SEVR Junior BandFest 2019

Sue Arney’s reflections

Dear SEVR Instrumental Music Coordinators and Music Teachers,

I was so delighted to be involved in the SEVR Junior BandFest 2019! Working with junior bands is one of my favourite things in the world, as is meeting and working fabulous music teachers. I enjoyed working with your students as much I enjoyed interacting with you all throughout the day and hearing about your programs and teaching situations. Thank you for your generosity in arranging for students from all schools to take part in this marvellous activity and for your work in preparing them for the day.

You’ll be aware that there were two Junior BandFest days – they were both fabulous, but quite different, as the workshops changed as they went based on the needs of the students. Just as all good lessons, they started with a really strong lesson plan but were responsive to ‘what was needed at the time’. A few people asked for notes on things I did throughout the day, so I’ve jotted down some of the things I did to prepare and to teach the groups each day; I’m happy for these to be shared via the SEVR IMT Coordinators in case they are of interest/use to anyone.

My goals

·         To deepen the students’ joy and fulfillment of playing an instrument and in an ensemble

·         To extend students’ understanding of playing in an ensemble by introducing and reinforcing wind band concepts, and to explicitly teach ways to learn music

·         To reaffirm/reinforce concepts taught by music staff already in lessons and rehearsals

·         Professional learning for staff – reaffirming what they’re already doing, reminding of things they’ve done in the past, adding to their teaching toolkits

·         To explore and provide comprehensive performing, listening and composing learning as per the Victorian Curriculum for music, drawing on approaches used in both classroom and ensemble settings

Planning for the day

·         Selected a range of educative repertoire that would allow for relevant concepts to be taught and approaches to be used and modelled

·         Wrote up a lesson plan that included warm-ups and the teaching of each piece – about six pages in total

·         Prepared scores by reading, identifying teaching elements within each, listening to recordings, marking scores

·         Considered the timing and ‘shape’ of the day, and each rehearsal period within – where to stretch and where to affirm students’ learning. How to balance new learning with going back to ‘comfy place’

·         How to differentiate in the case of . . .

·         Experienced musicians (play other instruments)

·         New musicians

·         Those will low literacy levels

·         Those for whom sitting still and/or concentrating for periods of time is challenging

·         Drew up seating plan based on instrument numbers provided, with consideration of balance of voices/parts

On the day

·         Worked from lesson plan, but refined as each day progressed, as a result, each day was quite different!

·         Responsive to the needs of the students at that time

·         Arrived early, met with staff, ensured space was set up – according to seating plan as well as my own space - and I was settled

·         Talked to students, provided overview of the day and the purpose

·         Acknowledged traditional owners

·         Talked to music staff about their schools throughout the day - their teaching positions, their students – to gain insights into/collect evidence as to background

Repertoire choices

·         The advice prior to the ‘Fests’ was for a range of music including 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5; one Australian and one female composer. Stellar guidelines

·         A Triumphal Process, Tim Fisher 0.5 – chosen for it’s simple blocked scoring which allows ease of playing for all players, and therefore space to work on wind band/ensemble concepts. Simple format with repeated sections, so fast to learn.A full sounding piece that’s an essential for every school wind band library. Accessible, achievable.

·         The Can Can, Offenbach arr Hannickel 1.5 – more challenging technically with a more linear format , meaning less repeated sections. Differentiation – caters for those who read music well and/or play other instruments to extend, some tricky notes for younger players, but with straight forward rhythms. Somewhat recognisable, character (dance), transcription, full-sounding arranging that sounds quite mature. As this was quite a stretch for some, we were introduced to it in the second session, rested it (so as not to overwhelm) and then came back to it after lunch. I wonder how many others were impressed by the rehearsing/learning that had taken place in the students’ heads during this time.

·         Belah Sun Woman, Jodie Blackshaw each movt increasing in level from 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2, 2.5. It is therefore a piece that can be worked on over a period of time before performing – students who started this piece at BandFest could keep working on it through into Year 8/Intermediate Band. This piece is based on a dreamtime story that is retold with permission. It is a great way to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories in the band curriculum. The score provides a plethora of teaching ideas developed by Jodie that draw on strategies straight from the Victorian Curriculum and cater for a range of learning styles (including kinesthetic, visual, auditory etc) such as chanting, body percussion, rounds/canon and so on. These strategies provide opportunity for less instructional/teacher directed learning and more student-centred learning. Gold! In the second workshop we were able to break into groups to learn the various ostinato patterns for boomwhackers, body percussion and chant which could happen within a rehearsal room, with relevant students leading each group. An aim of this piece was also to cater for students who don’t have a high level of literacy and/or those who need to move, and could possibly experience levels of frustration when expected to sit in a chair and read all day!

‘Asset model’ vs ‘deficit model’

·         Proactive rather than reactive

·         Teaching transferable concepts

·         Preparing students for learning (rather than just playing) pieces

·         Planning for differentiation 

·         Visual, auditory, kinaesthetic learners

·         Developing a teaching and/or lesson plan rather than a rehearsal plan. Experienced musicians can ‘rehearse’ pieces, young students need to be taught in ‘rehearsals’, eg work out what needs to be taught before the rehearsal and teach it first, (asset model) rather than just playing through a piece until there’s a mistake and stopping to fix it (deficit model)

Warm-ups

·         Play concert Bb

·         Play for 4, rest for 4

·         Play for 4, rest for 4, sing for 4, rest for 4  (sing on ‘doo’)

·         Play 4 crotchets, rest for 4

·         Play 4 crotchets, rest for 4, sing for 4, rest for 4 (sing ‘doo doo doo doo’)

·         Follow the conductor

·         Posture – playing position

·         Warm fast air

Concepts

Directed listening – concert Bb to the trombones or flutes etc

Pyramid balance

Teaching approaches

Using names

·         When asking questions, asked student their name and then said their name. I’m really bad at remembering names, but it’s so important for students to hear their name and know that they’re being acknowledged, esp in a big group. I didn’t get to everyone in the ensemble on either day (sad face), but tried to say the names as as many as possible

Different ways of learning parts:

·         Clapping

·         Singing

·         Sizzling

·         Silent playing/ghosting

·         Combinations of

·         Chanting

·         Body percussion

·         Chair drumming (chopsticks on chairs/stands)

·         Say/sing articulations

·         Sing with ‘doo’ to connect notes

I usually use a whiteboard with smaller groups to write up:

·         Rhythms from piece  - clap, find on their page, clap whilst looking, play (sometimes in diff keys)

·         Signs and symbols

·         Rhythms with articulations – clap then say with articulations (eg du dop da doo)

Concepts:

·         Good posture

·         Long breaths

·         Lots of air

·         Strong sound; then strong and gentle sound

·         Warm fast air

·         Connected notes

·         Pyramid balance

Questions

·         Learn one section and then look at another section “What do you notice?” “What’s the same?” “What’s different?”

Organisation:

·         Work backwards – learn last note or last four bars

·         Work on one section and then identify where the same thing appears somewhere else

·         One section plays whilst others either clap, sizzle or silent play their parts

·         30/60 seconds of silent playing

·         30/60 seconds to choose the part that they need to work on most to play (sound like chaos to someone walking by, but actually sounds like thinking/working to us)

·         Notice how giving directed listening and/or directed playing with timeframe aids the focus?

I bet many of you are just going “yeah, of course!” 

All the best to you.

Warm regards, Sue.