Audition Lesson: Round 2

From giving my own lesson and pretending to be a student during others people’s activities, I have learned that the most successful lessons are one in which students create, respond to, or perform music. If students are given the opportunity to participate in one of these ways, they remain focused, enjoy class time, and remember the concepts presented. Making these personal connections to the lesson helps students incorporate the new information into their schema. Completing these assignments have given me a better understanding of the theory behind the 2014 National Standards for Music Education and their organization into three main categories: creating, responding and performing.

Successful lessons are also extremely well thought-out and focused. It takes time and practice to figure out the clearest way to present new information and instructions to students. Premeditation about specific word choice is very helpful for me at this early stage in teaching. While it is time consuming, I don’t mind practicing exactly what I will say before a lesson because the rehearsing puts me at ease. Hopefully, over time I will improve at thinking on my feet, but for right now rehearsing lessons is a helpful strategy for me.

While these are the two biggest “take-aways” I learned from the audition lesson assignment, here is a list of some of the other helpful, noteworthy observations I made:

1. Mistake #1: I have to be careful of speeding up lessons by thinking and talking too fast. The first time I presented this lesson, I think I spoke at a calm rate and in a clear manner. Unfortunately, I felt myself rushing the second time because both I and the students had seen the information once before. This is something that I have also caught myself doing when I sub for teachers who only have one prep. By the third or fourth time I teach a lesson, I catch myself doing the lesson faster. I have to remind myself to slow down because while this is the fourth time I am teaching the material today, it is the first time this particular class of students has seen the material.

2. Mistake #2: Trying to rush students and fit too much in. I have to keep working on this audition lesson to get it to run smoothly. I really like the three day lesson plan that this excerpt comes from, but the audition lesson still has too much in it. The review portion is taking more time than I would like. In real life, this part of the unit would occur on day three, and the students would have had two days of review and practice with verse-chorus form. I believe the review would go faster in real life as a result. I also realize that my current audition lesson design is still trying to fit a thirty minute activity into a ten minute time slot. I need to continue to refine the audition lesson so that it is fits into ten minutes at a more relaxed pace.

3. Positive Observation #1: As a “student,” I loved when my classmates stated the day’s objectives in student-friendly language near the beginning of the lesson. It got us all on the same page.

4. Positive Observation #2: In my lesson, I tried a blind voting method to poll the students that Professor Schneider suggested.  The students closed their eyes and voted for the correct answer. I got honest responses from them because they didn’t have to save face with their friends. I was surprised to see that almost everyone answered the question incorrectly at first. If I had asked the class without asking them to close their eyes, they probably would have copied the first student or the “smartest” student and gotten the answer right. I would not have gotten an accurate reading of who actually understood the material and who did not.

Ten minute lesson Reflection

Today, I had the opportunity to teach a ten minute audition lesson for my graduate class. The ten minute lesson was an excerpt from a three day unit I created about verse-chorus song form.  

            After piloting my ten minute audition lesson, I believe the unit is an effective way to teach verse-chorus form, but the arrangement activity does not work well for a 10 minute audition. The activity would take actual 8^th grade students closer to fifteen to twenty minutes to create the arrangement and rehearse it. In my actual lesson plan I had written that the creation of the arrangement and practicing would be on Day 2 of the unit, and the actual performances would be on the third day. The students would also have time to grade themselves after the performances. While I like the activity and the entire unit that I created, I do not think that the activity would work well for an audition if it was only ten minutes. I will be keeping the three day lesson plan for the future, but I plan to re-do the ten minute audition activity. I had trouble fitting initiation, development and closure into a ten minute period.   

Creating a Love of Music in our Programs

After watching Broadway or Bust and Blast! I am convinced the best ways to encourage a love of music is to expose students to excellence, and to ask for every student’s best effort so that they too, can experience excellence.

                The miniseries Broadway or Bust follows high school students from their homes across America, to New York City, where they participate in The National High School Musical Theater Awards show and ceremony. The episodes document the students’ week preparing for the performance. We learn that these students have been exposed to great theatrical performances by seeing Broadway musicals, Equity national tour shows, and hearing Broadway soundtrack recordings. The students are inspired by the greatness of these performances and the emotional responses that they trigger. On top of schoolwork, jobs, and other after school activities, many of the young performers participate in high school musicals and take voice, dancing, and acting lessons in the hopes of becoming professional musical theater actors and actresses. Watching this miniseries reminded me of what we are all capable of achieving if we are driven and have strong time management skills.

                Last week, I also watched Blast! with fifth and seventh grade band students. Blast! is a filmed version of a Broadway production. The film is basically a staged version of a drum corp show and features a brass and percussion ensemble and color guard. At first, the fifth graders were a little puzzled by what was going on, but then they realized it was like a marching band, indoors. The positive reactions and enthusiasm I received from the students was so encouraging! They absolutely loved the way the music and dances worked together. Many of them expressed that the dances helped them understand the music. They had so many terrific questions that we actually stopped the video every ten minutes to discuss them together. The students were intrigued after I explained that 7th Regiment is a drum and bugle corp based right down the road in New London, CT that they can audition for in high school.

                When students see the level of excellence that their peers and professional musicians can achieve, and their director expresses that he or she believes in them, they are inspired. Excerpts from films like Broadway or Bust and Blast are great ways to help students realize what they are capable of accomplishing when they put in the time and effort.    

Building an Audience

How do you build an audience? Should you worry about building an audience? 

