I am an advocate of teaching students to become independent musicians. However, I find it easier to teach private students to become independent musicians because teaching students one on one allows time to show that student how they can individually develop as a musician. In order to teach a group of students to become independent musicians we often have to rely on technological aids in order to offer individual attention. Recommendations of implementing technology as an aid in developing the psychomotor process for our students is what I found to be most valuable this week. The technologies in this reading that I find most valuable in my classroom are videos, SmartMusic, and audio recordings. These three technologies are invaluable methods in developing the “cognitive stage,” the “associative stage,” and the “autonomic stage” in our students (Bauer, 2014, p. 80).
I have developed a method in teaching my beginning brass students how to develop range. I have successfully taught this instructional method for over ten years in my private instruction practice. I intentionally do not use music notation during this process and pride myself in having students learn this process by rote. The method starts by trumpet students lip slurring Low C to G (2nd line). Once they develop this, I teach them the notes in between C and G. I then teach students how to lip slur to a high C, which is followed by learning the entire C scale. I then continue this process until they have developed their range to the G on top of the Treble clef. Once we reach this point, I teach them the entire Circle of Fifths and the chromatic scale from F sharp below the Treble clef to the G they have just learned how to play. I have had much success with this method, and have successfully transfered this method to the other brass instruments. It has been such an invaluable method for my private brass students that I will develop a video of this method for my beginning band students in my district.
I am constantly asking myself how I can get my students to practice more. SmartMusic and recording practice sessions are two methods I can introduce to my students to help motivate them to practice. SmartMusic has become the industry standard in helping students to practice, and for teachers to assess their students. SmartMusic offering students the opportunity to develop skills like technique and improvisation, and offering accompaniments to help develop these skills are quite valuable. What I find most valuable about SmartMusic, and recording practice sessions, is its ability to provide feedback. Bauer mentions that receiving feedback from SmartMusic, and listening to recorded practice sessions, are both methods in developing students “metacognition and self-regulation” (Bauer, 2014, p. 86). Teaching students how to develop these skills is crucial in teaching them to become independent musicians. I currently do not utilize SmartMusic due to the financial constraints of my district, but will often times record rehearsals. Prior to playing the recording for the students, I will have them fold a piece of paper in half the long way. On one side of the paper I will have them write general comments on how the piece could be performed better as a whole, and the other side of the paper are comments and/or questions about individual mistakes. We will then write notes on the whiteboard on how the piece could be better as a whole. I will then plan subsequent rehearsals to address these issues and have students ask individual questions as the piece of music evolves.
References
Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Thank you for sharing your method of teaching beginning brass students! You had mentioned this once before, and I remember thinking that it was interesting then, too. If you were ever willing to share your video or make it available on Teachers Pay Teachers, please let me know.
ReplyDeleteAs a fellow brass player (horn) and teacher, it is always fascinating for me to learn about other teachers’ approaches to the unique challenges of learning brass instruments. Your method addresses many things that could be overwhelming for students because the brain and the body have to coordinate so much all at once. I think that when kids do not feel successful enough in the beginning, they can easily get discouraged and lose interest, resulting in students wanting to quit or switch instruments. It is a great idea to isolate the physical ability to develop range and agility (and tone as well, I’m sure) before adding the complicated aspect of music literacy. I am sure it is very beneficial to both your brass students and band retention. Hopefully, the students have already developed some ability to read music in their elementary music classes, and after having also developed some executive skills on their instrument, they can relate what they already know to this new context later on. Bauer (2014) wrote, “many educators have discovered that learning is best when something is experienced prior to being labeled or represented with symbols” (p. 87), and I think this is exactly what you are doing to give your students a strong start in learning their instruments.
Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.