Process  Based  Teaching  in  a  

Performance  Based  Society

Patrick Duncan Austin Greene

***INCLUDE A SLIDE WITH PICTURES OF TROPHIES***

Pressures •  You will feel a sense of pressure concerning

performance. It may come from administration, peers, parents, or your own students.

•  We want to give the best to our students and for them to have the best possible experience.

•  With the social pressures of “bringing home a trophy,” what steps do you need to do in order to find success? How will you define success?

The  Process •  In order to find success as a music educator, you

must first define what you believe “success” is. •  For some, it may be receiving straight superiors at

MPA, winning your class in marching band, having all of your students receive superior ratings at solo and ensemble….

•  Or for some, it may be seeing your students work harder than they ever have before, helping each other and supporting one another without you telling them to.

The  Process •  It is very common for young educators to want the

best for their program but to not formulate a way in which to get their students to a high level of achievement.

•  The process in which you instruct your students mirrors the outcome of “success” you will experience.

•  Trying to create more mature performing ensembles without a set process for yourself will yield minimal results, and minimal musical growth.

FUNdamentals •  The process has to begin with your investment into

student development through fundamental work. •  This seems like a no brainer, but I can not tell you

how many times I have visited other bands and found that there is no foundation for development because there is an extreme lack of fundamental studies.

•  Many times when we talk fundamentals we see this reaction from our students…

FUNdamentals •  How do you get your students excited about

fundamentals? •  What fundamentals should you focus on? What

should be your goal? How do you create new exercises for a group that is mastering faster than you planned?

•  What do you want to accomplish out of any given exercise?

FUNdamentals •  Try this: create a new exercise for your ensemble, it

could be a variation on a marching technique exercise, a variation on articulations, or any other exercise….

•  Ask yourself, “Why?” o  Justify every aspect of the exercise you are teaching. o  If you can not create justification for the end goal, it has

potential to be a waste of both you and your student’s time

o  Have the end goal in mind at all times!!!

•  Make sure your students have a high level of mastery before moving on to a new exercise.

FUNdamentals •  So what are some fundamental exercises to use? •  This is where you get to choose your own

adventure. There really is no right and wrong here, only varying levels of effectiveness.

•  Some of my favorite exercises I use… •  ***TIP: USE A METRONOME!!!!***

FUNdamentals •  One of the biggest pressures you experience as a

music educator that you will see: time. •  Let’s use marching band as an example… •  You are given a 2 hour rehearsal on Tuesday and a

2 hour rehearsal on Thursday. You have not completed your show and you have a football game on Friday. You show up to school on Tuesday, prepared to set the pages of drill you need to, but, as Florida likes to do, you check your radar and see this…..

Managing  your  Time •  The biggest mistake I made at the start of my career

was my lack of management of time in regards to a performance.

•  You will find that as you prepare for Friday football games, Saturday competitions, concert MPA, or any other concert, there may come a point where you feel that you have to choose between committing to your fundamentals program or forgo that time in favor of more “music” time.

•  DO NOT FALL INTO THIS PITFALL!

Managing  Your  Time •  How can you better manage your time? •  Create daily, weekly, and monthly plans for yourself.

o  A daily schedule should include by the minute plans for the ensemble you are working with.

EX. Concert Band (55 minute class)

•  11:00 – 11:05 – Students assemble instruments and warm up on their own

•  11:05 – 11:07 – Concert F/Concert Bb Remington •  11:07 – 11:15 – Long tone chord work. Focus on tuning

and balancing all 3rds of the chords •  11:15 – 11:25 – Articulation studies: focus on matching

syllables immediately after the first attack working through Eighth note equals 140bpm

Time  Management o  11:25 – 11:40: Irish Tune: Measures 1-8….Focus on tone of

attacks and blend and balance of 3rds of the chord o  ***Note, your fundamental work should have a payoff in

your lesson*** o  11:40 – 11:52: Irish Tune: Measures 9-16….similar focus. o  11:52-11:55 – Put away instruments, stands, chairs.

Time  Management •  Be diligent about creating your daily plans. Write

them down and try to be strict with the times you establish.

•  BE TRANSPARENT!!!! •  Whether you are dealing with staff members

assisting in the instruction of your students or you are dealing with the students themselves, be transparent with both your schedule and the goals of each segment.

•  I like to write the schedules on the white board so students know what we will be working that day.

Time  Management •  Plan today:

•  4:00 - 4:15 - Visual Basics •  4:15 - 4:35 - Music Warm Up •  -WW, go with Mr. Hollenbeck to work new opener feature •  -Brass, chord volume expansion with Mr. Wohl. Focus on tone production. •  4:35 - 4:45 – Full run through of the show with metronome. •  4:45 - 5:15 - Sectional Hot Spots •  -Tubas - Feature •  -Trumpets - Note length of letter F (opener) •  -Mello - Letter I (closer) •  -Baritones - Letter I/J (Closer) •  -WW - Closer Run •  5:15 - 6:15 - Review 12/8 dynamics, then jump into Closer...I-K •  6:15 - RUN

Time  Management •  Weekly Plans

o  Create realistic goals for each week. o  Map out the time you have between your preparation and

the next concert/performance. o  WRITE YOUR GOALS DOWN! o  Talk to your students about your expectations out of them

for preparation. o  Have students write down times they should have

preparation completed by, and hold them to it! If they understand the expectation you have for them and make realistic goals, they have a higher chance at succeeding in their preparation.

