4/22/11 - Reflections

The readings and discussions for this week were based on classroom management, and how to implement the national standards into instrumental music education. I appreciated the time we spent in class going over the readings and having a power point presentation on a subject like classroom management. I liked how Dr. Bauer divided classroom management into two parts: 1. Curricular elements and 2. Procedural elements. This helped me to concentrate on which each part meant. There is so much to being an instrumental music teacher, that sometimes it scares me thinking about everything I'll have to do! Just being around Dr. Ciepluch for the past two years, and helping him with his Case ensembles and his Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony groups has made aware of all the "behind-the-scenes" work you have to do to in order to have a successful program. Here at Case, I've learned the most about the different facets of curricular classroom management from my classes, particularly from instrumental methods and from Dr. Ciepluch's seminars on conducting and repertoire. I think I've learned the most about procedural classroom management from my graduate hours. They say that nothing can compensate for experience, and this is why I've benefited so much from working in addition to taking classes. After awhile, setting up for an 80 piece band doesn't seem like such a big deal anymore. Neither does all the paperwork that comes with running an ensemble. I know I have a lot to learn from my time in the schools, but I think Case has given me a great head start.

It has been a lot of fun talking about ways that instrumental music instructors can apply the 9 national standards into the classroom. At the end of the day, I have discovered that it isn't all that hard! Of course, my ideas are all simply hypothetical now, I'm sure as a real band director it won't be as easy as I think it will be. But having said this, there really are so many easy opportunities to introduce all nine standards into instrumental music education. While this is true, I really like one of the things that Dr. Bauer said. To paraphrase him, he said that we shouldn't try to "force" a standard onto a certain exercise or activity if it really doesn't fit. This was music to my ears! Sometimes as students and teachers, it can seem like we are trying to put square pegs into round holes, and this really doesn't do any good for anyone. Sometimes I have felt the requirement in certain assignments to get as many standards as I possibly could into a lesson plan or curricular unit. I'm so glad to learn that the world doesn't work this way, and neither should I. As music educators, we need to develop and design lesson plans and curricular units that focus specifically on one or two standards. There may be elements of others that are included in our activities, but it should remain our focus to concentrate on one or two at a time. Otherwise it would be like trying to teach algebra, calculus, geometry, trigonometry, and statistics in the same lesson! No one learns anything!

It has been fun to blog about the readings and class discussions this semester. This is a nice place for me to safely express my honest feelings, ideas, concerns, and opinions. It also gives me another opportunity to learn to write about music education. I also think it is beneficial for you to read them. I'm happy that you care enough about what I think to take the time to go through my blogs every week and come up with thoughtful and educational responses. Thank You. Please know that I value your feedback, and look forward to being the best educator I can be!

4/15/11 - Reflections

I thought that Tammy did a wonderful job this week explaining the readings and leading our class in group discussions about building intonation, rehearsal strategies, and the purposes of auditions and ranking systems. While the chapters addressed all these major issues that instrumental music educators have to deal with, I really enjoy having the forum of the class environment to be able to bounce back ideas off each other, and really talk in-depth about potential problems we might face in the profession. One of these key problems is intonation. What approach should we take to developing our students' ears? Should we make it a visual process as well as an aural process? Or is the visual element damaging in the long-term scheme of things? Are young children too immature and underdeveloped to cognitively understand the differences in sharp vs. flat? These are all wonderful questions for which I don't think there is a definitive answer. There are many opinions on the subject, but I think children should be introduced to intonation at an early age regardless of their ability to hear "in tune" or not. Like other subjects in school, the kids might not grasp everything right away, but exposing them to a complicated concept early on in their careers might spark learning and a long-term interest later on in life.

