Shaping Sound Musicians, Chapter 4, by Patricia O'Toole
In this chapter of the book, Patricia O'Toole speaks about different ways in which musicians can be assessed. One of the most interesting things that she speaks about, though, is the cycle of Assessment, Evaluation, and Action that are critical to designing effective instruction that is geared towards the student. After this discussion, several different assessment systems are presented such as checklists, rating scales, rubrics, and portfolios. An example of each assessment system is also included.
I feel that the majority of my work with assessment tools has come from my methods courses. I have had the opportunity to work with each of these forms of assessment, aside from the portfolio, in a controlled environment. I really, though, have only had experience conducting informal assessments during the brief teaching episodes that I have participated in with actual students. These assessments, too, do not have any specific tool, but are rather listening and correcting mistakes (such as incorrect fingerings, posture, etc.).
I certainly agree with the way assessment is presented in this chapter. I feel that accurate assessment is vital for students to improve. I feel that the cycle that was discussed is also vital for teachers to become effective at conveying their information to students. While I don't believe that I am as versed in assessment as I would like to be, I realize that this is a difficult aspect of teaching to develop in a controlled classroom environment. I very much look forward to the ability to further develop this aspect of my teaching.
Shaping Sound Musicians, Chapter 5, by Patricia O'Toole
In this chapter, O'Toole discusses guidelines upon which to select "good music" for use in an ensemble. O'Toole then points out the following categories on which music can be evaluated: uniqueness, form, design, unpredictability, depth, consistency, orchestration, text (for choirs), and transcendence (amount of growth opportunities in the music). A sample check-list is then given to allow directors to plan for the future 3-6 years of the ensemble in terms of including music with the above characteristics.
In all of the chapters presented thus far, I have, unfortunately, had no practical experience in repertoire selection. My main exposure to selection of repertoire comes from my MUED 355 course. Thorough this course, there were many discussions on ways in which the repertoire must reflect the outcomes for each specific course/year.
I feel that this is one of the main jobs of the ensemble director and where responsible, master teachers are distinguished. While it is possible to simply pick repertoire out of a catalog, I feel that thoughtful planning of your program is necessary for the growth of your musicians. If the repertoire truly becomes the curriculum, then attention must be paid to the way in which musical selections parallel and agree with the outcomes that the director sets for the students. I look forward to the opportunity to develop my program in this fashion.
Organizing the Orchestra Program by David Hanson
In this article, David Hanson speaks about the way that he organizes his string program. The main point that the author attempts to make through his article is the necessity of time-tables and to-do lists, especially in large programs. He argues that these are vital to making sure that all preparations are made on time and that, in general, the program runs smoothly. He also suggests that, especially in large programs, there is no room for error, disorganization, or forgetfulness.
In my own experience, even outside of music, I have certainly found time-lines and to-do lists to be imperative to accomplishing work. Also, while there is no course that can teach you exactly how a program needs to be run (since each program is unique), I feel that the majority of my experience with this area comes from being on staff for the CWRU bands. I have learned much through our bi-weekly staff meetings and seen exactly how much preparation goes into selecting repertoire, booking concert venues, publicity, and record keeping. I have also had the opportunity to participate in the running of this program.
I completely concur with the author, but would suggest a further step: no matter how large your program is, accurate long-range planning is vital. I know that I, personally, could not live without my PDA and that its usage (time-lines and to-do lists) has certainly helped me know what is do when. Additionally, teaching has the potential to be, in my opinion, a high-stress career and I feel that the use of planning (especially over one year in advance) will help to significantly relieve that stress. Finally, I feel that, while Mr. Hanson's comments were framed around an orchestra, his suggestions are equally valid for either a wind or choral program.
Becoming an Effective Classroom Manager by Dr. Vincent Kantorski
In this article, Dr. Kantorski speaks about several strategies that can be used for classroom management. He suggests that classroom management is vital, especially in music, as much time can be wasted transitioning from one activity to the next if the students do not remain on task.