Time  Management •  Monthly Plans

o  Think big picture here. o  What do you want your students to be better at through

these months of study? o  Are you focusing on advanced tuning structures?

Articulations? Tone quality? o  Think about how this affects the student’s development

over your 3-4 year plan of development for them. o  Set quantifiable goals so you can measure your student’s

growth through these months.

BE  STRICT! •  When your performance is fast approaching, if you

outlined a strict plan of attack for the music, it will alleviate much of the stresses of the performance, as both you and your students will feel more prepared.

•  Hold your student’s accountable! If they start to slip behind, you have to get them on track, or be prepared to completely alter your preparation schedule (ADDS STRESS AS YOU GET CLOSER TO THE PERFORMANCE!!!!)

•  Hold yourself accountable….

What  should  you  do  to  prepare?

•  The next step in my own process is to become painfully familiar with any of the literature you are performing.

•  This may seem like a no brainer, but many times, especially your early years, you will overvalue class time and undervalue your own preparation of class time.

•  I like to keep a ratio of around 1:1 in terms of preparation time to class time. For every hour spent instructing students, I invest an equal amount of time creating plans, listening to recordings, and score studying.

Preparation  -­‐‑  Recordings •  Prepare yourself by listening to professional

recordings of the literature being performed (if possible). o  You will begin to develop a distinct sound you wish your

ensemble to sound like. Without an idea of what you want them to sound like, it makes it all the more difficult to improve student performance

•  Along with professional recordings, record your ensembles as OFTEN AS POSSIBLE. o  I generally make recordings anywhere from 2-3 times a

week once we become more comfortable with the literature.

o  Make your recordings available for your students!

Preparation  -­‐‑  Recordings o  Have the students reflect on the good, bad, what has

improved, what needs more improvement. ALWAYS HAVE PROFESSIONAL RECORDINGS AVAILABLE TO YOUR STUDENTS FOR COMPARISON!

o  Many times, I have found that young educators do not spend enough time listening to recordings of their ensemble and instead trust their ears in live environments.

o  Another common error I see is young educators not listening to recordings of themselves because they only want to listen when the performance is at a high level. The more often you listen to your ensemble, and your students listen, the faster they will be able to improve on their own performance and identify errors more quickly.

Preparation  –  Score  Studying

•  You MUST spend time studying the score of whatever it is you are performing.

•  Truthfully, this is where the majority of my time is spent as I prepare for concert.

•  It is important to remember the application of the information you are studying. What are you studying? How does it apply to your daily, weekly, and monthly lesson plans?

•  Focus your time as you work through each musical work so that the information you provide your students is accurate.

ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENT noun as·sess·ment \ə-ˈses-mənt\

1. the process of documenting knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs

“EDUCATIONAL  CRAPOLOGY” In education, the term assessment refers to the wide variety of methods or tools that educators use to evaluate, measure, and document the academic readiness, learning progress, skill acquisition, or educational needs of students. While assessments are often equated with traditional tests...educators use a diverse array of assessment tools and methods to measure everything from a four-year-old’s readiness for kindergarten to a twelfth-grade student’s comprehension of advanced physics. Just as academic lessons have different functions, assessments are typically designed to measure specific elements of learning Source: edglossary.org

ASSESSMENT Let's rethink: l  Test l  Tool l Student Event l Product l Educator's Process

WHY  BOTHER? l  Students know what you know about them. l  Students want to understand the pathway to

success. l  Insightful assessment is the mark of a master

teacher. l  Assessment in the music classroom is a challenging,

but powerful process obliged to the teacher.

MAKING  PROGRESS Think of learning as a continuum.

Beginner Master

There are extremes, but a performer can progress and regress at any time.

“100  STEPS”

1 Put  case On  floor

     2        Open   Case

         3                Assemble Clarinet

6            Embouchure

           12              Hot  Cross

     Buns

           33              G  Major          Scale

           42              Sounding   Great  on

G/Ab/A/Bb

           77              Rhapsody

In  Blue

(There are actually more)

“100  STEPS” Assessing the performer

34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 33 ... ...

Teach them where they are.

(Not where you want them to be)

Prescribe next steps logically and responsibly.

Remediate as necessary

40

Your job is to be the expert on what comes next and why.

“100  MORE  STEPS”

     2        Get  a job

         3                HR  forms

Not just for kids.

NOW  What?! •  Develop performers, not performances. •  Teach Why you rehearse, not What.

o  The process is the lesson o  The product is the context

•  Educate your community, not just your students o  The parents, administration, janitors, etc. can only support what they know

you are trying to accomplish.

•  Being Practical and Idealistic are not mutually exclusive.

•  ASK QUESTIONS! o  Don’t reinvent the wheel – Just go buy one.

Special  Thanks  To… •  FMEA and the FMEA Executive Board •  Marissa Kotzin, Coordinator •  FMEA Collegiate Division