What a difference it is to come into the school year as a second year teacher! I already feel significantly more at ease than last year, and I feel much more in control of what's going on and on top of things. We did/are having some issues with band registration, as we have a lot of new people at central office, so packets didn't get sent out as they should have, and information was not received by families, but the people I've been working with on it have been very patient and helpful and are working hard on trying to remedy the issue. I've also made packets of the information/registration forms to give out to all of the 5th grade classes at demos to make sure that everyone gets the information. I have faith it'll all turn out fine. Everything else right now is looking good so far, I've gotten to get to know the new string teacher and she's pretty awesome, I'm excited to get to work with her.
Demos start tomorrow, hard core recruiting will be done for pretty much all instruments except for saxophone, as I already have a plethora of those. I'm adding more pop songs into the demos in the hopes that it will make the instruments more attractive to the students.
I also need to look into purchasing my own french horn. If the other schools run out of extras to lend me after they lend them out to their students then I'm out of luck for demoing on french horn for my students throughout the year. I'm hoping maybe I can work something out with the rental company to borrow one for the year if I can't find one of my own/borrow one from the middle or high schools.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Valves
What I learned about restringing a french horn valve today:
1) It's not nearly as intense or difficult as I was led to believe in college. They had special mini-workshop type things for how to do it once or twice, but if you use the other valves as a guide it's no problem.
2) I'm an idiot and the only issue I had was knotting it at the end. After finding a youtube video because I couldn't figure out how to knot it I realized if I start with the knot I don't have to knot it at the other end anyway so it makes it significantly less frustrating trying to knot it so that it's snug up against the stem of the key.
3) The guy on the youtube video suggested taping two Popsicle sticks together to slide over the keys to keep them in alignment. Worked like a charm!
1) It's not nearly as intense or difficult as I was led to believe in college. They had special mini-workshop type things for how to do it once or twice, but if you use the other valves as a guide it's no problem.
2) I'm an idiot and the only issue I had was knotting it at the end. After finding a youtube video because I couldn't figure out how to knot it I realized if I start with the knot I don't have to knot it at the other end anyway so it makes it significantly less frustrating trying to knot it so that it's snug up against the stem of the key.
3) The guy on the youtube video suggested taping two Popsicle sticks together to slide over the keys to keep them in alignment. Worked like a charm!
Monday, April 29, 2013
Scheduling Craziness
I can't believe we're already so close to the end of the year!
Nothing much new going on here, although I've discovered over the past few months why my job description said that the successful candidate needs to be flexible and able to adapt to unexpected challenges. The next few weeks are going to be a little crazy scheduling-wise as we have our second round of state testing coming up, and it just so happens that the days I have lessons at most schools tend to be the days those schools have their testing. It's really not a huge deal but it means trying to find a time that works with the teachers for me to take the students that is different from our usual schedule so they don't miss their testing. Field trips are starting to come up, too, so I'm trying to work around those (the teachers truly have been wonderfully flexible for all of this and I'm very thankful to them for their patience). I have to start organizing the fourth grade demos, too; the kids are really excited to show off their instruments to the "little kids", as one of them referred to them this morning.
Our next concert's coming up quick, too! We're playing some fun stuff and it's coming together much more quickly this time around than I thought it would; we've had one rehearsal on it as a group so far. Typically our first rehearsal or two are pretty rough as we learn how the new music fits together, but this one went much more smoothly all things considered. Fingers crossed, we only have three more rehearsals before our dress rehearsal!
Nothing much new going on here, although I've discovered over the past few months why my job description said that the successful candidate needs to be flexible and able to adapt to unexpected challenges. The next few weeks are going to be a little crazy scheduling-wise as we have our second round of state testing coming up, and it just so happens that the days I have lessons at most schools tend to be the days those schools have their testing. It's really not a huge deal but it means trying to find a time that works with the teachers for me to take the students that is different from our usual schedule so they don't miss their testing. Field trips are starting to come up, too, so I'm trying to work around those (the teachers truly have been wonderfully flexible for all of this and I'm very thankful to them for their patience). I have to start organizing the fourth grade demos, too; the kids are really excited to show off their instruments to the "little kids", as one of them referred to them this morning.
Our next concert's coming up quick, too! We're playing some fun stuff and it's coming together much more quickly this time around than I thought it would; we've had one rehearsal on it as a group so far. Typically our first rehearsal or two are pretty rough as we learn how the new music fits together, but this one went much more smoothly all things considered. Fingers crossed, we only have three more rehearsals before our dress rehearsal!
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Springtime is Coming!
