Some observations and thoughts about the unit from my perspective as teacher that was interesting to consider:

1) Leaders lead.  I was surprised and impressed by the leadership qualities and skills that were brought out of students in these settings.  During each rehearsal period, I tried to touch base and schedule “face-time” with as many groups as I could while giving them a good session full of feedback.  After providing critiques and visiting with the same group a few days later, many of the adjustments and suggestions were made.  Students took the lead to make adjustments and improve their group’s performance.  Some of the students would have stepped forward because of who they are – others stepped forward because they were given an opportunity.  Assessing all of this, there are plenty of students within the program who need more opportunities to lead.

2) Making musical decisions involves risk and courage.  As often as we may be right in our interpretation, we could be wrong – wrong for the style, wrong for the time, wrong for the setting, wrong for the composer’s intentions.  Artists face incredible risk in making musical decisions in this way, and without courage we end up being mezzo-nothing.  If a quintet of 7^th grade alto saxophones can make musical decisions regarding the articulation and dynamics for a transcription of Schumann’s Soldier’s March, do I have the courage to tap that resource during a rehearsal with the full ensemble? We often say that the performing arts is a venue for students to be creative and interpret music – but who really does the musical interpretation? While it is our responsibility as a trained musician, educator, and leader, perhaps we need the courage to give them opportunities to risk and hear the results.  Having gone through this process, they may better understand our vision for a piece for the ensemble, why we choose to interpret things a certain way, and what might be a better possible alternative to the interpretation in front of them.

3) Building relationships takes time and trust. Sitting down with groups of 4-7 students at a time allows for more individual attention and differentiated instruction, and afforded me the opportunity to build a student to teacher relationship that is based upon mutual respect, common goals (improve as a musician), and esprit de corp among the students.  The hardest thing about being successful? That’s easy – keep being successful.  The more success a program and their director experience, the harder it sometimes becomes to maintain a good, open relationship.  The bar is continually raised.  We have more demands on our time.  We have more pressure on the students, the ensemble, and on ourselves.  I have enjoyed these past weeks for the connections I was able to make with the students musically and socially.  I believe we are in a better place now in terms of our trust, communication, and vision for improvement.

4) Chamber music opens doors for musical opportunities.  The program of music was very diverse in terms of style and time period.  It was interesting to hear the transcriptions of Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical music played by a 20^th century group.  The classical tradition was kept alive through the study of this music – and at the end of the day, that is not a bad thing at all.  The beauty of this ensemble is that while it connects these kids to music of a time period from the past, it can also connect them to musical opportunities involving ANY musical time period.  The make-up of the ensembles didn’t necessarily matter – the connection to different music does. The next step in this evolution is for us to seek more music of different styles that students can make a connection with and present for public performance.  Maybe they cannot see themselves playing in a large ensemble past high school, but small ensembles are more realistic for students to envision how they might look as a future musician.

 More to come in the weeks ahead as the students complete the survey and I compile data.  My thanks to many of you who have sent Tweets, emails, and comments of support for this endeavor.

It is very exciting to host, but it is even more exciting having nearly 100 submissions! There are so many of us now in this stream of communication and media that are making a difference by our professional development, reading, enacting new teaching strategies, and reflecting upon our craft as educators.  What a tremendous resource this movement has turned out to be, and how great to share it with you.  Many hard decisions were made, but we have a great line-up of articles and posts you need to check out!

Music Advocacy

Lindsay Morelli presents The Power and Purpose of an Ensemble posted at Lindsay Morelli.  What is an ensemble? Lindsay’s question unfolds into a great post with great perspective for all of us in music education to consider.

Music Education

The Grand-daddy Blogger of them All Dr. Joseph Pisano presents A Sample Curriculum For High School Instrumental Ensembles posted at MusTech.Net, saying “This curriculum example is a suggestion for Instrumental Concert Band Directors to study for use with their own programs. Many times “we”, as ensemble directors, really don’t think about the curricular needs of/for our ensembles nor give long-term thought to the integration of music literature that may fill a particular goal in our music programs.   This curriculum suggestion is just one way to think about these things and how what you are doing as a band director integrates into the bigger educational picture.”

Brenda D Muench presents BoomWhacker Mysteries in First Grade: Part One posted at Tech Tempo.  This lesson is a ton of fun for elementary teachers who use Boomwhackers – I will freely admit I tried it at home with the set in our basement!

Wendy Stevens presents To Give or Not Give Makeup Lessons posted atComposeCreate.com, saying, “Since many music educators also teach private lessons, this article gives them a list of options for making the most of their valuable time. Many independent music teachers will also find this information helpful.”

Great to see Andrew Ritenour (and fellow Tuba brother) getting involved as a future music educator!  Andrew presents The Educational Beauty of Twitter posted at Future Music Educators.