On Wednesday, we spent a great deal talking about the chapters on auditions and the process of ranking students. I mentioned in class that it is a "hot topic" in many circles right now to totally abolish auditions at even the high school level in favor of a "rotation" system. Now, I love the rotation system, and I think that no matter the skill level, each instrumentalist should have the opportunity to play the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd part in their respective sections. This works particularly well with the Horns and Trumpets, especially if you want you students to get through a concert! But I am NOT a strong advocate of simply doing away with the audition system altogether. I think there are many musical and non-musical benefits for students to experience the rigorous process of the audition. Musically, they are given an opportunity to play music only once for others that will be judging them. Extra-musically speaking, they will learn discipline and the consequences of hard work. Or conversely, they may learn the consequences of not working at all! Either way, this experience can be a positive platform for learning and growth, and we should consider all the benefits of such a process before deciding to throw it out once and for all.

Just a personal note: I was a little surprised that we spent so much time on transposition on Wednesday. Nothing personal, it's just that I've learned this concept over and over and over and over again in middle school, high school, college, theory, conducting, music history, pedagogy, brass methods, woodwind methods, etc... It seems like no teacher wants to be the one to say that they never taught me how to do this. But I will say that it is sad that so many people don't understand something that WE as music educators make so much more difficult than it needs to be. Honestly, transposition made sense to me when I was taught about the concept for the first time in 7th grade. Of course since then I've learned more about it. I'm faster at transposition, I've learned about additional instruments that transpose, and as a conductor, you need to know how to do this automatically. I just don't see why so many people think transposition is so difficult. Calculus is difficult. Quantum physics is difficult. Transposition is tantamount to addition and subtraction.

4/8/11 - Reflections

Assessment is always an interesting subject, especially when one is working in a field that is somewhat subjective. Sure, there are many ways to objectively assess a student's progress: Is he/she practicing? Is the student articulating properly? Is the student playing with a well-supported, mature sound? But there are other areas in instrumental music education that aren't so easy to assess. For example, how would we go about assessing a student on composition or improvisation? Certainly there are standards and benchmarks to observe, but it would be difficult to implement a "grading" system. Now I know that not all assessment is grading. These terms are different, and mean different things. But so much of what comes out of the middle or high school instrumental setting has to do with some sort of formal, summative evaluation. I like the strategies mentioned both by Dr. Bauer on Monday, and in the readings. The readings presented many tools for assessment, as well as reasons for why one might want to use a particular instrument for assessment. I think the only way I will be able to know for sure what really seems to work in my particular situation is to give it time once I have a job teaching in the public schools. There I plan on assessing by trial and error. I will also heavily rely on student feedback. If a particular type of assessment seems to be helping kids, and they also agree that it is helpful, I will probably use it and continue to improve it throughout my career.

I think the more subjective the field, the more need we have to present students with rubrics. I like rubrics. I think they offer much more information to both teacher and student than just a checklist, or rating scale. In saying this, I'm not saying that checklists and rating scales don't have their place in the world - they do. But I am advocating for the use of more highly-detailed rubrics that can provide everyone with the maximum amount of information. Most importantly, this is probably one of the best tools to give students proper feedback. As a student, I always want to know why I got the rating or grade that I did. Younger students are the same way. If they received a lesser grade than they thought that they deserved, it is very helpful to have the reasons written down so the students can pay close attention to the areas on which they need to improve. Checklists and rating scales give far less information, and can cause confusion and even bitterness in some students. Some teachers give grades, but in doing so, fail to actually assess!!! This is when there is the greatest disconnect between the teacher and the student. The student is in the dark, and chances are that the teacher will forget why he or she gave the student the grade or rating they did, especially if they have many students with which to deal. I will try to always be up front with my students so that this type of situation never or rarely occurs. And I will try to use as many rubrics as possible. They are not hard to create, and they serve as an excellent instrument in authentic assessment.

4/1/11 - Reflections

I probably learned the most this week from the readings and from class participation. Tammy gave an EXCELLENT presentation on Monday about an area that I'm kind of clueless about - Communication within the Band Department and throughout the administration. There is so much a band director has to do behind the scenes. If I think about it long and hard enough, it is scary. I think to myself, "I know how to teach music, but I have absolutely no experience in dealing with the day-to-day aspect of being an instrumental music educator." I'm confident that I will be able to do a good job, but I'm always worried that there is something I might forget. I know there is a good chance my first job won't be the head band director of a program, but I still worry that there is a chance that I'll be put into a situation where I'll be a little clueless. First of all, there is so much to think about and do, especially the first year you inherit a program. Is there time to do everything? Probably not. I'm a very detail-oriented person who likes things in a certain order and projects to be handled a certain way. I will have to learn fast how to delegate responsibilities to others, and learn to be happy with the results (knowing that I can come back and change it later if I want). But sometimes the "organizational" and "communication" part of being a band director scares me. Where do I even begin? And how do I do it? These are questions that sometimes keep me up at night!

