff.  It started out slow but as we started out each class with a quick review on note reading, it began to pick up.  Then I knew I had to try to make mallets something the kids want to do because for many of them, it is harder than snare drum.  We started with some simple familiar melodies and worked our way up to the tried and true – Bb Concert Scale.  I was over ambitious with the thought that they would be held to the same standard as the wind players and play the scale, arpeggio, and thirds as written on page 42 of the infamous book in the same time constraint.  After seeing them struggle through it, I realized there is no sense giving them their “scale quiz”, failing them because “they didn’t practice,” until I knew full well that I have done everything in my power to help them succeed.  Some kids don’t even have a mallet instrument to practice on at home so I knew I would have to allow them school-time to fine tune their skills. 

Last week, I allowed them to take the “scale and arpeggio portion” of the quiz so they could concentrate on the thirds for the weekend.  Today, the kids came in and immediately began practicing for their play quiz.  Every student was actively focused on the task at hand and I hadn’t even said a word yet – I was pleasantly pleased that I didn’t have to encourage them to get or stay on task.  I got their attention to share our goals for the day and told them they would have a few more minutes of practice time before we started quizzing and they went right back to work.  I traveled to help individuals and then stepped back to look at the big picture. 

I watched as the kids who knew the scale by heart spread themselves out and partnered with other kids who were struggling and began to encourage them and help give them the immediate feedback that I couldn’t give, being only one teacher with 12 people playing at a time in one room.  I saw a student use mallets to “block off” notes that weren’t to be used (E and B natural) because his partner, who really struggles with mallets and note reading, kept hitting the wrong notes – talk about  problem solving.  I saw a students say “yes…. watch the Eb…. keep going…. yes… perfect… GREAT JOB!!” as another slowly and methodically played through the thirds.  I saw students chunking the activity for their partners so they focused on only a small portion of the task until it was mastered.  I saw hard work, encouragement, problem solving, teamwork, discipline, determination… I saw a kid who told me on day one ”I can’t read music…I just can’t play mallets” play the whole Bb Scale, arpeggio, and the thirds (just going up the scale) and then toss his arms up in the air in victory.  I then saw a tear roll down his face as he said “I never thought I could do that – ever!”  Then I saw his partner give him the greatest high five and then say “That was great!!  we can’t stop now!  Let’s run through it together a few times before taking the next step.”  Was I upset that he had weeks to prepare and couldn’t play the thirds portion of the exercise coming back down the scale?  Are you nuts?!  This kid saw that through taking the risk of “trying”, through hard work, and through determination, and a “little help from his friends”… he could do what he deemd impossible! (forgive the music reference – I couldn’t help myself)  How fantastic is that?!

In the midst of what, to many would look and sound like organized chaos, I stopped the class to say how proud I was that they took that initiative.  “This is the definition of band – kids working together, helping one another to reach a common musical goal.”  Honestly, if they never learn anything else, today they experienced hard work, encouragement, problem solving, teamwork, discipline, and determination.  Do I teach music?  Yes, but more importantly , I teach these other elements.  It’s not about the product… it’s about the process.

I was introduced to a great quote this year from our physical education department… “If we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always got!”  With all of the research and technology out there today, there are many other means by which we can organize and deliver content.  Maybe we should refocus our attention on how we can effectively and efficiently deliver content to our current students.  What worked for us may not work for the students of today.  Let’s look at the recent trends, at least in the middle school band arena…”people say” – band student retention is becoming more difficult, students are coming to us with less of a work ethic, parents will even tell you that their child doesn’t have time to practice, we’re fighting the status of the economy and what I affectionately classify as “disposable instruments” (i.e. the Walmart clarinet!), etc. 

These are challenges that we face that many teachers before us may not have seen… we’ve taught the way we were taught and these challenges have arisen.  If we keep teaching the same way and decide not to grow as educators, we’ll start spiraling downward.  Does that mean that we have to toss all rehearsal techniques utilized before 2000 out the window?  No.  What it does mean that we should look at ways to take old techniques and make it more meaningful for this generation so they will want to work, want to practice, want to purchase quality instruments, want to continue in an instrumental ensemble even though there are a plethera of other opportunities for kids these days.   Rather than pointing fingers at students, parents, administrators, etc… maybe we should take the approach of “NOW WHAT?”  What can I do given the time, resources, energy, lack of student motivation, lack of parental support, and schedule conflicts given to me in order to engage all students in learning.  Stop making excuses… make changes.

