Concert Programming

Like many of you, I’m feeling the pressure of upcoming Winter Concerts. Can anyone out there relate?

I teach at three schools, each with beginning and intermediate level Band and Strings, so 4 ensembles per school multiplied by 3. Some of these groups have been doing well and are prepared to perform. Others, on the other hand, are still struggling just a few days before the proverbial curtain rises.

So now I’m faced with the decision about making last-minute changes to the selections some of these ensembles will perform. In the process of doing so, I can’t help but question whether I selected music that was too difficult, or if it was simply an issue of the students not rising to the occasion.

I’m curious how you make your final decisions on concert selections. Do you ever make changes two or three weeks before a performance? Have you had to bail out on a difficult piece and substitute a much easier one?

SmartMusic in Public Schools

This afternoon I had the good fortune to enjoy a workshop about SmartMusic presented by Tom Carruth. In a nutshell, SmartMusic is a tool to help students as they practice music, and a tool to help teachers objectively assess students’ playing. (I’ll refrain from turning this post into a commercial about all the features and benefits. If you’re interested in knowing more about the program, click here.)

I am curious to hear from those of you who may use SmartMusic with your students. Have you been pleased with it? Disappointed? Somewhere in between?

If you use it, how heavily do you rely on it for grading? Do you require all students to use it, or is it optional?

Here are a few of my initial thoughts and observations. Those of who who know the program, please tell me if you agree or not.

- The program is incredibly well designed. It’s obvious this is not a first draft of the program. I think Tom said they’re on version 11 now, so most of the major bugs are gone, and the bells & whistles are getting really cool.

- There’s a ton of music already loaded into the system. It has virutally every popular method book and a ton of ensemble music ready to be used. For example, my students who use Essential Elements 2000 would have a very easy time practicing the music we learn at school with SmartMusic.

- Students can see the results of their assessment and get instant feedback on what they need to improve, at least in terms of playing right notes and rhythms.

- Since the nature of the program is very computer-centered, it requires students to have access to a computer. I teach in a primarily low-income district where most homes do not have a computer. It would be totally unreasonable to mandate that my students use the program. And since I teach primarily elementary, some students may lack the basic computer skills to do the work. In short, the whole element of using a computer could be an obstacle.

- The program is computer-centered, which might attract some students while discouraging others. Some students might be inclined to think, “Hey! I get to play my instrument AND use my computer at the same time! Cool!” while others might think, “If there’s anything worse than having to sit inside with a computer, it’s having to use a computer and practice my dumb instrument.” 

- Students are required to enter an email address in order to enroll and log in. Some of the teachers at the workshop mentioned that some of their students do not have email addresses because they are not allowed to use the internet. (I realize that anyone can get free email accounts, but that’s not the issue.) Has the internet/computer usage issue been an obstacle for anyone?

Character Education in the Music Class

My purpose in this post is to hopefully open up a discussion about what part character education plays into your music program.

A year or two ago, I served as a member of my district’s music curriculum guide planning committee. We debated whether anything should be included in the curriculum regarding character education.

One teacher said that character education was not part of his teaching goals, but that he felt students would learn to be responsible citizens indirectly by being part of a successful music program. I agreed, but argued that some element of character education should be addressed somewhere in the curriculum guide. We debated the subject a little, but everyone agreed one bi-product of the music program is students becoming more responsible citizens.

Here are a few character traits I would like to see my music students develop:

Responsibility: It almost goes without saying that members of a school music group have a variety of responsibilities, including remembering to bring their instrument to school, turning in permission slips, showing up to rehearsals, not to mention practicing their instruments.

Teamwork: Students must learn to work together as an ensemble for good rhythm, balance, and intonation.

Punctuality: I can’t think of a really excellent director who doesn’t believe in starting rehearsals on time. In my district’s music program, students are responsible for leaving their classrooms to come to music class on time. The classroom teachers do not remind them, and there are no external prompts.

Kindness: Students should encourage each other as they learn new skills and concepts. We avoid laughing at anyone who has a hard time with a new skill.

What about you? Do you purposefully teach character education in your music classes? What other traits can you add to this list?

Get Others Involved, Part 2: Parents

In most high school and junior high music programs, parent volunteers are an absolute necessity. Marching bands and other traveling ensembles certainly require an army of volunteers. I can’t imagine trying to run a full-fledged high school program without parents being involved.

The most common formal structure for parental involvement is a Band Booster council. These are typically made up of positions such as President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary.

You may opt for a less formal and possibly less intimidating format for parents to get involved. One approach is to find out about the talents and skills of your students’ parents and invite those folks to get involved. It’s likely that you might have parents who would be willig to serve as web page designer, fund raising coordinator, donor developer, concert program designer, transportation coordinator, event coordinator, video technician, audio technician, photographer, instrument manager, or uniform manager. The list is infinite!

Elementary and junior high music programs can certainly benefit from parental support as well. Over the past several years, I’ve invited an increasing number of parent musicians to perform for or play alongside my elementary students. Very often the mere presence of a new adult with an instrument makes an impact on a student’s vision of how music can remain part of one’s life.

Being the parent of two young children, I fully expect my children’s teachers and activity leaders to ask for help, and I usually don’t consider it a burden. If I was asked to videotape a class event or create a class web page, I would take pride in doing so. However, I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to do these things without an invitation from the teacher. There could be many talented parents waiting eagerly to contribute to in the music program but are just waiting for an invitation.

Get Others Involved, Part 1B: Older Students

In Part 1 of this series, I admittedly focused on getting younger students involved in the process of running a music department. But of course a more significant level of leadership training occurs in junior high and high school.

When I was in high school I served for two years as the Student Director of the jazz festival we hosted. That responsibility made a big impression on me. Although the band director could have done much of my work himself, I took pride in his trust in me. It was a major growing experience for me and I will always remember it.

When I took my first teaching position as a high school band director, I continued the student leadership positions (Band Council) which the previous director established. If I had it to do over again, I would probably expand the students’ responsibilities and generally take a more proactive approach to leadership development. I would also increase the number of student leadership positions to involve more students.

High schoolers have a broad range of talents which they’re ready and anxious to use. Those with artistic talents can do anything from designing band t-shirts to concert program covers. Those who are active in sports can be used to serve as liasons between the music department and athletics. Those with computer skills can create or maintain music department web pages. These responsibilities don’t have to be limited to music students either. Why not think outside the box and ask the video production teacher to assign a student to film performances and events? Why not invite the home ec department to sell baked goods at music events, or serve refreshments at a band boosters meeting?

I would love to hear from some readers who have active student leaders to get your insight on this subject.

Get Others Involved, Part 1: Students

In my first year of teaching, as overwhelmed as I was, I was too much of a control freak to allow others to help with certain tasks in running the music program. I’ve since learned that there is great mutual benefit in getting others involved.

This post is part 1 of 3. In other posts, I write about getting parents and other staff involved. Here, I’ll share some thoughts about students’ help.

Students are capable of helping a lot more than we (or I!) might give them credit. Even elementary students can help with the more mundane tasks of sharpening pencils, putting away chairs, folding concert programs, and sorting papers like sheet music or practice records. I often think of one music teacher colleague who is brilliant at getting students to help him with just about any task. Even if the task is a complete no-brainer, it gives students a chance to get involved and feel they have contributed something. (“Here, hold this pencil for me.” “Can you hold the door open while I move this box?”) Plus, working together gives you a chance to connect with students on a non-musical level and let them know you are interested in their lives.

A youth leader from my junior high days often comes to mind. He was a very charismatic person, and kids often talked about how much he influenced their lives. Later, as an adult, I had the chance to talk with him about what he attributed his success to.  He told me, in effect, that he never passed up an opportunity to make an impression on kids. He said whenever possible, he tried to take kids with him wherever he went and create teachable moments. “Even on a trip to the grocery store, you can have a meaningful conversation with someone if you try.”

Of course times have changed, and I wouldn’t advise teachers to hang out with students off campus like this. His role as a youth pastor was different than a school music teacher, but I think the principle still has application. I often have students who come to the music room before or after school looking for a place to hang out. I can pretty safely bet they haven’t come for a lesson in building harmonic minor scales or refining their embouchures. They have probably come because you provide a safe environment where students are free to learn and grow and be themselves.

Do you have specific ways you involve students in running your music program? Share your ideas with the world here!

Three Classroom Rules

Over time, my rules has evolved into the following:

1. Respect the teacher

2. Respect students

3. Respect property

These have worked well for me in band and orchestra rehearsals, general music classes, and in the traditional classroom.

When you think about it, most other traditional rules are covered by the concept of respect. Interrupting shows disrespect for the teacher and/or students. Tardiness does as well. Gum, food, or drinks are generally not allowed because they can make messes and/or damage school property. Grabbing other people’s belongings such as backpacks or instruments shows disrespect for property.

If time permits, it can be to your advantage to have the students come up with their own classroom rules. They are much more likely to buy into the concept of having rules in the first place if they feel they’ve contributed or created the list. Here’s my dirty little secret: I usually allow the kids to rattle off all their ideas, write them on the board, validate everyone’s thoughts, and then show them how all their ideas fit into the concept of respect. But of course I don’t tell them I already had the list to begin with! The rules are now “their rules.”

In summer school I had a pretty wild group of students (not music students!), and I really tried to reinforce the concept of respect. I think it worked. Several times during the summer when a few students would get out of control, others would chime in and holler, “Hey! Respect!” The students probably forgot most of the content we discussed, but the word respect would probably come to mind when they remember my class.

And remember that the concept of respect works both ways. I try to show respect to even the most difficult students when disciplining them. My conscious always gets me when I do otherwise. More on that issue here.

Beginning Percussionists: Every Teacher’s Dilemma

My district has been doing a lot of experimenting in recent years with beginning percussion. The junior high and high school teachers had been frustrated with being fed lots of drummers from the elementaries. Few of these students had experience with pitched percussion like marimba or even timpani, and all of whom wanted to play snare.

