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Date Posted: 14:32:53 04/28/05 Thu
Author: Lisa
Subject: Tired Music Programs
What are some good ways to spice up a music department that has lost its flame so to speak?
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Jessie, 04:16:40 04/29/05 Fri [1]
I think as a music teacher, we need to be excited about our own program, and then our students will in turn become excited. Music teachers can also have special field trips and special music days. To be a music teacher you must be creative.
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Jessie, 04:17:57 04/29/05 Fri [1]
I think as a music teacher, we need to be excited about our own program, and then our students will in turn become excited. Music teachers can also have special field trips and special music days. To be a music teacher you must be creative.
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Ben, 20:14:04 01/16/06 Mon [1]
>What are some good ways to spice up a music department
>that has lost its flame so to speak?
In order for a music department/program to reclaim its "flame", its director must be willing to reach out to their students. As educators, we have to find out what our students want and enjoy. We need to find music that piques their interest, and jumpstarts their passion; the passion for music that we all share.
When a department loses its flame, I think it demonstrates a lack of communication between the director and his or her students. If communication improves, and a director acts on the input of their students, no "spice" is necessary (this is not to say that field trips and the like wouldn't be excellent educational and life-altering experiences).
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Honoree Pouly, 09:30:02 02/02/06 Thu [1]
I think that to “spice up” a music program, the teacher has to be in touch with the students. It is important to gain their respect, and be able to talk to them. I think once that connection is reached they will be more willing to cooperate, and will learn more. The teacher could let them sing songs that they liked, that hopefully are still good pieces of music. Spice things up with some gospel or some medleys of broadways songs or oldies. That along with Mozart would help keep them interested. Tell them interesting facts about the music; get them interested in the actual music along with performing it. I also think that students actually like to be challenged and sometimes they don’t even know it so give them a few challenging pieces. The most important thing is to truly have a love for the music and convey that love to the students.
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Laura, 19:47:44 04/17/06 Mon [1]
I never experianced this problem in my own music programs, but I did notice it in surrounding schools. Take marching band for instance I never understood why a school would use the same exact show every week. Of course your kids as well as your audiance is going to get bored with that. You need different shows and new techniques. I think taking field trips is also a great idea. My school never did it but I thought it would have been great for us to go see the Toledo Symphony which is only like 40 minutes from my high school. As the teacher, you need to find your own program fun in order for your kids to feel that way. My band director would sometimes let us have a free day in the sense that we got to choose the music we wanted to play. This would normally happen after marching season or after a concert. It was always something fun that we enjoyed.
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Molly, 20:08:09 04/17/06 Mon [1]
Wow. I've never really thought about this. My high school marching band was as Laura spoke about.... We had ONE show all year long and competed throughout the season. Oddly enough, we never seemed to tire of it. We did a different drill for the half-time show of the football games, but even if the parents had seen it before, they didn't care. We practically had groupies. That made it exciting enough. Not just the competition, but the act of going to the competitions and seeing the other bands from all over. It seemed there was never a dull moment.
Maybe it depends on how the ensemble is run. The group needs to have direction and goals so that the students and the community doesn't tire of the same ol' routine. Perhaps it all comes down to having an ensemble director that knows what he/she/it is doing. If they know the ins and outs of how the group works and works best, then they should know how to keep the group's interest and morale up.
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Derek, 20:23:10 04/18/06 Tue [1]
I agree with all of this. If I can, let me just help clarify things by using what we were taught in secondary instrumental methods... (374)
Basically, the only person responsible for a music department burning or thriving is the director, and the best way to keep a program going is to have clear objectives and goals for the department. One way to do this is to develop an adequate "philosophy" of teaching, and keep it running based on that philosophy.
This is where it gets tough, but some of the best ideas I've ever come across for a teaching philosophy actually come from five priniciples developed for beginning band based on John Dewey's work (an American educator and philosopher). These five principles can actually act as different threads or concepts that can support the entire music department. Here they are:
Principle number one: Instruction needs to be based on experience. It is much easier to teach a concept AFTER the students have experienced it. Therefore, "experience precedes theory," and the best way to teach music is to have the students play, play, play. Often, directors -- including myself -- make the mistake of explaining concepts to the kids before they've even had a chance to try it out. For example, I remember explaining how to play softly to the band I'm working with right now -- I spent about 2 minutes explaining how playing softly needed more air than playing loudly, and how the body needed to do this and that... after about a minute and a half the kids just fell out of their chairs bored to death. I realized then that the majority of them already knew what soft meant, so there was no reason for me to explain "how to get it." Either they could do it, or they couldn't... simple as that - LET THEM PLAY... then explain the idea afterwards if they need it. Base your teaching on "experience," and part of the spark you talk about a department loosing will never be lost. Engage them, play with them, and encourage them... don't bore them to no end and expect them to be excited about it.