Melinda Gates told members of the National Conference of State Legislatures in San Francisco last summer, “We must reinvent our high schools so that they give all students a new version of the three R’s: rigor, relationships, and relevance.”

Rigor – exposing students to challenging classwork with academic and social support                 Relationships – Building caring and supportive connections with students, parents, and communities Relevance – demonstrate how students will use this learning

Change doesn’t have to be viewed as a bad thing.  Is it difficult?  Sometimes.  Is it scary?  Maybe.  Should we always examine ourselves to see if we’re doing our best?  Yes.  Should we be lifelong learners?  Yes. 

I have bought into the concept of Rigor, Relationships, and Relevance.  I feel we should push our students to do their very best (rigor).  I believe that a student doesn’t care what you know until they know that you care (relationships).  I feel that we should help students understand why they are learning the content we provide (relevance).  Utilizing these concepts could possibly intrinsically motivate students to continue their quest for musical knowledge outside the confines of our band or music classroom.

One of the most useful websites ever!  http://keyarts.ws/  

 

I’d like to draw your attention to the Special Strategies page of the keyarts website.  William Pearce, along with other arts educators in Pennsylvania, created a page that has been designed as an informational resource for arts educators. It is a compilation of information gathered from numerous sources. By selecting the icon for your art form, the resulting information will become content specific and provide information on the various disabilities or exceptionalities of your students.   What’s even better is that Jamie Kasper, the Arts and Humanities Advisor for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, created a wiki to assist in gathering high quality ideas and feedback from those who know what works the best – the teachers! 

 

http://paarts.wik.is/ will help to give educators and administrators the tools they need to help all students succeed in the arts.  The content is monitored closely so the information is worth checking out!  Please help share your knowledge with other arts educators by adding information to this wiki. 

 

After a very stimulating week in Valley Forge, I am finally able to sit back and reflect on my involvement with the Governor’s Institute for Arts Educators in Pennsylvania.  It was an intense week full of wonderful experiences.  Throughout the week, I was able to collaborate and network with fellow music, dance, art, and theater teachers from around the state of Pennsylvania which was a great opportunity in and of itself.  At the institute I learned how to use iPods in the arts classroom, to incorporate the use of technology in planning instruction, to engage student learning through Japanese arts and culture, develop units of study using backwards planning techniques, adapt and enrich curriculum for special learners, incorporate math and reading strategies into the arts classroom, accurately assess and evaluate student performance in the arts,  to lead students in critical response to works in the arts, and probably the most memorable experience was playing Taiko drums with Taiko Marsala!  Not only were there workshops to give you the information on these ideas and teaching tools, but we were also grouped into teams based on the content areas we teach and were able to apply our knowledge to develop units of study using the aforementioned backwards planning techniques. 

To access the units developed at GIAE, simply go to http://keyarts.ws/ which is probably one of the most useful tools I have gained from this conference.  Go to Governor’s Institutes and click on Units of Study for Arts Educators.  The theme this year was incorporating Japanese arts and culture so that is the focus of many units, but the Understanding By Design planning techniques are evident.  

You may ask, why in the world would you go to a week-long Institute in the middle of the summer?!  Well, not only did I gain copious amounts of useful information, but I also received an 80-gig Video iPod for use in my classroom and two graduate credits (as long as I teach my group’s unit in my classroom and submit four student work samples before March) for free!  If you are willing to give up one week of your summer, this is definitely worth it! 

Here goes nothing!  I’m entering the world of blogging.  After two very intriguing weeks of workshops, presentations, and classes, I decided to hop on board and enter the wide world of technology and start a blog.  I hope that I am able to provide some useful thoughts and information to fellow music educators out there on the web!  Wish me luck!