The answers to these questions change depending upon the age of the students and the size of physical concert space. At all levels, the purpose of concerts is to allow students to share their hard work with family and friends. As students grow older, their skills and therefore their audiences, can grow.  

At the elementary level, the concerts are for the students and their parents. As teachers, we do not need to worry about attracting this audience. They parents will attend simply because their children are playing.

 At the middle school and high school level, bands, choirs and orchestras can gain exposure and serve the community by providing music for sporting events and ceremonies. Middle schoolers will probably only be playing for eighth grade graduations and middle school sporting events, but this is terrific practice for high school. Our middle school recently had a faculty-student basketball game, and ten middle schoolers played the Star Spangled Banner. The small ensemble was nervous, but they sounded wonderful and gained confidence by completing the task. 

High school ensembles often display high levels of musicianship and therefore can serve and create a sense of community. My own high school band and choirs perform at the town tree lighting and parade each December. We also perform patriotic music in the Memorial Day parade each May. Both events are well attended by families and adults without school aged children. The festive music at the tree lighting, and the patriotic music honoring our fallen veterans at the Memorial Day parade are the main attractions. The performances of the high school ensembles create the structure and agenda of the events. If we wanted to attract a larger audience at our concerts each quarter, the tree lighting would be a great time to make announcements and distribute information about the upcoming concerts, since so many people are at the events. 

Unfortunately, some schools are limited by the size of their auditorium. It is often difficult for our high school auditorium to fit all of the parents who attend concerts and award ceremonies. In this situation, the music teacher should not worry about attracting new audience members. 

Other schools are fortunate to have large auditoriums and the ability to put on multiple performances of their concerts. For example, Hall High School holds a Pops and Jazz performance each year. The event is a themed musical review, combining the jazz bands, choir members, and theater department. Pops and Jazz has multiple performances over a weekend. The impressive performance often sells out and attracts audience members of all ages. The people of the town obviously love and support the annual event, and the program brings the community together. 

If a music program has the physical space, attracting community members without school aged children is a worthwhile goal. By publicizing concerts in press releases, at service events such as tree lightnings and parades, and at sports events that the pep band performs at, music departments can grow the size and breadth of their audience.

The Purpose of Fundraising

Should we rely upon parents and fundraisers to be the sole financial support for band, orchestra, jazz and choral programs? Before you answer this question, let me ask another question: Should we rely upon parents and fundraisers to be the sole financial support for mathematics departments?

I think most people in the state of Connecticut, and the United States, would say, "No. Mathematics is a core subject, and as a core subject, it is one of the cornerstones of a well rounded education. We pay taxes to our nation, state, and town so that we may provide the students of our community with a strong and well rounded education. Therefore, the majority of the financial support for mathematics should come from the school budget."

According to the Senate's "Every Child Achieves" Act, and the House of Representatives' "Student Success" Act, a new bill will be composed, designating music as a core subject. By recognizing music as a core subject, lawmakers acknowledge the positive role music plays in the development of students. Since music is a core subject, it should be monetarily supported by the school the way that other core subjects, like mathematics and English, are funded.

So if music programs are entirely funded by the school system, then where does fundraising fit in?
In programs with strong financial support from their districts, fundraising can enable students to offset the cost of personal expenses, like All State Conference fees and music field trips. While educational, exciting, and enriching, field trips are not necessary in any subject area. Since teachers can provide their students with strong educations without the use of field trips, payment for such trips by the school should be welcomed but not required. In districts that decide to make students responsible for field trip expenses, fundraisers help students defray the cost.

Should we rely on parents, fundraisers, and music boosters to fund music programs?

In 2015, the United States Senate passed a bill recognizing music as a core subject. (For more information, please see http://www.nafme.org/senate-passes-every-child-achieves-act-with-music-and-arts-as-core-subjects-in-tact/) If mathematics, the sciences, and language arts are completely financially supported by a school district's budget, then music should be as well. Asking music teachers to fund raise the money needed to purchase new repertoire is like asking a math teacher to fund raise for new math textbooks. Essential supplies, such as piano or keyboard, repertoire, and percussion equipment like timpani and bass drums, should be provided by the school.

Field trips, on the other hand, should be paid for by fundraising and parents. As educational as they may be, field trips are not necessary to the education of students in music or any other subject. Fundraising for field trips, in all subjects, is a great way to teach students about the value of money and personal responsibility.  

Technology and Music Education

Technology such as Quizlet, Musictheory.net and SmartMusic are making it easier for teachers to track the progress of individual students. Previously, a music educator would most likely assess individual progress through playing tests. Done in person, and often with multiple ensembles of fifty students or more, playing tests were near impossible to administer weekly, or even monthly.

Technology offers educators tremendous opportunities for tracking student progress, especially music teachers. The addition of computer labs and laptop carts make it possible for students to study vocabulary and theory on programs like Quizlet and musictheory.net. Once a teacher has taught her students how to practice, SmartMusic reinforces healthy practice habits at home. SmartMusic also allows parents with little music training to understand and monitor exactly what their child should be doing while practicing, such as slowing down tempos and looping. Quizlet, musictheory.net and SmartMusic all have features that allow students to take assessments and send the results to the teacher. This way, the teacher is able to monitor how each student is progressing much faster than traditional playing tests. If used well, these programs allow us to offer more specific feedback to individual students in a timely fashion.

For more ideas about using technology in the music classroom, please read Bradburn's article, Everyday Education - Teaching Music in the Age of Technology.