It feels like there's not much new going on but so much going on at the same time. Most everything has been going well in general; the majority of the students are progressing nicely and doing a great job, and we're drawing nearer and nearer to our All-District band concert (elementary, middle, and high school). However, we had most of the students show up to the band rehearsal after school yesterday (which was awesome) but it made for a LOT of classroom management and behavior intervention. I still have so much to learn on that front. I do my best to make it more play less talk, but it's almost impossible when the kids aren't paying attention, I say several times where we start, and they they still have no idea where we are so then they're all asking "where are we? where are we? where are we?" Musically, the rehearsal went fairly well, and we're making improvements in areas that we should me (overall), and I've found that movement exercises really help their musicality (though not their focus or behavior typically). We have a part in a piece that should feel like and easy, but they've been playing it very heavily, so I had them stand up on their tip toes and step left, together, right, together, back and forth like they were dancing. This made them laugh and talk and make a big fuss but it improved their playing drastically, so I'll take it for now. My goal for the next rehearsal is just to not even make a big deal of the trouble makers; if they're not paying attention, they're out of luck. I am going to talk at a reasonable volume, and if I've repeated our measure number several times and get questions about where we are, then they need to ask a friend near them or try to figure out their spot. The only thing I feel bad about here is for the students around the talkers who can't hear me, so I may have to adjust slightly for situations like that since I can typically tell who's trying to pay attention and simply can't hear me because of noisy neighbors.
The other kind of surprise and bummer has been how many students have been dropping recently. I started off with about 82 at the beginning of the year, and now including the drop I had today I have about 71 left. I know that this isn't an awfully big number, and I know we're taught in school not to take it personally, but it's getting hard not to. Some of the kids who are dropping I'm not surprised at since they weren't giving off a vibe like they were really all that interested in band anymore, but some of them have caught me off guard. I'm trying to get a feel now for how many are continuing next year, keeping track of they yeses nos and maybes, trying to steer the maybes towards yes. I've also started trying to encourage my students to encourage their friends to do band next year if they were bummed they didn't do it this year; granted the students starting late would have to take private lessons, but I'm still hoping it'll get numbers up at least a bit. I may have to do some extra recruiting myself which is completely fine, I just need to find a good way to do it. I'm also trying to tell the students that are on the fence that if it's just because of the instrument they play, they can think about switching (and I try to hint at french horn, trombone, baritone, etc...). This seems to have interested some kids so I'm hoping that'll help. What's also interested is that of all the students that have dropped/don't seem interested in doing band next year, it's more of my upper range ones; it looks like I'll actually be retaining most of my lower instruments like french horn and trombone which rocks (of course I'd love for everyone to continue but I know lower winds are often more lacking later on so it would be great to get a strong grouping moving up next year).
Started planning the music for the next concert. I'm really excited about the line-up I have in mind, but unfortunately looking at the schedule and the way rehearsals have been going, I may need to cut one of the pieces. I was hoping to do Harry Potter stuff with the students, but I told them yesterday that based on the rehearsal we had I'm taking it off the table. Only if we have a great next rehearsal and dress rehearsal for this concert will I even consider putting it back in as an option. I'm afraid that
1) if I give the students Harry Potter, it's all they'd practice and would neglect the other pieces (I know this isn't true for every student but I expect it to be true for most of them based on the music for this concert) and
2) They'll get so riled up about it in rehearsal we'll never get anything done.
Keeping my fingers crossed that my new management strategy will be effective at the next rehearsal. As little talking on my part as possible and as much playing as can be.
I have such a wonderful group of students and they have so much potential as a group, I want to try to bring that out as much as possible and make it as meaningful an experience for as many of them as I can, and I need to figure out and master classroom management techniques that will reflect that.
The other kind of surprise and bummer has been how many students have been dropping recently. I started off with about 82 at the beginning of the year, and now including the drop I had today I have about 71 left. I know that this isn't an awfully big number, and I know we're taught in school not to take it personally, but it's getting hard not to. Some of the kids who are dropping I'm not surprised at since they weren't giving off a vibe like they were really all that interested in band anymore, but some of them have caught me off guard. I'm trying to get a feel now for how many are continuing next year, keeping track of they yeses nos and maybes, trying to steer the maybes towards yes. I've also started trying to encourage my students to encourage their friends to do band next year if they were bummed they didn't do it this year; granted the students starting late would have to take private lessons, but I'm still hoping it'll get numbers up at least a bit. I may have to do some extra recruiting myself which is completely fine, I just need to find a good way to do it. I'm also trying to tell the students that are on the fence that if it's just because of the instrument they play, they can think about switching (and I try to hint at french horn, trombone, baritone, etc...). This seems to have interested some kids so I'm hoping that'll help. What's also interested is that of all the students that have dropped/don't seem interested in doing band next year, it's more of my upper range ones; it looks like I'll actually be retaining most of my lower instruments like french horn and trombone which rocks (of course I'd love for everyone to continue but I know lower winds are often more lacking later on so it would be great to get a strong grouping moving up next year).