Janice Tuck presents Music Primary Singing Resources posted at The Music Teachers Blog.  I am continually impressed with the great teaching being shared by many elementary music educators, and Janice’s post identifies some great assets useful in the classroom music setting.

Matt Fonda presents Bass Drum Basics posted at DRUMMING WITH FONDA.  Keeping students aware of the physical demands of being on a drum line is essential, and Matt’s article (very appropriate for students to understand) outlines some things they can do to keep themselves physically ready.

Thomas J. West presents Creating Community in Secondary Performing Ensemblesposted at Thomas J. West Music, saying, “Here are some suggestions for getting choral and orchestra programs to experience the same kind of personal investment in a group musical activity that bands typically experience due to the marching band activity.”

Brian Wis presents I’m too busy to go to the doctor, and other teacher avoidance-techniques posted at Teaching Music in the 21st Century, saying, “A call to high school music teachers to join the PLN movement.”

Natalie Wickham presents Custom Design Your Own Flashcards with these Free Files!posted at Music Matters Blog, saying, “Use these beautiful free flash card designs by Natalie Wickham to create your own custom flashcards! Now you’ll never be stuck at the last minute wishing you had a particular set of flash cards – you can just make your own!”

Charla Pearen presents Old Macdonald – Letter Recognition posted at High Park Home Daycare.  A great exploration of music with infants and toddlers.

Kevin Keena presents 60 Picnicers, 13 years, 2 schools, and 1 Facebook Page posted at Heritage Bands Podcast.  A touching and refreshing look at how social media reconnected a group of students with an educator who made a big difference in their lives.

The experiment is on for me personally at school this year – you can check out the details in my post Big Leap into a Small Room posted at Travis J. Weller.

Carrie Oakley presents Novice to Slash: 100 Free Resources for Teaching Yourself Guitar posted at Online Colleges, saying, “Whether you’re picking up a guitar for the first time or revisiting a teenage hobby, these links provide free resources for teaching yourself how to play the guitar, as well as improving your technique and learning to read music.”

Samuel Wright presents Graphic Scoring with Yothu Yindi posted at Wright-Stuff Music, saying, “An Australian Aboriginal unit of work involving listening worksheets, music analyses and a final assessment where students get to create an animated graphic score of a contemporary Aboriginal work in Keynote 09.”

Ken Pendergrass presents It’s about the work, not you personally posted at Music Is Not for Insects, saying, “helpful advice for those of us who want to be “liked” by our students…”.  Ken’s blog is great, and he offers some helpful advice to communicate with students while maintaining a sense of fairness.

Music Pedagogy

David Ahrens presents Ever-Improving Chops on Secondary Instruments posted at Sound Education.  While I am new to David’s writing and work, this is a great post for all instrumental teacher to consider so that we can be effective musical role models for our students.

Music Technology

Jim Frankel presents The Other 80%: An Industry Perspective posted at Music Technology in Edcation. Jim tackles a larger issue that many ensemble educators/directors face in maintaining their relevance with the other students not in performing groups.

Nemanja presents Dont Compromise Choose Used DJ Equipment posted at Cheap DJ Equipment, saying, “The problem is universal, DJ equipment is expensive. When buying DJ equipment squeezing the most out of your budget is essential.”

Music Tips

Sam Lyons presents Piano Practice Tips For Beginners posted at Learn The Keyboard Online, saying, “If you are new to the piano and you’ve probably experienced boredom. Sometimes that happens when you continue doing the same thing over and over again. Things become a little repetitious…”

Ashley Davids presents Guitar Warm Up Stretches posted at Metal Guitar Lesson, saying, “Highlighting the importance of warming up prior to practicing guitar.”

Sam Lyons presents Keyboard Practice Blues! posted at Learn The Keyboard Online, saying, “Keyboard Practice Blues! We all get them from time to time. Just keep practicing the piano a little everyday. You will succeed in learning the piano.”

Jenny Boster presents The Importance of Beginning Technique posted at The Teaching Studio, saying, The Teaching Studio is a relatively new blog all about teaching piano lessons. This article focuses on the topic of teaching beginning piano technique.

Other

Naomi Seldin presents 10 Rock Stars Who Went to an Ivy League School posted at Online Colleges and Universities Education Database. An interesting article to demonstrate to students about notable stars that have challenged themselves in the academic field.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of music education blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

I think chamber music of varying styles and difficulty levels can provide one avenue for directors (educators) to break up the predictability of the everyday schedule, and to place more ownership for music making where it needs to be – on the minds and in the hands of the students.  Putting students into chamber groups so they make musical decision and interpret the music makes for some good, revealing discussions.  Kevin Tutt wrote a great article that appeared in the MEJ a couple of years ago that points towards asking better questions of our ensembles, and certainly they are applicable to the small group setting as well (Tutt, 2007).  In his article on Chamber Music, Patrick Casey indicated that many directors identify that students become better listeners in full band rehearsals, increased enthusiasm for playing, develop good musical decision making skills, and that the reduction in full ensemble rehearsal time increased efficiency of both students and their directors (Casey, 2008).

