Third-Stream Music Education

Criteria for Superior Rehearsal Wasting: First Draft

September 2nd, 2008

In my last post, I said that ensemble directors should make time for tangental topics. Today I would like to refine that idea a bit by proposing criteria for evaluating the appropriateness of specific non-performance activities during what might otherwise be rehearsal time in the secondary ensemble class. In other words, this is the first draft of How To Waste Rehearsal Time Effectively.

Non-performance activities might be defined as anything not involved with playing the instrument (or singing). For my purposes, counting and clapping rhythms aloud or singing through instrumental parts would be considered performance activities since they involve student action: manipulating sound across time. One the other hand, writing the counts of given rhythms or writing the letter names of pitches would not be a performance activity, even if the rhythms are taken from current rehearsal literature (see Criteria Two, below).

Students sign up for Band class because they want to play music, and if class does not revolve around playing the instrument then students will sign up for art next semester. That part is not rocket science. But we are beholden to our students to educate them, not simply train them to play these three works at contest, and it is the “big concepts” that will stick with them for life. Besides, half of the students in every ensemble are below average (even in your top ensemble–think about it!) and all students think in different ways….so put your “multiple intelligences” hat on. Let’s just make sure to keep it relevant to playing music.

Criteria for Superior Rehearsal Wasting, First Draft

Criterion One: Teaches or assesses specific curricular objectives. Non-performance activities in the ensemble classroom must relate directly to a specific music curriculum standard such as composing, improvising, analyzing or describing music. Of course, this assumes that your locality has standards and that you use them.

Criterion Two: Directly improves students’ ability to perform a given piece music accurately and expressively. Marking key changes, difficult rhythms or cues on the sheet music are excellent reasons to stop the baton. If used appropriately, an exercise or worksheet which explains or reinforces concepts to be used in a current or upcoming concert piece would also qualify. Writing a history of renaissance dance suites probably does not qualify as time spent well, unless you go out of your way to direct students’ attention to important stylistic or formal traits of that genre which are evident in the current rehearsal work. Once the students can play through a piece on their own reading ability, playing recordings for them can only help them to achieve stylistically appropriate performance.

Criterion Three: Helps students to apply performance traits learned in one piece to all future pieces. Applying concepts to new situations is a hallmark of an independent learner. If our students can’t learn the next piece more quickly, or perform it more expressively, than the last piece, then why did we spend all that time hammering it? Writing a biography of John Philip Sousa is not likely to help our students perform marches with better march style, but perhaps writing descriptions or drawing pictures of accented and staccato articulations will. The caveat here is that content studied must visibly relate to music that the students will actually perform; studying the sonata-allegro form is only pertinent if your students will perform a sonata-allegro this year.

Criterion Four: Gives students tools to evaluate themselves. Take the time to explicitly teach vocabulary, and insist that your students use it at appropriate times. Take the time to listen to your own concert recording in class, and have students discuss/write their critiques honestly (but diplomatically!). Take the time to listen to both superior and mediocre recorded examples, and have students fill out rubrics (or judges’ sheets). At all times, put the emphasis on suggestions and solutions, and on applying everything to their own performance.

Criterion Five: Stimulates student interest, commitment, ownership and pride in music and in the ensemble. If the students don’t love it, don’t identify with it and don’t intend to keep it with them for the rest of their lives, then why are we music teachers working these long hours? Go ahead and take ten minutes–a day, a week–to follow student interests. Do they love Nirvana? Help them write “Variations on a Theme of Kurt Cobain”. Projects that harness student interests–no matter how simple or tasteless the latest teen pop idol may be–are almost guaranteed to pay dividends back to your concert rehearsal process and to your music program in general.

That’s the first draft. I’d love to receive feedback, and create a more refined second draft. Check back soon for a future installment: “Useless Projects Which Have Actually Been Suggested to Me by Administrators”.

Entry Filed under: Music Curriculum