Started planning the music for the next concert. I'm really excited about the line-up I have in mind, but unfortunately looking at the schedule and the way rehearsals have been going, I may need to cut one of the pieces. I was hoping to do Harry Potter stuff with the students, but I told them yesterday that based on the rehearsal we had I'm taking it off the table. Only if we have a great next rehearsal and dress rehearsal for this concert will I even consider putting it back in as an option. I'm afraid that
1) if I give the students Harry Potter, it's all they'd practice and would neglect the other pieces (I know this isn't true for every student but I expect it to be true for most of them based on the music for this concert) and
2) They'll get so riled up about it in rehearsal we'll never get anything done.
Keeping my fingers crossed that my new management strategy will be effective at the next rehearsal. As little talking on my part as possible and as much playing as can be.
I have such a wonderful group of students and they have so much potential as a group, I want to try to bring that out as much as possible and make it as meaningful an experience for as many of them as I can, and I need to figure out and master classroom management techniques that will reflect that.
Friday, February 1, 2013
Post-concert
Now that our concert's over, I've had some time to majorly de-stress. It went so well, I was so excited! I have received lots of really great feedback from parents and teachers alike. The kids really did a great job and for the most part their behavior improved significantly. I know that once they're up in front of their families it's different from rehearsals and things like that but I still need to find a way to help them realize it's not okay to talk and goof around in rehearsals and dress rehearsals. On Wednesday in band I decided to not try to fight the noise anymore; I told them right off the bat that I wouldn't talk any louder than the volume that I was speaking with at that moment, and if they are talking and miss directions then I won't repeat them, they need to figure it out on their own. This was a fairly successful strategy, though we were missing about a third of the band so we'll see if it's still as effective when we have more students.
Now that the last minute preparations in lessons for the concert are over I've had some time with my students to start learning some new musical concepts in our new (full band arrangements!) music. We've had many successful lessons where we learn about articulations like accents and staccato, dynamics, and eighth notes (some had already learned them but most hadn't up to this point). I even have some students who know multiple scales now, one of them can play three scales on her flute, one of which is two octaves.
Today I get to go on a field trip with the fourth and fifth graders, they're going to see a local symphony group that is coming to our town (they did demos at the schools on Wednesday and Thursday) and today they are putting on a full performance for the students at our main building. Should be fun, I've been asked to go help out and make sure transportation things run smoothly, so we'll see how it goes.
I'm excited about the new music for the concert, though I've found that most of the students much prefer one of the ones that I chose over the other, and I have to admit I don't blame them, it's our first piece in minor and it sounds pretty awesome. I'm just bummed because it has some neat percussion parts, and at the moment if our concert doesn't change I'll be missing three of my four percussionists, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can change the date, but it depends on the middle and high schools, as well.
On another note, I am stunned that it is February already. I feel like I just moved here still and it sometimes still surprises me when I'm driving around that I actually don't need my gps anymore (for the most part).
Now that the last minute preparations in lessons for the concert are over I've had some time with my students to start learning some new musical concepts in our new (full band arrangements!) music. We've had many successful lessons where we learn about articulations like accents and staccato, dynamics, and eighth notes (some had already learned them but most hadn't up to this point). I even have some students who know multiple scales now, one of them can play three scales on her flute, one of which is two octaves.
Today I get to go on a field trip with the fourth and fifth graders, they're going to see a local symphony group that is coming to our town (they did demos at the schools on Wednesday and Thursday) and today they are putting on a full performance for the students at our main building. Should be fun, I've been asked to go help out and make sure transportation things run smoothly, so we'll see how it goes.
I'm excited about the new music for the concert, though I've found that most of the students much prefer one of the ones that I chose over the other, and I have to admit I don't blame them, it's our first piece in minor and it sounds pretty awesome. I'm just bummed because it has some neat percussion parts, and at the moment if our concert doesn't change I'll be missing three of my four percussionists, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can change the date, but it depends on the middle and high schools, as well.
On another note, I am stunned that it is February already. I feel like I just moved here still and it sometimes still surprises me when I'm driving around that I actually don't need my gps anymore (for the most part).
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Please Make the Voices Go Away
Fortunately, not voices in my head. My students can. not. stop. talking. in band. Many of them are great; they watch, listen, follow instructions. But some of them just can't get a grip on the concept of keeping quiet. No matter how much I ask them to stop, try to keep them engaged, anything. I can't seem to change this. Finally after repeating "Please listen. Please listen. Please listen..." six or seven times at one point in rehearsal to day, I had six or seven students shout "Listen!!!!" at their peers, which I will admit was pretty fantastic. Nothing like a little good peer suggestion to get a bunch of fifth graders to pay attention. The concert is about a week away and I have no idea whether it will sink in that there will be no talking or bathroom breaks, even though I keep telling them.