Chapters 17 and 19 in the book discussed communication and preparing for and executing a concert. Tammy's in-class presentation also hit on these topics, and they brought up a lot of questions. Especially with the economy being what it is right now, I feel like I will be put into a position where I will want to work 80+ hours a week just to ensure that things are running at least on par. I have a certain integrity to want to do things right, and get them done the best way the first time. But will this be possible, especially in my first couple of years? I have a wife, and she is the most important thing to me in my life. Even though my career is my living, my wife is my life. I will want to balance my job so I get to spend quality time with her. This may mean sacrificing some things that I would really like to do, such as organizing every little thing in my office and band room. I think the best thing I can do is learn from those who have gone before me. I need to ask them for advice, and learn certain tricks of the trade to accomplish things that I would otherwise have no idea how to do. At least I have many friends who are band directors. I have to thank Dr. Ciepluch for this, as The Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony has been a terrific environment for me to meet others in the profession. I'm now friends with directors and former directors from all over northeast Ohio. I will look to many of them as leaders when I take my first job.

3/25/11 - Reflections

I was glad that this week's readings focused on score study, one of my very favorite topics in instrumental music education. This topic carries over naturally from lasts week's readings on the importance of selecting good repertoire. Selecting repertoire is very important, but once the pieces are selected, you have to know how to bring the music to life. I am reminded of a quote from the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where Indiana Jones is teaching archeology in a college-type setting. He teaches the students that, "90% of all archeology is done in the library: research and reading." This is true of conducting as well. 90% of all conducting really revolves around score study - knowing your score and how to bring the music to life. If you don't know the score inside and out, you really have no purpose being up on the podium. It would be like a math teacher trying to teach her students about a complicated calculus problem without first reading over the material and creating a lesson plan. Music educators need to be proactive about score study. Even though I do not currently teach, I always have somewhere around ten scores open at once. I read scores like I read books; for me it is fun!

Writing or marking on the scores is one of the most important things we can do as conductors. In this chapter, there was a school of thought presented that it was a bad idea to mark anything in the score - ever! I couldn't disagree more. In fact, I vehemently disagree! The book states that writing in the score might cause us to be slaves to the page instead of directing our attention to the musicians in front of us. This is ludicrous. Marking in the score is a technique to help us during the preparation process so when the time comes to step onto the podium, we can be better prepared. I think the conductor who neglected to do his homework would have his eye in the score even more! Look at the scores of all the best conductors who have ever lived. Their scores are so heavily marked, you can hardly read the manuscript!

This chapter also discussed detailed harmonic analysis as a necessary part of score study. I agree to a point. Yes, we need to be aware of the general harmonic map of the piece of music we are conducting. But do we need to have every measure analyzed down to the very last detail? To me, this seems superfluous and an unnecessary waste of time. How much is it really going to help you on the podium if you know that in measure 173, the flutes, 2nd clarinets, tenor saxes, and euphoniums have a French Augmented 6th Chord in second inversion that doesn't seem to resolve into anything, all while the oboes, horns, and vibes are playing chordal clusters, and the tympani is rolling on the supertonic in the parallel mixolydian mode? While fascinating, this is the type of information that doesn't have to be written down on the page. It is cumbersome and useless. A good conductor's ear will hear all these things happening simultaneously anyway, and they can know how to balance this sort of musical texture by analyzing the score. While it may be worthwhile to do a dissertation on the detailed harmonic analysis of Music For Prague, it is not practical for podium use.