I feel that the majority of my work with the concept of classroom management has come from the major methods courses that I have taken. Many of the strategies that Dr. Kantorski suggests, such as developing a routine, ignoring certain questions, and maintaining pacing, are all strategies that I have been introduced to. While I have never had the chance to put them into practice on a large scale, and realize that actual world experiences differ drastically from classroom experiences, I feel as though I do understand the importance of classroom management through my courses.
As Kantorski suggests, classroom management is vital. Many of the presentations that I have seen by clinicians and many of the lectures that I have had all share this common belief. Instructional time is very precious and good classroom management (proactive) will allow the teacher to spend little time on discipline (reactive) and more time on actual instruction. Again, while I have not had the opportunity to practice true classroom management, I feel that I have, over my course of study, developed an appreciation (and an agreement) with the concept that classroom management is one of the most important functions of our career.
Summer Tasks for the First Year Band Director by Roger Rideout
This article is a look at what an incoming director (and in some cases, returning directors) should do approximately 1 month before school begins. Rideout lists various tasks such as charting the marching show, ordering materials, inventorying equipment, contacting parents, music representatives, etc. that should be completed by the director before school begins. He asserts that this type of proactive planning for the year will allow the program to run smoother and, especially for the new director, ease their transition into their new job.
Again, I don't feel that any course can properly prepare a director for their new job, and, as one of my professors has stated many times, the point of our four years of college is to prepare us to survive the first year of teaching. I feel that several of these suggestions are well taken, though, and that many of them, to a follower of the PSP model, are common-sense. I have, though, heard many of these suggestions spoken about in our major methods courses.
As I said above, I feel that this type of preparation is very characteristic of a PSP teacher. As the author says at the end of the article, there is no such thing as over-preparation and tasks can't be started too far in advance. I feel that I have taken many of these suggestions to heart and that they are the logical way to prepare for the first year of teaching. If, in fact, the previous four years of my education have been simply tools to survive the first year of teaching, then preparation is vital for my success as a future teacher. I feel that following these suggestions and becoming proactive in my transition will relieve much stress, make my program run more smoothly, and also allow me to concentrate more on the music rather than administrative tasks.
Surviving the Opening of School by Barbara Prentice
In this article, Barbara Prentice speaks about strategies that can be used by the incoming teacher to prepare for the first day/week of school. The author suggests in her article, that this is the most important time for any director as the first week of rehearsals sets the tone for the remainder of the year. Helpful hints such as the importance of long range planning, inventorying, and communication are all presented here.
I feel that this article strongly parallels the articles from Rideout and Hanson. I agree very much with the philosophy of becoming a proactive teacher and I feel that, by using these suggestions, I will be able to survive the first week of classes. I do agree, too, that this is the most important week for the new teacher. Not only will the first week set the tone for the entire year, but, in the case of the new teacher, will set the tone for years to come as first impressions are extremely powerful. I am confident that I will be able to incorporate these suggestions into my first week of teaching.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Readings for 3/2
Shaping Sound Musicians, Chapter 3, by Patricia O'Toole
In this chapter, Patricia O'Toole suggests ways in which teachers can develop strategies to help their students attain their learning goals/outcomes. One point that the author makes that I found very interesting, was the necessity of including the same information in the lesson but presented through different learning styles. O'Toole also argues for the inclusion of "student centered" activities such as allowing students to lead warm-ups or asking for their interpretation of the piece into any course. She also suggests that a "hook" is necessary when introducing music as, if students have a poor first impression of a piece, they may resist learning it. Finally, life-long strategies (motivating children to engage in music outside of the classroom), are presented.
