Five Minutes. That's It!

This past Monday, I was able to do teach the first trumpet lesson to my professor, Brandt Schneider, who did a wonderful job playing the 4^th/5^th grader. As a woodwind person, I had a fun time trying to think of ways to create a lesson plan for the trumpet. I’m very grateful for asking for advice from my brass friends. However, my lesson plan had too many objectives when I should have kept it to one. It was unclear to my audience who was watching, my “student,” and even myself. Therefore, I need to pick one logical objective that my students can take away from it, in the future.

It’s funny to me how I got feedback about how quiet I was when I’m at my internship school, I’m definitely more energetic and alert. Even at my job (I teach private clarinet and flute lessons) I always ask my students about something that’s going on in their lives before we get started. During my lesson, I was quiet and less energetic. I’m not sure if it was the fact that I was the first one giving the lesson or the fact that I was tired during the day, but when I finally teach lessons in a public school setting, I will be mindful of how much positive energy I’m showing to students.

For the next time I teach a lesson to a student, I’ll keep it short and to the point. If that is something I believe in as a prospective teacher, then I better make sure that I keep myself held to that idea. There’s a way to fix it. Janet Robinson first showed me this acronym at the internship orientation during her lecture. She taught us, K.I.S.S. It stands for “Keep It Simple, Stupid!” This means that I should use simple words that my students will easily understand and for myself to remember what we’re talking about.

Rubrics? No Thank You

Do you remember when you were given a writing assignment in Language Arts class or any sort of project during middle school or high school? I do too. They weren’t the best, but it made me understand what I missed.

I read an article titled, “The Trouble with Rubrics,” by Alfie Kohn. In his article, Kohn talks about his perspective on rubrics in the classroom. He starts by talking about assessments and how rubrics are an alternative. I agree that rubrics are an alternative, but they shouldn’t be used all the time because then students grow used to getting one every time there’s an assessment of some sort. However Kohn said that rubrics give more details about a grade than just seeing just a letter. I do agree that rubrics do that, but I don’t believe that we should rely on them heavily.

Kohn said that it’s actually a better idea to not give the actual rubric to a student who is so enveloped with grades. It’s troublesome and the student loses focus on what’s important. I agree that students shouldn’t be given the rubric because so much authentic work is lost for the sake of getting a good grade. Though I have this idea in my head that if you do give students a rubric, you should go over it so they understand what’s to be expected then put it away and move on. If you put an emphasis on the grade, then you’ll worry them. If you show that it can guide them to what you’re looking for, perhaps they won’t be so worried in the end.

A way that I would utilize a rubric is that I wouldn’t. Student musicians are at different levels that it can be difficult to decide where they fit on a rubric. You would almost have to tailor a rubric to fit everyone’s specific needs. That’s where a rubric wouldn’t be the best way to assess someone on a performance. I would suggest having a student record a short performance on a piece of music the band is performing then send the file to you via email. From there you could assess appropriately. It really depends on what the teacher would like to assess, but I wouldn’t assess something that couldn’t receive feedback. Fortunately, everything in music can receive feedback!

Jazz + Folk = American Music

When you hear the names, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Thad Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, and Benny Goodman just to name a few. What do you think of? Can you hear the sounds of the whole ensemble? Doesn’t it make you want to tap your foot to it? Nothing can be more exciting than Jazz right? Wait! What about folk music? According to Wikipedia (which is not the most reliable website resource, however this instance it proved to be), American folk music is basically a melting pot of different genres together! Gospel, Country, Jug bands, Native American music all come together to call themselves American folk music!

I bet you could ask someone how does “This Little Light of Mine” go and they would be able to sing at least two lines of lyrics back to you. Unless of course someone doesn’t know it then it’s our duty to help them along simply because we asked and knew the answer.

As music teachers, we should be able to help our students understand the different genres of music there are possibly out there! Should we be experts? Not exact experts. I think our brains would explode from all the information we have stored on the minute details of every song. However, we should familiarize ourselves with standards and some unknown songs/composers/musicians. So many songs have a part in history and it’s important for them to understand where it came from.

Now begs the question what songs do our students need to know? Of course students should know our National Anthem (without all the embellishments), Stars and Stripes Forever, and America the Beautiful. They’ll hear them a lot and it’s important for them to understand what they mean.

