Posted by jrt002
1. April 24th,
2009 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
2.Today I rehearsed
the piece “The Blue and the Gray” with the high school band. I
focused mostly on articulation and style of the piece today in class
and worked on the “Aura Lee” section of the piece. The students
were used to me being in front of them by this point of the semester
and worked with me very well. The band was smaller today because
about half of the band is also in Orchestra and today was Orchestra
day for those students.
3. Mr. Siegel
started class today by giving the students about five minutes to come
into the room, get their instruments and warm up a little bit
themselves. When the students were coming into the room he stood at
the door of the band room and the instrument closet where he could
see the hallway, the band room and the instrument closet to make sure
the students were not playing around when they should be getting
ready for class. Once the students were all in their seats Mr.
Siegel got up on the podium and began to warm the group up. He did
not have to say anything to the band to get them to stop playing
because they saw that he was ready to start class. The band warmed
up on four different pieces out of their T.O.S. book. After playing
the first piece which was in F major Mr. Siegel told the students
that they had thirty seconds to figure out “My Country 'tis of
Thee” on their instruments in the key of Bb major. After about
thirty seconds he cut the band off and then told them what note they
started on using sol feg syllables. Once the band got started
instead of conducting Mr. Siegel gave the sol feg hand signs for the
notes. Mr. Siegel did the same thing after the next two pieces out
of the warm up books which were in the keys of Eb Major and F major.
While working on the warm up pieces Mr. Siegel discussed balance
issues that the band was having and then had the band play the piece
over again. When playing #75 out of the book Mr. Siegel explained
the whole concept of suspensions to the group and told them to listen
for them and bring them out so they are noticeable to the listener.
This applied to the piece “Inner Peace” that the group was
playing because it is a choral type piece that has a lot of
suspensions in the music. Mr. Siegel also explained to the band how
they moved through the chord progression of I-IV-V-I in their warm up
which is a common chord progression in music. When the band played
one last choral from the book which was in the key of Bb he told the
students they are now back to Do. Once the students established the
key of Bb major in their heads Mr. Siegel had the band tune starting
at the lower voices of the band and moving up to the higher voices
when he told them to. Mr. Siegel then went on to run the piece
“Renascence” and while he ran through the piece he would
occasionally stop when the students weren't playing parts right and
he would either tell them what he wanted or tell the students that he
had gone over what he wanted there and they should know how to play
it. If they played it right without him telling them what he wanted
then he move on but if they didn't then he would remind them of what
he wanted. He would also occasionally stop the group when he really
liked what they were doing to reinforce how he wants them to play the
music. There were also parts of the piece in which students played
it right but were hesitant in their playing so he would tell them
that they played it right and to be confident in their playing
because it sounds good. He also reminded students of things in the
music such as supporting the phrases they are playing and playing
confidently through the transitions of the music. He also made a
point to compliment the French horn player on his solo when he played
it very well.
4. I like how Mr.
Siegel give the students a couple of minutes to get their instruments
after the bell rang because realistically the students do not have
enough time between class and getting to the band room to get to
their chairs and warm up on their own. If he tried to start class
right at the bell then he would probably not have a good amount of
the students attention because they would still be coming into the
room and getting their instruments. Not only would they be ignoring
Mr. Siegel they would be rushing with their expensive instruments in
their hands which could potentially be a bad thing. I like how Mr.
Siegel used the rehearsal situation to both introduce music theory
for the students who know a little amount of theory and apply it and
terms for the students who have studied it before. Setting the band
up in the key of Bb was a really good idea that I believe worked
because the piece that the band played after the warm up is in the
key of Bb so the students had the sound of the key in their heads
before they even started the piece. Mr. Siegel uses a lot of
encouragement and compliments the group a lot during the rehearsal
which is beneficial because it reinforced what the students were
doing right. Being critical of what the students were playing seemed
very successful also because the students were then critical of their
own playing and corrected their problems very fast.
5. When critiquing
the ensembles performance should the band director make sure there is
an equal amount of encouragement so that the students do not get
discouraged or will the students take the information being presented
to them and try to improve to make themselves better musicians?
6. I feel that
teaching during a band rehearsal is a very effective way to educate
the students and reinforce their former knowledge because the
students are already engaged in what they are doing and have the
focus of the teacher already. The students who do not have the drive
to take these music theory classes that are offered are also
presented enough knowledge about music to improve on their playing
and it helps build their aural skills. I learned from this that
there are a number of good ways to present this information to the
students without boring them with it and to also get them excited
about a subject they might otherwise feel is not useful. After
rehearsal the students who have not taken these types of classes
before came to Mr. Siegel with questions about what he taught them
and also with an interest to take the classes in the future. I
really like that Mr. Siegel treats his band class as a class in which
the students do build their musical knowledge and find it interesting
because he delivers the information in an interesting way.
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