Principle number two: now that I've written a book and a half for the first principle, let me try and keep these others a little more concise. Principle number two is easy enough to understand, all students need is instruction that proceeds from the "known to the unknown..." As teachers, we need to find a way to figure out what they already know, such as a particular rhythm, and then teach them new concepts based off of that previously little known fact, such as 3/4 time is the same as 4/4 but with 3 beats.
Principle numbe three: Next, the most effective way to teach a class of a hundred little musicians is to teach them the general picture first, study the parts, and then reconstruct the picture again. Teach "from the whole to the parts and back again." You might find that this is the easiest way to manage your time, and it usually keeps the students engaged. Think about playing a piece for the first time. Think about stopping every other measure to fix a note or rhythm. Is that fun? Is that going to help spark the department? (Again, LET THEM PLAY, fix it up, and let them PLAY again... PLAY, PLAY, PLAY)
Principle number four: Another simple concept, but one that's rarely thought about. Students will only learn if they're motivated to learn. "Learning depends upon the desire to learn..."
AND
Principle number five: If principle number four is correct, then number five is simply finding a way to motivate them. "Teaching is the art of making students want to learn..."
If you take these five principles into consideration when you're developing your teaching philosophy, then the chances of loosing that spark in your department will be reduced methinks.
Perhaps the easiest motivator for learning is just to let the students PLAY all the time...
I actually think that's all you need to worry about. As soon as you feel like your job is not focused on letting the ensembles play, problems might start popping up. Deal with discipline quickly, deal with problems quickly, and then deal with anything else after class.
Some kids get a chance to play their instruments for an hour a day, others even less. If you let yourself worry about everything else in your job during that time slot for "band," there's no way your students are going to get to play.
In short, I believe that if your CORE philosophy for teaching music is simply "to learn music through playing in different ensembles," then your department will never loose its spark because everyone'll be too busy playing.
LET THE MUSIC MOTIVATE... Never loose sight of that, and you should be fine.
Of course, I could be wrong about all this... lol
Let me know what you think
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Tediyra, 00:40:21 04/24/06 Mon [1]
You can always let the children use that which is most comfortable to them to create projects.
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Dr. O., 08:54:07 05/01/06 Mon [1]
This is a really interesting thread, and I've enjoyed reading the responses to it. Let me pose another question:
[b]Is a tired music program the same thing as a tired music teacher? {/b}
One of the things I like best about being a music teacher is that every year is completely different. If you're teaching math or English, you must cover the basic materials, so the classes can't be too much different from year to year. In music, though, we have a different ensemble each year (some students leave, others join), we play new music each year, we can vary the types of performances we do, and the personality of each group of students is completely different. I've been teaching for more than 30 years, and every single year is brand new to me. I don't know all the answers here, but one thing I'm pretty certain about: if I'm not excited about what's going on in my classes and ensembles, then the students certainly aren't going to be. After all, as teachers we get to choose the music, schedule the performances, choose texts and classroom materials. If we're bored with them, then we only have to be willing to make changes. If we're not willing to make that effort then we're not doing any favors to our students, and maybe it's time for a change of career.
Dr. O.
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Hayley Pletcher, 20:10:44 04/16/07 Mon [1]
I agree with what has previously been said. The music teacher himself/herself needs to be excited about the program and go out of his/her way and plan exciting trips and/or activities that the group can participate in.
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Re: Tired Music Programs -- Amanda Jasko, 16:38:29 05/08/07 Tue [1]
The director needs to be willing to reach out to students to make them excited about what they are doing. Field trips and things like that are good, but I think that concerts and other performances other than the traditional twice a year ones should be planeed so that the kids can get excited about performing. Also, look into big performances, such as at fairs, or even getting an opportunity to play at Disney or something.
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