For Teachers

Dear Teachers,

The New Haven Symphony Orchestra Education Department created the original version of this website to be a resource for their own local music educators. It has been copied (with permission) and adjusted by the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra to serve the local music educators of Kern County. Each of the four instrument families can be explored, with YouTube content that demonstrates each instrument and features musical examples from across musical genres.

There are also three tests on the Home page:

1. A Beat test, which assesses the student's ability to tap a beat, even when the backing track goes away. The higher the student's score, the more natural their internal pulse. This should HELP in assessing who might have a more natural ability in the percussion section.

2. A Tone playlist, which asks students what their preference is in terms of lower, mid, or higher pitches. This should HELP in your assessment of what range instruments they have a natural preference for.

3. A Pitch Sensitivity test, which assesses a student's ability to determine if the second pitch they hear is higher or lower than the first pitch.

After exploring all the content, there are two Google Forms that students can fill out and e-mail to you:

The Instrument Preference Form asks them to rank and describe their instrument preferences. This will help you collect some qualitative data on their instrument preferences.

The Instrument Taste Test will be able to give you some quantitative data. It asks them their scores on the 3 tests on the Home Page (Beat test, Tone Preference, and Pitch sensitivity), and then asks students to rank their preferences in an "Instrument Taste Test." 17 instruments are demonstrated in short (roughly 15 second) clips, but their picture is not shown. This allows students to experience just the instrument sound and timbre without seeing it being played.

When you get the responses to the second test, we suggest putting them in a Google Sheet or Excel Spreadsheet with the students' names along the left hand side. Then, copy the below cells into the first two rows, which shows which number the instruments correspond to. Now you'll be able to input the scores for each student and correctly match up their preferences with the instrument, like this:

Because this website was made with GoogleSites, it is easy to duplicate the ENTIRE website and update it to your school program's specificities. For example, if you wanted to upload videos or pictures of current students who help in your recruiting efforts, you could do that. For obvious reasons, I haven't given total access for each teacher to be able to do this. However, if you would like this option, simply e-mail me at kendra@bsonow.org and I will grant you permission to copy the website into your own drive.

If you would rather use the site as it is, without personal customization, you are welcome to it. You will, however, need to have students take the instrument preference and instrument taste tests from forms that you have in your own Google Drive, rather than the links on the website (otherwise I will receive all your students' forms, and I will have no idea what to do with them or who they belongto). For access to just the two tests (Instrument Preference and Instrument Taste Test), you can simply click on the file below and duplicate the for yourself. Remember - you'll want to duplicate the test and then move that duplicate to your own Google Drive!

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, comments, concerns, or ideas for this website!

Warmly,

Kendra Green
Director of Education Engagement
Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra