Posted by jrt002
1.April 3rd,
2009 11:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.
2. Today I
rehearsed different sections of “The Blue and the Gray” to the
Manheim Township High School band. I picked apart different parts of
the music and worked on things such as balance, articulation,
dynamics, entrances and phrasing. I wanted certain notes to be
played a specific way and to do this I would explain them to the
students and also sing how I wanted it to sound so that the students
could have an example. I used musical terms with dynamics by telling
the student that I wanted certain parts forte while the other parts
play piano or I asked the students for crescendos and decrescendos in
certain places in certain instrument parts.
3. Today during
rehearsal Mr. Siegel followed his rehearsal plan which was written on
the board for the students to see. They started their rehearsal with
three different chorals in their warm up book. Today he wanted his
students to focus mostly on intonation while they were playing. He
also emphasized good posture while playing. To reinforce posture he
would give the students pencils during rehearsal while they were
playing. He stopped the band a couple of times to make an example
and would throw the student the pencil which excited the students a
little bit which was needed because the students were visibly very
tired and did not want to be in class. While the band was playing he
would talk to his students and have them improve things such as
intonation without stopping the band from playing. The first piece
that the band played was “Rolling Thunder” and before they
started the piece he reminded the students that he wants an
aggressive sound from the band because that is what is characteristic
of this type of music. He stopped the band during the piece to fix
balance problems because he was getting a lot from certain sections.
Most of the balance problems were something such as the first and
second parts of sections weren't coming through equally. He also
stopped the group a couple of times to explain how the group was
playing it and how he wanted them to play it instead. The last piece
that the band played was “Inner Peace” which is a chorale type
piece. Mr. Siegel conducts this piece without a baton and tell the
students to watch him because he is going to stretch out certain
beats. Before running through the piece he goes over a couple of
announcements while he has the students attention so that they will
listen to him. He also tells the students that while playing this
they should be conscious of musicality and try to be musical with the
piece.
4. I feel that the
warm up is a very important part of rehearsal because it sets a tone
to the students of how rehearsal is going to be ran. He was very
demanding of the students but not to the point where it is outside of
their ability. He also had a couple of goals for the students from
that rehearsal which is good because it gives the students something
to focus on without having too much to think about during class. I
feel that the pencils were a good idea for the students also because
it caught their attention and got them interested in what they were
doing especially for a day that they lacked focus. I do not know if
I would throw the pencils to the students though because although it
did get their attention it did create a little bit of chaos and one
of the students might have gotten hurt also if they weren't paying
attention and accidentally got hit by one. It could also potentially
create chaos among the students which would not be good because he
could lose control of his class room. Reminding the students of what
is expected from them before beginning is a really good idea also
because it helps to decrease the chance that he will have to stop the
piece and remind them then. I wonder though if the students are
going to get so use to this that he is going to have to remind them
at the concert to do these things or if the students are going to
remember these things or write them in on their music. I like how he
made announcements about upcoming events to the students before the
end of rehearsal because after the last piece the students know it is
time to leave and they do not want to pay attention and listen to
their teacher. For the run through that they do Mr. Siegel once
again reminds the students of what he expects from the which is very
effective in rehearsal because the students listen very well.
5. Will students
get so used to being told how certain pieces are played that they
rely on it or will they learn from these reminders that they should
play the music that certain way before the concert?
6. I feel that this
rehearsal was ran a lot differently than most of the other rehearsals
that I have observed during the semester and the main reason why is
because the students were in a completely different mind set than
they usually are. I did learn from this that you have to be a very
flexible person when you are a teacher. Although you always have the
same students through out the year for the most part they are not
always the same people. Little tricks are always helpful because as
a teacher you can never tell what type of mood the students are going
to be in. I feel that the little things such as the pencils do help
because although the students probably don't really care too much
about a pencil they feel left out. To change that the students will
do their best to give what is asked of them to get what they do not
have.
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