I feel as though I simply do not have enough experience with producing learning outcomes at this point in my career, and I would be very interested in further developing this skill set. While I have had the opportunity to develop learning strategies (and have begun to assemble a "trick-bag") in all of my methods classes, I feel that the majority of my work with this area has come this semester when I was given the opportunity to direct one of the orchestras at CWRU. Again, subscribing to the Comprehensive Musicianship model, I always attempt to actively engage the musicians in that ensemble. I will continually ask them "what did you think of this?" and "how can this be more musical?". I feel that my experiences in this ensemble are going to be invaluable in my future career and I am continuing to use these experiences to further my development as a director and teacher.
While the author did not really "argue" in this chapter, I feel as though it is necessary to include some of the "student centered" activities in any class. With this model, students become significantly more engaged in the music making process and truly "own" the music. Going back to Bloom's Taxonomy, this will allow the students to access a higher level of learning and will immediately allow them to work on the affective domain. I very much enjoyed the pointers that the author offered as to better ways in which to include these types of "student centered" activities in the classroom and look forward to continually implementing these in my teaching style.
"10 Tips for your Band or Orchestra" by Paul Rosene
In this article, Paul Rosene offers suggestions as to ways in which ensemble directors can chose quality repertoire for their program. He suggests that it is very easy for a music director to buy non-quality music, due to inexperience, lack of time, or lack of consideration and that this is disadvantageous to the students. He further argues that the main responsibility of the director is to provide quality to music to his/her ensemble.
While I have not had the opportunity to work on building a repertoire list in the context of a course, I have, independently, begun to construct a "wish-list" of pieces that I have performed or heard performed that I have found to be quality materials. This is, actually, one of the suggestions that Rosene makes in his article. Further, in all of my methods courses, repertoire selection has been discussed because, as the author says, selection of good materials is the function of the music director.
I very much agreed with the statement of responsibility on behalf of the music director for providing quality material. It is truly a large responsibility that is sometimes overlooked by new members of the field. Since such a large amount of time in class is spent working with the material, quality is of the utmost importance. I also agree with the author's suggestion that selection of poor repertoire is sometimes due to time-constraints (as proper research is an arduous process). I feel that by following this list of suggestions, though, much time can be saved on evaluating a particular piece of music. I also feel that by continuing to expand my "wish-list", further into my career I will have compiled a fairly sizable database that can be useful not only throughout the rest of my career, but perhaps even to my successor. I look forward to the opportunity to continue to cultivate this skill.
In this chapter, Patricia O'Toole suggests ways in which teachers can develop strategies to help their students attain their learning goals/outcomes. One point that the author makes that I found very interesting, was the necessity of including the same information in the lesson but presented through different learning styles. O'Toole also argues for the inclusion of "student centered" activities such as allowing students to lead warm-ups or asking for their interpretation of the piece into any course. She also suggests that a "hook" is necessary when introducing music as, if students have a poor first impression of a piece, they may resist learning it. Finally, life-long strategies (motivating children to engage in music outside of the classroom), are presented.
I feel as though I simply do not have enough experience with producing learning outcomes at this point in my career, and I would be very interested in further developing this skill set. While I have had the opportunity to develop learning strategies (and have begun to assemble a "trick-bag") in all of my methods classes, I feel that the majority of my work with this area has come this semester when I was given the opportunity to direct one of the orchestras at CWRU. Again, subscribing to the Comprehensive Musicianship model, I always attempt to actively engage the musicians in that ensemble. I will continually ask them "what did you think of this?" and "how can this be more musical?". I feel that my experiences in this ensemble are going to be invaluable in my future career and I am continuing to use these experiences to further my development as a director and teacher.
While the author did not really "argue" in this chapter, I feel as though it is necessary to include some of the "student centered" activities in any class. With this model, students become significantly more engaged in the music making process and truly "own" the music. Going back to Bloom's Taxonomy, this will allow the students to access a higher level of learning and will immediately allow them to work on the affective domain. I very much enjoyed the pointers that the author offered as to better ways in which to include these types of "student centered" activities in the classroom and look forward to continually implementing these in my teaching style.