3/18/11 - Reflections

The readings for this week focused on one of my favorite parts of a music educator's life: Repertoire! I always wanted to get into this profession because of the richness, quantity, and quality of music that exists in the world. Especially in the wind ensemble medium, there is so much variety of music to choose from that the possibilities are almost endless. There is always the "March" music from composers like Sousa, King, and Fillmore. Then you have the vast array of orchestral transcriptions which have always played an important role in the concert hall. Always important are those "staples" for band that have stood the test of time. I think of pieces like "The Holst Suites in Eb and F" as a prime example of this. Most band directors want to keep their audiences entertained by presenting them with some "lighter" selections, which might include works from popular and jazz styles. And last of all and probably my favorite, the vast exploration of all the new music that exists! If the 19th and 20th Century primarily belonged to the orchestra, then the 21st Century will be built upon creations for the band.

There is nothing greater than getting to conduct a band today, because the possibilities are so endless. By the same token, there has never been a greater time to be a composer for the wind ensemble medium. By and large, the wind ensembles are commissioning, playing, and paying more than any orchestra. There is a reason for this. In the United States of America for the last seventy years or so, there has been a great tradition in the public schools for band programs. Despite the economic conditions that we live in today, and all the money being stripped from the arts, there still is a strong tradition for schools to teach instrumental music, and the strongest instrumental music programs in this country are without a doubt the bands. People might not have to like this fact, but it is true. Sort of like the orchestral and choral traditions coming out of Europe, the Americas have one of their strongest musical foundations in the military band. Now, this is not to say that there are no schools with great orchestral or choral programs, but they are fewer compared to bands, and there are additional reasons for this along with military and tradition. Bands and Sports go together like peanut butter and jelly. And because marching and pep bands are so important to the athletic organizations, bands naturally have a solid place in this country and abroad.

I look forward to the opportunity for the first time I get to program music for my first band concert. I look forward to playing music from different styles, time periods, difficulty levels, and from all parts of the world. One of the questions that is often asked is, "Who do you program for?" The Audience? The Students? The Conductor? The School? The Community? I know sometimes band directors have to wear many hats and please a lot of people. Hopefully they will choose music that will challenge the students, and please the audience. But sometimes the best music pleases the students and challenges the audience! Whatever the case may be, it is important to have a variety. It is also important not to over-program. Why would a band director put Lincolnshire Posey and Music for Prague on the same concert? That would be like an orchestra programming two Mahler symphonies for the same night. The reverse is also true. As music educators, we must challenge our students to play more music than we think they can. The idea is to get a balance, where most students will be able to experience the "flow" sensation.

3/4/11 - Reflections

There were no assigned readings for this week, just lots of opportunities to experience the different joys that come from teaching! First, we had an experience in class to teach our "first lesson" on an instrument of our own choosing. I chose the clarinet because I am also in the Clarinet Methods class this semester, and I wanted an opportunity to teach someone a formal lesson on it. This experience had some positive moments, and some unexpected ones. I succeeded in that I was able to get through the lesson with my student knowing how to assemble the clarinet, put the reed on the mouthpiece correctly with the ligature, and get a fundamental tone. If I had a chance to go back and do it again, I think I would teach the concept of embouchure better. I like the analogy that I used, but because I feared that time was running out I think I sped over this important facet of playing in order to get to playing. I'm not happy with this aspect of my teaching because embouchure formation is one of the most important things an instrumentalist can do, and it is important to get it right the first time. The psycho-motor skills develop quick connections in the brain, and a student will play like his teacher says.

A couple of days later we had the great opportunity to teach 5th grade students in instrumental music at a local grade school. This experience proved to be extremely positive and enjoyable. I was happy that I was able to memorize my lesson plan so I could be the most effective while teaching. Instead of focusing on each "step" I was able to envision the lesson as one complete whole. This helped me get from my teaching objectives to the teaching outcomes quite easily. I was able to walk around the room and informally assess the students as I gave directions. Most of the students were able to count and play with a basic level of proficiency. Of course there were some students who could play better than others, but this is to be expected at such an early level. Overall I thought the class did excellent in their preparation and performance. I expected to have a much harder time than I did. The students were respectful, and for that I was very grateful. I look forward to going back there in two weeks and teaching them again.