There is a wealth of small ensemble literature that is accessible and can fit into many different instrumentation settings.  Directors have the option of splitting their group based on instrumentation and student ability level. By varying the combination of those two elements, they can bring about improvement in playing ability in some students or motivate other students to develop their leadership skills. In a small school setting where having a balanced and complete instrumentation is not always the standard, chamber music using the instrumentation that is available to its fullest potential may do more to help student improvement over the course of the school year.  Additionally, a number of State Lists reflect diverse selections in styles of chamber music to which students can be exposed.  By developing a diverse repertoire, directors have an opportunity to send chamber groups out into the community for a public performance with little logistical concerns.  In a time where support for music education from the public is paramount, this could be an effective and authentic advocacy campaign for a school music program.

Obviously scheduling and facilities can impact a director’s (educator’s) ability to start working on chamber music.  In my situation, we have 2 practice rooms that can accommodate 5 students, and one that can accommodate 7.  We also make use of three nearby areas – a Large Group Instruction Room (usually vacant during rehearsal periods), a storage room leading to our gymnasium balcony, and the back of our stage. During a typical chamber music session during our regular scheduled rehearsal time, I will pre-assign times to meet with students in the rehearsal room and then assign time for the smaller groups to be in the practice rooms.  As the percussionists need time to use the equipment in the rehearsal hall, I often will float between the practice rooms, rehearsal hall, and stage listening to the winds to let the percussion maximize their time working with the equipment.  During a 43 minute class period I can usually see 4 groups for eight minutes at a time.  A director (educator) must have established a level of trust and respect with their students for this to work effectively, and as my students do not know when exactly I may be standing outside a door listening they generally stay on task and work diligently.  This year I will be in contact with local colleges to see if there are any instrumental music educators who would be interested in coming in to help “coach” a session. 

During my time listening to a small section of their music, I often try to ask questions that encourage them to make decisions regarding musical expression or ask them to analyze why a section of the music was not rhythmically together.  In the large ensemble, there is always room to “hide” if a student is not completely secure on their part.  In the chamber ensemble, they must be able to hold their part and contribute for their group to succeed.  Through study of chamber music within the large ensemble, directors can address individual playing problems, challenge accomplished musicians to be leaders among their peers, and in some cases provide a enriching alternative if a group lacks full instrumentation.  In essence, to revisit some great thoughts by Reimer, we create an atmosphere of trust (“depending on others who are depending on us”), competence (“to attain it there is work to be done”), cooperation (“working towards a mutual goal, person to person and even person to the medium to bring about its full musical potential”), respect (“a sense of one’s worth/esteem within their creative musical role”), and courage (“our ability to make a decision without guarantee of success and ability to grow into what we have not yet become”) (Reimer, 2003).  It is more pressure to develop executive skills, to help their musicianship to mature, and develop their ethics as a person– but like I have told Tim Loest before “No pressure – no diamonds”.

Nothing is out of bounds necessarily with this chamber music in terms of style and composer – I am looking at each piece to gauge whether or not it will provide a good musical experience for each student, whether it will stretch their musical skills to the edge of their ability, and whether it will engage their group in good musical discussions and development.   Chamber music offers opportunities for music educators to model their personal musicianship for their students, guide them in making music in what can be a very meaningful context, and provide a way for students to improve musically on their executive and aural skills.  Students also have the opportunity to take on more musical responsibility by attending to more subtle nuances of ensemble playing, and experience the joy of playing in a very personal, musical way.

Casey, P.F. (2008). A fresh look at chamber music. The Instrumentalist 62(6), 24-30.

Reimer, B. (2003). A philosophy of music education: Advancing the vision (3^rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Tutt, K. (2007). Using questions to teach the national standards in rehearsal. Music Educators Journal 93 (5), 38-43.

VanZandt, K. (2001). Is it curtains for traditional ensembles?. Teaching Music 8 (5), 24-29.

I definitely think the educational climate has changed, and the impact upon our scheduling and ability to retain students in our programs is a challenge – it is constant work with our administration and guidance councilors, a lot of advocacy to parents, and good, sensible PR with the students.  That being said, I think educators are starting to look at their large ensembles differently, with an eye and ear (appropriately) towards how they can continue to make their elective ensemble a viable and interesting offering among the school curriculum.

Over the past few years, SBO Magazine and MENC have featured a number of stories about educators who have developed successful and attractive non-traditional ensembles within the school day that are engaging to students (If you visit Owen Bradley and read through his blog archive, you get a great snapshot on how to do this!). My good friend and colleague, Joe Pisano at Mustech.net has reviewed and written about so many great, user-friendly ways to incorporate technology into existing classes, or how to structure a new offering.  I think these kinds of offerings have their place and if the schedule, facilities, and teacher load can handle it, should be offered to students alongside the traditional big three of (band, chorus, orchestra).  Having said all that, I do think we should be examining the structure of the big three so that we can make it more relevant in the lives of our students who enroll (VanZandt, 2001).