After those three, I think it’s up to the teacher about what they want their students to learn and understand. I would highly suggest showing students different songs that have different meanings or come from different backgrounds. Perhaps you could link songs to different holidays. For example, the next holiday that’s coming up is St. Patrick’s Day so why not have a quick lesson on Danny Boy? The opportunities are endless and it’ll be lots of fun exposing students to these American songs created by wonderful composers.

Ear Skills

After reading “Creating Musical Flexibility Through the Ensemble” written by Brandt Schneider, it made me reflect about how I feel about ear training and sight-singing. My extensive work with ear training didn’t start until I was a freshman as an undergraduate and I tell you, I made much improvement the second time I took sight singing and ear training as a sophomore in college. I just didn’t learn anything from my professor my first year. I don’t remember as a younger student what my teachers had done for aural skills, but I do notice today that elementary music teachers are singing to their students a little greeting and the students sing back a response, hopefully, in the same pitch. Teachers use this as a sort of assessment, but it also tells the teacher A LOT about their students’ ears.

Schneider put a great emphasis on how he taught his students to be flexible. He taught them how to play simple songs in different keys. I’m sure he didn’t teach his kids how to play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” in the hardest key ever first, but I do believe that he taught his students simple keys. Eventually he would have worked his way up there! I would imagine that he taught a scale at a time. That’s something else Schneider let me do as I read his article, imagine! He left very open instructions about how he accomplished flexibility that it left me wondering how he got there! There are many ways to get there then. 

So then how do we determine if someone’s a good musician or not? It’s such a vague question with different ideas that it simply cannot be answered with just one example of what makes a musician good. To be a good musician, you should have an understanding of your instrument (voice too!). Being a musician, one should have good technical skills as well as aural skills that can help when it comes time to look at a new piece of music. This musician is able to pick apart everything that makes up the music and is able to turn it into something more than just notes on a page.

The Novice

“Who am I?” seems like such an easy question to answer at first. The more I thought about the more I had to think about who I really am and who my inspiration was. However, I think it’s best if I start off with the easy part to this answer. I’m Kai-Dee Beach. I was adopted from South Korea twenty-two years ago and rising! I started clarinet in fourth grade and haven’t stopped yet. I come from a family full of teachers, but I will be the only music teacher.

The best way I can describe myself with about three words is: kindhearted, flexible, and persevering. These are three words that have been said about me. I don’t like to talk about myself all too much because I’d rather find out more about you and your interests, but once I feel comfortable, I’d talk about my interests. It’s just who I am. I’ve been told I’m flexible, but sadly it is hard for me to touch my toes without bending my knees. No, what I mean is that I can change what I’m doing to match what is requested of me to do. When I was an undergrad, I worked for the music department, which means I worked different events that happened in the concert hall or did office work for my boss such as copying/folding programs for events that involved ensembles or small ensembles. Sometimes I would have to be very flexible and would end up working when I wasn’t planning on doing so. In the long run, being flexible is always a big help to everyone and I wish to do that all the time. The last adjective that I could think of that would describe me is persevering. The definition of perseverance is “determined continuation with something.” This word means a lot to me and it’s also something I believe in as a teacher.

In his book, Teaching Music with Purpose, Dr. Peter Loel Boonshaft had a chapter titled “Failure is Opportunity Turned Upside-Down.” In this chapter he talked about how failure is okay because it turns us down another path that will eventually lead to success! As an undergraduate, I had been faced with failure three times. The first time was in the beginning sight-singing class that I had to take as a freshman. My professor wasn’t the greatest of help to me and there were other factors that forced me to repeat the same courses the following year. That put me behind a semester. The second and third times I was faced failure was this test of musicianship skills (Sight-reading, sight-singing, and piano) and a performance on my own instrument called “The Sophomore Barrier.” This “test” was performed in front of the entire full-time faculty. It was one of the hardest things I had ever prepared for. I had three chances to pass or else I had to change my major down to just a regular old music degree. The first time I failed it, I was a junior. I knew the mistakes made and the following semester I worked to strengthen those skills that are still with me today. The second chance I had at the barrier I was a senior and I failed. Again, I knew where my mistakes were and this time I had two options: I could re-try for a third time or change my major so I could graduate. It had been decided for me that graduating would be the best option and I was told about the program at University of Bridgeport. My whole experience near the end of my college career reminded me of Boonshaft’s story in the beginning of the chapter where he was travelling and found an opportunity to succeed on a different path. My last failure had put me on a new path now. It didn’t feel like a new path, but eventually I came to terms with what I had and accepted my fate. What I didn’t expect was that people around me suggested I try a different path that would help me gain my final goal: becoming a music teacher, much like how in Boonshaft’s story he said that he had arrived to his destination, just in a different way.