On the plus side, playing-wise they have improved tremendously. They're playing better in time, more correct notes, and we're working on watching the conductor. I figure if we can learn that and be trained well at this point they'll be significantly better off later. I just wish I had thought to focus on it more earlier on in the year in lessons, too. We're practicing it in lessons currently; now I just need to make sure I incorporate tuning more consistently, as well.
Composition Assignment #2 has gone out, and I'm excited to see what the kids turn out. Not all of them are thrilled about it, but I actually have a handful of students who were super excited when I gave them the new assignment. Who knew so many kids like composing? :)
Started picking music for the next concert. Currently I'm at the mercy of whatever is in my office, and it looks like we've got some decent stuff, though I'm not familiar with it so I'm trying to learn it and decide based on some of the things we learned in Materials for Band and program logically. Right now the pieces I'm looking at for our next concert (based on style and playability/challenge level for the students) are High Adventure, Ancient Hunters, Country Capers, and Valor March. I don't think I'm a huge fan of Valor March, but it seems like it'll be a good closer, at least. We'll see; we have a staff development day Friday that my schools are pretty much doing conferences with parents for, so I'll be spending the day in my office looking more into these pieces and other ones we have in the office. Who knows, maybe I'll get the spring concert planned, too!
Unfortunately, I found out that the district-wide band festival (not one I picked the date for) is scheduled on the same day as one of my school's mandatory fifth-grade play and another school's fifth-grade science fair. There go about 20 of my students :/ In addition, I have two more students who want to drop, and I don't know whether it's me at this point or what. Granted, number-wise for their sections their absence will honestly not make much difference, but I'm just sorry I wasn't able to motivate them enough to want to practice their instruments. One hasn't brought his instrument to lessons in a month and a half (granted two of those weeks he was absent since he had his tonsils removed), and the other one has potential if she practices more but she simply says she doesn't like it anymore and wants to do tae-kwon-do instead.
Despite this weird amalgam rant thing I've got going on here, things are going well overall and most of the students seem motivated and like they're enjoying being in the program. It really is a joy to work with the students, and it was such a relief to listen to them play today in rehearsal and hear how much they've progressed, even in just the past week. Even though I am nervous for the concert, I'm excited, too.
On the plus side, playing-wise they have improved tremendously. They're playing better in time, more correct notes, and we're working on watching the conductor. I figure if we can learn that and be trained well at this point they'll be significantly better off later. I just wish I had thought to focus on it more earlier on in the year in lessons, too. We're practicing it in lessons currently; now I just need to make sure I incorporate tuning more consistently, as well.
Composition Assignment #2 has gone out, and I'm excited to see what the kids turn out. Not all of them are thrilled about it, but I actually have a handful of students who were super excited when I gave them the new assignment. Who knew so many kids like composing? :)
Started picking music for the next concert. Currently I'm at the mercy of whatever is in my office, and it looks like we've got some decent stuff, though I'm not familiar with it so I'm trying to learn it and decide based on some of the things we learned in Materials for Band and program logically. Right now the pieces I'm looking at for our next concert (based on style and playability/challenge level for the students) are High Adventure, Ancient Hunters, Country Capers, and Valor March. I don't think I'm a huge fan of Valor March, but it seems like it'll be a good closer, at least. We'll see; we have a staff development day Friday that my schools are pretty much doing conferences with parents for, so I'll be spending the day in my office looking more into these pieces and other ones we have in the office. Who knows, maybe I'll get the spring concert planned, too!
Unfortunately, I found out that the district-wide band festival (not one I picked the date for) is scheduled on the same day as one of my school's mandatory fifth-grade play and another school's fifth-grade science fair. There go about 20 of my students :/ In addition, I have two more students who want to drop, and I don't know whether it's me at this point or what. Granted, number-wise for their sections their absence will honestly not make much difference, but I'm just sorry I wasn't able to motivate them enough to want to practice their instruments. One hasn't brought his instrument to lessons in a month and a half (granted two of those weeks he was absent since he had his tonsils removed), and the other one has potential if she practices more but she simply says she doesn't like it anymore and wants to do tae-kwon-do instead.
Despite this weird amalgam rant thing I've got going on here, things are going well overall and most of the students seem motivated and like they're enjoying being in the program. It really is a joy to work with the students, and it was such a relief to listen to them play today in rehearsal and hear how much they've progressed, even in just the past week. Even though I am nervous for the concert, I'm excited, too.
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