I think chamber music of varying styles and difficulty levels can provide one avenue for directors (educators) to break up the predictability of the everyday schedule, and to place more ownership for music making where it needs to be – on the minds and in the hands of the students.  We often talk about music as stimulating creativity – is it really?  How often do we as directors (educators) challenge our students to give us interpretation on shaping a melody, or discussing where the climax of a music phrase is?  I am as guilty as anyone in not engaging them enough to make musical decisions independent of me, and then asking them to analyze what they have done and why it did or did not work.  Putting students into chamber groups so they make musical decision and interpret the music makes for some good, revealing discussions.  Kevin Tutt wrote a great article that appeared in the MEJ a couple of years ago that points towards asking better questions of our ensembles, and certainly they are applicable to the small group setting as well (Tutt, 2007).

Obviously scheduling and facilities can impact a director’s (educator’s) ability to start working on chamber music.  In my wind ensemble, I have 30 winds and 5 percussionists.  We have 2 practice rooms that can accommodate 5 students, and one that can accommodate 7.  During a typical chamber music session during our regular scheduled rehearsal time, I will pre-assign times to meet with students in the rehearsal room and then assign time for the smaller groups to be in the practice rooms.  We are fortunate to have a large-group instruction room across the hall that is often not in use during our wind ensemble period, and at times have even used the stage (also across the hall from the band room).  As the percussionists need time to use the equipment in the rehearsal hall, I often will float between the practice rooms, rehearsal hall, and stage listening to the winds to let the percussion maximize their time working with the equipment.  During a 43 minute class period I can usually see 4 groups for eight minutes at a time.  A director (educator) must have established a level of trust and respect with their students for this to work effectively, and as my students do not know when exactly I may be standing outside a door listening they generally stay on task and work diligently.

During my time listening to a small section of their music, I often try to ask questions that encourage them to make decisions regarding musical expression or ask them to analyze why a section of the music was not rhythmically together.  In the large ensemble, there is always room to “hide” if a student is not completely secure on their part.  In the chamber ensemble, they must be able to hold their part and contribute for their group to succeed.  In essence, to revisit some great thoughts by Reimer, we create an atmosphere of trust (“depending on others who are depending on us”), competence (“to attain it there is work to be done”), cooperation (“working towards a mutual goal, person to person and even person to the medium to bring about its full musical potential”), respect (“a sense of one’s worth/esteem within their creative musical role”), and courage (“our ability to make a decision without guarantee of success and ability to grow into what we have not yet become”) (Reimer, 2003).  It is more pressure to develop executive skills, to help their musicianship to mature, and develop their ethics as a person and a person – but like I have told Tim Loest before “No pressure – no diamonds”.

The literature varies from year to year with the chamber ensemble work.  We have used arrangements and settings of folk music, jazz music, orchestral transcriptions, and percussion ensemble music.  We have played Sousa, Mancini, Bach, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky.  Nothing is out of bounds necessarily with this chamber music in terms of style and composer – I am looking at each piece to gauge whether or not it will provide a good musical experience for each student, whether it will stretch their musical skills to the edge of their ability, and whether it will engage their group in good musical discussions and development.   I would enjoy hearing from any of you who work on chamber ensemble pieces or put your ensemble into chamber groups throughout the year and how it has been of benefit to your program and changed your teaching.

Reimer, B. (2003). A philosophy of music education: Advancing the vision (3^rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Tutt, K. (2007). Using questions to teach the national standards in rehearsal. Music Educators Journal 93(5), 38-43.

VanZandt, K. (2001). Is it curtains for traditional ensembles? Teaching Music 8 (5), 24-29.

As this year, it was interesting to note the looks on the faces of all the wind ensemble students as they were told that everyone is required to perform in our recital this year. It was even more interesting to watch their reaction when they learned it would be during the first nine weeks – not that band directors are generally busy during that time of year or anything. It makes sense: give them an opportunity to grow early as a musician so that it benefits the ensemble through the rest of the year. We completed our fall concert a scant week ago, and now turn our attention fully to the recital. It will be held on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the high school band room. There are works (arrangements and transcriptions) by Faure, Mozart, Telemann, Greig, and Bizet on the program. Additionally, several of the students will be presenting portions of their solo they will present for the PMEA Honors Band Auditions in November at Westminster College. It is an entertaining evening. It is also a very classy evening out, and it will only last about one hour. AND IT’S FREE!!! Unless of course you would like to make a donation to the Mercer Band Program, in which an exception will gladly be made….