Two or three years ago, we began experimenting at selected schools with having all beginning percussionists learning to play orchestra bells until Christmas. Then they had the option of switching to snare or sticking (ha!) with bells. Last year, that system was expanded to all the elementary schools. We used a practice pad/bell kit like this one.

In terms of numbers, this cut my beginning percussion sections way down, but perhaps too far down. Some students may have been turned off by the bells and decided not to join the music program, some chose a different instrument instead, and some took up the percussion challenge. Among those who started percussion, some have been successful and some have not.

Since I am in year two or three of this program, I am feeling the effects of having very few good advanced percussionists. On one hand, the memory of 13 mischievous elementary drummers standing in the back of the room is still fresh in my mind. On the other hand, at one of my schools, I had no advanced percussionists and had to recruit some of my advanced string players to play percussion in band.

So the purpose in writing about all this is to ask your input on how you handle beginning percussion in your schools. Do you have limits on how many percussionists you will start? Or limits for any instrument? Do you teach bells in addition to snare? Please chime in here (pun intended!) and share your experiences.

Summer School is History

As I sit here and write this, I am enjoying the first morning of the day after summer school has ended. Go ahead; ask me how happy I am.

Summer music programs in my district have been off and on, and unfortunately this year was an off year. I have always taught summer school for the extra money, which means during the years without summer music I teach traditional multi-subject classes.

The summer school job application includes a section asking what grade levels you would like to request. I put down 3rd, 4th, or 5th grades. So, as you would expect, I was assigned 8th grade social studies.

Maybe someday I’ll write more specifically about the experience, but that will have to come after a few sessions of professional counseling and massage therapy. But for now, let me just say that I have a new appreciation for teaching music. Here’s why:

- Music students have a basic understanding that when they walk into the room, they are going to take out their instruments and play music. My summer school history students, on the other hand, seemed astonished every time I asked them to open their textbooks. On a daily basis I would hear questions like, “Do we have to read today?” or “Are you really going to make us do work?”

-  When all else fails, a music teacher can call out a piece, give a countoff (or cue or whatever your preference), and start the ensemble playing. The overwhelming majority of music students, even the worst of them, will respond by playing their instruments. Summer school history students, however, have an undeniable tendency to shove their textbooks away, slouch in their chairs, and stare at the ceiling.

- Music students are in class because they want to be there. Of course there are exceptions to this principle, but on a fundamental level, they’re generally there because they have chosen to be there.

- Music classes allow students to express themselves. New students may not dash into class begging to learn “First Suite in Eb” or “American Elegy,” but again, they are essentially open to the idea of using music to convey the emotions and feelings that brew within their hearts. (If that sounds sappy, please remember that I just finished teaching friggin’ 8th grade social studies in summer school.)

In addition to having a new appreciation for teaching music, I also have a renewed respect for classroom teachers. Even in summer school (which, remember, is an optional activity for elementary and junior high school students), classroom teachers face the pressures of pre-tests, post-tests, and lesson plans with educational standards noted, turned in to the principal weekly. They deal with students who don’t want to be there, and face parents and children who feel teachers are the enemy. They rarely hear the applause, get the trophies or accolades, or experience the joy of working with students who cooperate as a team, or on the most basic of levels, follow the conductor.

I could write more, but hey, it’s the first day of my abbreviated summer vacation, and my couch is lonely. See you next time.

More Lessons I’ve Learned: The Personal Confirmation

You’ve done your prep work. You’ve turned in the purchase order. You’ve filled out the bus request form. You’ve reserved the facilities. You’ve booked the date with a colleague. But when the date arrives, no colleague, no bus, no product shipment, or the facility is locked with no custodian to be found.

It’s a fact of life that in the field of music education we depend on others to do our job. We need custodians, secretaries, purchasing departments, bus drivers, chaperones, and other colleagues from time to time. If you’re a control freak like me, you have a hard time accepting the fact that we can’t do our jobs alone.

One phrase which has worked its way into my vocabulary more and more is “I just want to confirm with you that we’ll be okay for… ” Fill in the blank. The transportation. The auditorium. The funding for an order.

It’s a sad fact that on occasion even if you’ve done your homework, others will fail to follow through. I’ve had busses fail to show up even though the bus request was approved. I’ve had products fail to arrive because the paperwork is at the bottom of the secretary’s in box. I’ve had clinicians fail to show up even when I booked the date with them weeks in advance.

Even though none of these problems was directly my fault, in most of those cases I failed to follow up with a personal confirmation. If I had spoken with the people involved, I would either have the peace of mind knowing my plans would work, or that I would have to come up with a Plan B. All it takes is a minute to call and just say, “Are we okay for that bus on Thursday the 24th?”

If you feel awkward about such a blunt confirmation, you can always pose the question differently but achieve the same goal. For example, you could say, “I’m planning on a trip to Starbucks on the morning you’re coming to chaperone. Can I pick up anything for you?” or “Can you bring the bus around to the north parking lot when you arrive on Saturday?”

Those one-minute phone conversations have saved me a world of trouble, and have given me a little peace of mind on the day before an event, having a little more reassurance that things will hopefully come together as planned.