Week 4

Hi All,

This week in Bauer's Music Learning Today was focused on performing music.

There were many items mentioned in the reading that I incorporate into my music program.  The first I came across is a problem that all music teachers seem to face, the epic battle of practicing.  Of course there are some of those students that are intrinsically motivated, but I think most of us would agree the majority of students will respond more based off of an extrinsic motivator.  In order to ensure my students home practice (especially the beginners) I have an eighth note chart.  Hanging on the wall is a list of all beginning instrumental students.  Every lesson, once every 6 days, they are eligible to gain an eighth note on the chart.  When they reach 8 eighth notes they receive a special prize out of the prize bin.  In order to get an eighth note students must 1) come fully prepared to the lesson (instrument and music), 2) arrive on time, 3)have a signed practice sheet, and 4) put 100% effort and have a great attitude through out the lesson.  If a student accomplishes all of these things they will choose a DumDum at the end of the lesson and receive an eighth note.
My first year I did not have anything like this in place.  Students were kind of lazy and seemed to make excuses why they were not practicing.  As soon as I started offering prizes to those that measured up to a certain standard (pretty much the ones that were already intrinsically motivated) students seemed to be applying themselves more. 

The other item I would like to address is feedback.  It is so important for students to receive honest critical feedback, whether it be from the teacher, peers or technology.  I do a lot of recording in my classroom of rehearsals.  I will play back recordings to the ensembles and we will have group discussions about what could be improved or what went well.  I also have students fill out a performance evaluation on how they thought their concert went.  After the initial eval is filled out we will listen or watch a recording of the same performance and students will fill out the same evaluation.  It is interesting to see how the mind perceives a performance and how it appears when you rewatch everything.  It also gives the student more of an awareness of what they should be focusing on in future performances.  As for practice feedback, SmartMusic is amazing.  I worked with it while I was student teaching and the students responded fabulously to it.  They loved to work with it and they loved that they could instantly see where they made mistakes in their playing.  Unfortunately this is the only time I have been able to use SmartMusic with students.  My district has graciously purchased a couple practice room subscriptions, but unfortunately our outdated computers do not support the program.  The choral teacher and I have been pushing for new computers so we can utilize this program, but that is easier said than done.  Our plans over the summer is to write a grant for a much needed updating of many aspects of the department including technology.

Until next week
H