Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Concepts
Breathing
Tone Quality
Intonation
Posture
Articulation
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Sit with good posture that optimizes breathing capability
Breathe properly-from the diaphragm, filling their lungs completely
Play with appropriate tone quality, avoiding harsh or unsupported tone
Listen sensitively for intonation, fitting into each others sounds
Accurately demonstrate on instruments the difference between staccato and
legato articulation
Materials
Baton
Score to Lip Benders
Procedure
Introduction of myself
Breathing/tone quality
o 4 in, 4 out; 2 in, 4 out; 1 in, 4 out
o Competition: Which section can play the longest note? What kind of
breath did you take? How loud were you playing? What was your tone
like?
Intonation/Articulation
o Tune to pitched percussion instruments as the group is used to
Focus on fitting into the sound of the person next to you
o Lip benders
Listen for intonation and blend
Different articulation styles and rhythmic patterns to warm up the
tongue
Assessment
There will be an informal and formative assessment through watching and listening to
the ensemble as they perform. Students should be demonstrating the objectives and
the teacher will address issues and repeat exercises when necessary
Next Time
Use a Chorale from Bach and Before for Band so that students can focus on
intonation in situation where harmony is involved.
Field Teaching Reflection
band for the first time. Despite the fact that I was conducting a simple warm-
up, I still found the entire experience very enjoyable and beneficial for me as a
possible future high school director. Overall, the experience went quite well.
The students were very respectful and surprisingly open to trying new things,
taking shallow breaths, causing their sound to be unsupported. Once I felt they
breathing game. One comment that stuck with me from my observation was
the director telling them that their warm-up sound was too loud and bright. In
order to work on this, I had the group do a sort of competition, hoping that they
would understand the feeling of taking a large enough breath but still playing
softly and with a good tone. Next I had the band tune in a way they were more
used to by starting with the pitched percussion before finally moving on to a lip
thought that the group improved a lot just in those ten minutes.
having the students watch me. Normally, I would try to encourage students to
listen more than watch, but it seemed they were very buried in their music the
entire time. I was doing my best to listen for mistakes and correct them
through my conducting (if the band was playing too long of an articulation, I
tried to make my pattern even more staccato). I found, however, that I ended
up having to stop the group and verbally explain what I wanted a lot. I also
wish I had perhaps taken more time to ensure the group was doing exactly
what I wanted. At times the warm-up felt a little stagnant, so I simply moved on
to the next exercise I had planned instead of waiting and ensuring that the
group was truly participating well. Finally, not everyone bought into the
different exercises we were doing. I think that if I had more time with this
group, I would be able to more firmly establish some routines and expectations
Standards
National:
Playing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
Reading and notating music
Listening to, analyzing, and describing music
Evaluating music and music performances
State:
H.2.1 Play with appropriate tone quality, accurate tuning and intonation,
and good breath support, posture, and hand position.
H.2.2 Play major scales, three forms of minor scales, and chromatic
scales.
H.2.3 Play a variety of repertoire accurately and expressively with c
H.2.6 Play an appropriate part in a variety of large and small ensembles,
demonstrating well-developed ensemble skills.
H.2.7 Learn conducting patterns and techniques and follow cues of
teacher and student conductors.
H.5.1 Read and perform instrumental scores observing symbols
pertaining to pitch, rhythm, dynamics, tempo, articulation, and
expressive detail.
Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
o Play with legato articulation
o Play sensitively, listening to the melodic lines
o Perform through from beginning to B of Down A Country Lane
with correct notes, rhythms, and style
o Begin to develop an understanding of phrasing and dynamics with
Down A Country Lane from beginning to B
Materials
Score and parts to Down A Country Lane
Baton
Procedure
Warm-up:
Concert F Major scale
Echo tonal patterns in F Major:
o Do-So-Fa-Re
o La-Do-Re-Fa
o So-Ti-Re
o La-ti-Fa-Re
o La-Do-Re-Fa-Mi
o So-Do
o Listening for intonation, legato articulation, connection between the
notes
Introduction of Piece
How many of you have been enjoying the weather lately? Does it make
you want to take a walk? Lets listen to this passage, and I want you to
listen for words that could be used to describe the style:
o Play flute melody at beginning to 2 before A
What words did you come up with?
Does this melody sound familiar?
o Look in your music now at the beginning of Down A Country Lane,
Do you see any instances of this melody in any parts?
o Lets play from beginning to B
Address any issues of notes or rhythms in beginning to A: low brass look
at part at A
Lets take a look from A to B now: does it look familiar or a lot
different? Whats the same? What is different?
o Play from A to B, addressing any issues with pitch, notes,
rhythm, style
Closing
Who can tell me what the style the first section of this piece is?
And who has the melody in the beginning?
Finally I want to go from the Beginning to B once again, focusing on
shaping our phrases by using the dynamics in the music. Lets think
about taking a walk down a country lane on a beautiful day like this.
Assessment
Assessment will be largely informal and formative. The teacher will consistently
monitor progress by watching and listening to students. Students should
always be demonstrating good posture, tone quality, and breath support and
should be actively participating in discussion.
Next Time
Next time, we will continue on with Down A Country Lane looking at the
middle, contrasting section and how it is different musically from the beginning
section.
Peer Teaching Reflection
One of the most exciting things I have come to realize this semester is
just how much I enjoy teaching in front of a band setting. Every time I get up to
conduct and teach in front of a wind band, I always find that I enjoy it and could
see myself conducting a middle or high school band when I graduate. This peer
teaching was no different. I had a lot of fun conducting and rehearsing one of
my favorite pieces, Down a Country Lane with the group, and I felt that the
lesson went quite well overall. There are, however, several things I would like to
instrumental ensemble.
I was very proud of the way I structured my lesson. It was a challenge for
me to plan exactly what section of the music I wanted to rehearse, as this piece
has many sections that feature only some parts of the ensemble. I decided to
rehearse the beginning to letter B because I wanted to give the group an
introductory feel of how the piece would flow and of the main melody, but I
wanted the low brass to have an opportunity to play, too. I also knew that the
melody repeated in the woodwinds, so having them play both section would
not be too difficult. I appreciated my rapport in front of the group and the use
of a story to connect to the group and give them more information about style
as I handed out music. Lastly, I liked that I introduced the melody using solfege
and had the entire group play it before we started the piece. I definitely heard a
difference in the confidence of the musicians with note accuracy and style
In the future, I would like to focus on being able to listen and correct
issues within the ensemble as we are rehearsing. I find that I repeated a few
suggestions quite a few times over the course of the rehearsal in the hopes
that it would fix the issue. Instead, I would like to use more of the tools in my
tool belt to diagnose and correct problems more quickly. I also want to get
behind the beat, and my pattern can be quite big when the music is still soft
and intimate. I have also allowed a lot of sentences that start with Can we to