"10 Tips for your Band or Orchestra" by Paul Rosene
In this article, Paul Rosene offers suggestions as to ways in which ensemble directors can chose quality repertoire for their program. He suggests that it is very easy for a music director to buy non-quality music, due to inexperience, lack of time, or lack of consideration and that this is disadvantageous to the students. He further argues that the main responsibility of the director is to provide quality to music to his/her ensemble.
While I have not had the opportunity to work on building a repertoire list in the context of a course, I have, independently, begun to construct a "wish-list" of pieces that I have performed or heard performed that I have found to be quality materials. This is, actually, one of the suggestions that Rosene makes in his article. Further, in all of my methods courses, repertoire selection has been discussed because, as the author says, selection of good materials is the function of the music director.
I very much agreed with the statement of responsibility on behalf of the music director for providing quality material. It is truly a large responsibility that is sometimes overlooked by new members of the field. Since such a large amount of time in class is spent working with the material, quality is of the utmost importance. I also agree with the author's suggestion that selection of poor repertoire is sometimes due to time-constraints (as proper research is an arduous process). I feel that by following this list of suggestions, though, much time can be saved on evaluating a particular piece of music. I also feel that by continuing to expand my "wish-list", further into my career I will have compiled a fairly sizable database that can be useful not only throughout the rest of my career, but perhaps even to my successor. I look forward to the opportunity to continue to cultivate this skill.
Readings for 2/25
Shaping Sound Musicians, Chapter 2, by Patricia O'Toole
In this chapter, O'Toole speaks about ways to write accurate outcomes that are useful to the students and are actually aligned to what is attempting to be taught. A large part of this chapter also focuses on Blooms' Taxonomy and ways in which the upper level cognitive skills can be addressed in the music rehearsal. Addressing these upper level skills seems to be a hallmark of the Comprehensive Musicianship model. Additionally, the author spoke about the technical ways in which to write these outcomes (the use of various action verbs and phrasing) to make them specific and relevant.
Again, my main experience with writing outcomes, specifically in the comprehensive musicianship model, comes from my work with MUED 355 (Instructional Design). Through that course, I focused on writing outcomes that addressed some of the higher order skills (such synthesis) as well as skills that were in the affective domain (valuing). I realized in that course that it is very easy for music directors to overlook these skills in favor of writing outcomes for the more visible psycho-motor skills (the technical skill required to play the instrument/sing).
I, again, find myself in agreement with the author. To me, this chapter seemed as though it was subtly arguing for the inclusion of these upper-level skills into a music course and showing the best way to accomplish that. As I do subscribe to this comprehensive musicianship theory, I do agree with the way in which the author advises that outcomes should be written. I very much like the idea of relating outcomes to the Taxonomy of Learning and feel that more music programs should focus on higher-level outcomes. I will strive to continue developing my outcome-planning skills as without strong skills in this area, any lesson will not have an exceptional amount of focus.
In this chapter, O'Toole speaks about ways to write accurate outcomes that are useful to the students and are actually aligned to what is attempting to be taught. A large part of this chapter also focuses on Blooms' Taxonomy and ways in which the upper level cognitive skills can be addressed in the music rehearsal. Addressing these upper level skills seems to be a hallmark of the Comprehensive Musicianship model. Additionally, the author spoke about the technical ways in which to write these outcomes (the use of various action verbs and phrasing) to make them specific and relevant.
Again, my main experience with writing outcomes, specifically in the comprehensive musicianship model, comes from my work with MUED 355 (Instructional Design). Through that course, I focused on writing outcomes that addressed some of the higher order skills (such synthesis) as well as skills that were in the affective domain (valuing). I realized in that course that it is very easy for music directors to overlook these skills in favor of writing outcomes for the more visible psycho-motor skills (the technical skill required to play the instrument/sing).
