listening and learning: lesson planning for instrumental ensembles

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Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles Ashley Squires Pennfield School District, Battle Creek, MI Pennfield Band Program, 5-12 th Grade

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Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles. Ashley Squires Pennfield School District, Battle Creek, MI Pennfield Band Program, 5-12 th Grade. “Create a lesson plan…”. “Warm-ups, scales, and songs.” Why do I need to lesson plan? What is there to do? - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

Listening and Learning:Lesson Planning for

Instrumental EnsemblesAshley Squires

Pennfield School District, Battle Creek, MIPennfield Band Program, 5-12th Grade

Page 2: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

“Create a lesson plan…”

“Warm-ups, scales, and songs.”

Why do I need to lesson plan? What is there to do?

“The foundational contexts of education don’t apply to music classrooms.”

How do MEAP scores and reading/writing skills apply to what I do in my classroom?

Page 3: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

What’s First in Lesson Planning?Consider the instrumentation of your ensemble…

Page 4: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

Picking the Right Music…What music is currently at their technique

level?

What can they realistically achieve in a semester?

What are the goals for this music?

Page 5: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

“Well, I can push them farther if…”Directors who purposely choose music that’s

beyond currently student technique level…

Students will feel they have failed

Set single, short-term semester goals:

Clarinet section masters light-tongue articulation

More expressive legato playing for baritone student

Page 6: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

For Example: The Marching Band2009: Chose music that was technically too

hard, marching suffered as a result2010: Chose music at current technical level,

marching made vast improvements, earned 1 rating at festival

Page 7: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

Another Example: The MS BandChose song at technical level:

Portsmouth Overture

73 students – 8 trumpets –3 first trumpets

Used compositional software to compose additional parts

Added five additional musicians to the melody

Back-up plan: Add middle-range bassoon voice to the mix

Page 8: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

“Listening and Learning”The teacher’s perspective

Key signatures, rhythmic patterns, note fingerings, breath support, articulations…

“. . . students who are speaking six different languages at the same time

. . . you’re the only one responsible for interpreting them all.”

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your program

Page 9: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

A Right or Wrong Way?Pre-service Teachers vs. Experienced Teachers

“[Teachers] with more-structured plans give significantly more approvals, and their students have significantly higher achievements when compared to those using less-structured plans.”

“Experienced teachers used fewer words than undergraduates but revealed the same number of strategies and level of detail, on average.”

-Ruth Britten, Preservice and Experienced Teachers’ Lesson Plans for Beginning Instrumentalists, Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 53, no. 1, 26-39.

Page 10: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

“Teacher-educators often use pre-service teachers' lesson plans and post-teaching reflections as windows to understand their thinking about teaching and, ultimately, their observed teaching behaviors. While a cycle of planning, teaching, and reflecting after teaching may seem straightforward, it can be difficult for a beginner to enter the cycle.”

“The paradox of learning a really new competence is this: that a student cannot at first understand what he needs to learn, can learn it only by educating himself, and can educate himself only by beginning to do what he does not understand.” (Sch[Formula Omitted]on, 1987, p. 93)

-Margaret Schmidt, Preservice String Teachers’ Lesson-Planning Processes: An Exploration Study, Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 53, no. 1, 6-25.

Page 11: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

“My lesson plans serve as an outline for my rehearsal days. I already know what music needs the most attention and I divide up my rehearsal time accordingly.”-16 year experienced teacher

“I find that, with materials I am familiar with, I don’t need to spend much time pre-planning. However, when I’m working with new materials . . . I find I take more time to review and prepare for my upcoming lessons than I would normally need.”-9 year experienced teacher

Page 12: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

BibliographyRuth Britten, Preservice and Experienced Teachers’ Lesson Plans for

Beginning Instrumentalists, Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 53, no. 1, 26-39

Margaret Schmidt, Preservice String Teachers’ Lesson-Planning Processes: An Exploration Study, Journal of Research in Music Education, vol. 53, no. 1, 6-25

Timothy Oliver, Score Study and the National Standards: Partners in the Planning Process, Teaching Music, vol. 14, no. 2, 45-50

Jane Bradley, The Short Music Lesson: Success in Half an Hour a Week, The American Music Teacher, vol. 51, no. 5, 20-23

Mark Waymire; Todd Snead, From Good to Great: 9 Tips for Motivating Your Band, Teaching Music, vol. 15, no. 1, 28-32

5 music educators/professionals active in the field

Page 13: Listening and Learning: Lesson Planning for Instrumental Ensembles

Thank you for listening and learning

with me!