Perseverance taught me to never give up on my final goal. Failure taught me it’s okay to make mistakes. The point I’m trying to get at is that as a future teacher, I want my students to know that making mistakes is a learning experience that will eventually lead to success! I want them to succeed in the best possible way no matter how they got there so long as they understand what they did to get there. As you can see from my own personal experience and from Boonshaft’s story is that failure can turn into an opportunity of success.

I also believe that having a positive attitude in class can help keep things engaging and alive in a classroom. It all starts with our attitude as the teacher.  If we’re positive, it reflects off of our students. If we’re negative, unhappy, or discouraged, it reflects off of our students and then we lose focus of the classroom. Boonshaft quoted Dennis and Wendy Mannering in his chapter titled, “Motidispiration: Motivation, Discipline, and Inspiration,” that read, “Attitudes are contagious. Are yours worth catching?” Boonshaft went on to answer that question saying, “The answer to that question – for us and our students – may be as important as anything we teach.” Although it’s a rhetorical question, it’s still one that’s worth taking into consideration because it can only help you when you’re in your classroom filled with students who seem to be less than thrilled to be with you some days. Therefore, you as the teacher need to find a way to motivate them, which can come from your energy and what you decide to put out there for the day.

One last belief I have is to be diligent. I feel that the best intrinsic feeling comes from hard work. Music helps give us that feeling no matter what the task may be. For a beginning player, it might be playing a note that has given so much grief that when the note finally sounds it’s a great achievement. As a private music lesson teacher, I know there’s no greater reward for a young clarinetist is to finally get into those higher notes. When one of my students gets the note, I am finally happy for them, of course it’s not the best sounding note ever, but to them it’s an accomplishment! After that, I have them work on it with short exercises in their book that we use for lessons. Boonshaft said the same chapter about motivation, discipline, and inspiration that intrinsic motivation gives students “personal revelations of wisdom and beauty in music. Simply put, because they want to.” I couldn’t agree more. When my student leaves me for the day I have no doubt in my mind that he or she will go home and try to play the same note again or play the assignment that has the difficult note in it.

To be honest, I haven’t thought much about my core values since most of them tie into my beliefs. Though here is a short list and an explanation as to why I like them:

1. Positivity is key to everything because nobody likes a stick in the mud. Things should remain positive and energized to keep everyone on their toes.

2. Hard work and perseverance pay off. If you decide to give up then you are not helping yourself succeed. Boonshaft said that failure is a choice and that “no one is a failure who keeps trying!” I’d like to add on to that and say to never give up on what you want most!

3. Be flexible when necessary, your way may not always be the right way for a student.

4. Remember to have fun when it is appropriate. Music games are definitely fun and enjoyable, but don’t forget to work on fundamentals! They can be fun too, so long as you make them appealing to them.

5. Less is more. Boonshaft agrees as well as any music teacher I have spoken to has agreed to this idea that speaking as few words as possible during a rehearsal is key to making good use of time rather than talking nonstop about how the clarinet section needs to fix their runs or telling the trombone section to get their bells out of the stands then playing the right notes.

6. Inspire and be inspired by others. As music teachers, Boonshaft believed that “we must show our students that we are as dedicated to them as we are to the music.” It’s our duty to “teach them how to get to the goal… we must explain the goal and its virtues.” We must be that first spark of interest and hold it somehow for them to be able to play a piece of music. By doing so we must find ways of our own. Also, to let ourselves be inspired by our students, Boonshaft’s story, from his chapter “Without You, There Never Would Have Been a Journey,” about how a student showed him the sparkle to make his “star burn bright again” just by showing him how much he meant to her. It was wonderful to read that and for him, that must have been the greatest feeling ever.

7. Be yourself. No one can do that for you, but you.

8. Treat others the way you would want to be treated because I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be treated horribly at any time of the day.

9.  Be acceptable of others, we’re all different for a reason is. This ties with number eight in a way, but I feel this is slightly different for obvious reasons.