I, again, find myself in agreement with the author. To me, this chapter seemed as though it was subtly arguing for the inclusion of these upper-level skills into a music course and showing the best way to accomplish that. As I do subscribe to this comprehensive musicianship theory, I do agree with the way in which the author advises that outcomes should be written. I very much like the idea of relating outcomes to the Taxonomy of Learning and feel that more music programs should focus on higher-level outcomes. I will strive to continue developing my outcome-planning skills as without strong skills in this area, any lesson will not have an exceptional amount of focus.
Readings for 2/23
Shaping Sound Musicians, Chapter 1 by Patricia O'Toole
In this chapter of her book, Patricia O'Toole introduces the concept of Comprehensive Musicianship and suggests ways in which this can be applied to score analysis. O'Toole suggests that, in using the idea of comprehensive musicianship, scores can't simply be analyzed through roman numeral chord analysis, but should rather be analyzed as a whole work. The director, she suggests, should begin their analysis from the general ("this is a piece for band") and then work to the specific ("this is a piece in Eb written for band by Gustav Holst"). It is through this type of analysis that the true meaning of a work can be derived by the music teacher. This meaning, she suggests, can then be effectively transfered to the students.
I have had several experiences with this type of score analysis. The most recent being my MUED 355 course (Instructional Design). In this course, I completed an analysis of Sousa's "The Black Horse Troop" and designed an entire curricular unit around my findings. While I this is the most in-depth and comprehensive study that I have done of a piece, I feel that I will continue to use this technique.
I very much agree with the points that O'Toole makes in this chapter and I fully subscribe to the concept of comprehensive musicianship. In general, I feel that there are more skills to be learned from a music class than simply how to play notes accurately (although this is an important aspect of any performance group). Music certainly does have many more teaching opportunities, though, and I feel that it is irresponsible for the director to simply focus on the notes and rhythms.
That being said, I feel that this form of analysis is exceptionally useful to teach a piece in the comprehensive musicianship model. I know from my own personal experience with researching the Sousa march that I was significantly more prepared to teach that piece to a class. I knew not only how to technically play the piece, but also the history, its purpose, and other stylistic traits of the piece. These, I feel, are very important for the students to understand and will lead to their valuing of the music more (a very important outcome). In all, I find myself in complete agreement with the points that the author makes on ways to analyze music.
In this chapter of her book, Patricia O'Toole introduces the concept of Comprehensive Musicianship and suggests ways in which this can be applied to score analysis. O'Toole suggests that, in using the idea of comprehensive musicianship, scores can't simply be analyzed through roman numeral chord analysis, but should rather be analyzed as a whole work. The director, she suggests, should begin their analysis from the general ("this is a piece for band") and then work to the specific ("this is a piece in Eb written for band by Gustav Holst"). It is through this type of analysis that the true meaning of a work can be derived by the music teacher. This meaning, she suggests, can then be effectively transfered to the students.
I have had several experiences with this type of score analysis. The most recent being my MUED 355 course (Instructional Design). In this course, I completed an analysis of Sousa's "The Black Horse Troop" and designed an entire curricular unit around my findings. While I this is the most in-depth and comprehensive study that I have done of a piece, I feel that I will continue to use this technique.
I very much agree with the points that O'Toole makes in this chapter and I fully subscribe to the concept of comprehensive musicianship. In general, I feel that there are more skills to be learned from a music class than simply how to play notes accurately (although this is an important aspect of any performance group). Music certainly does have many more teaching opportunities, though, and I feel that it is irresponsible for the director to simply focus on the notes and rhythms.
That being said, I feel that this form of analysis is exceptionally useful to teach a piece in the comprehensive musicianship model. I know from my own personal experience with researching the Sousa march that I was significantly more prepared to teach that piece to a class. I knew not only how to technically play the piece, but also the history, its purpose, and other stylistic traits of the piece. These, I feel, are very important for the students to understand and will lead to their valuing of the music more (a very important outcome). In all, I find myself in complete agreement with the points that the author makes on ways to analyze music.
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