Radio Edit, Episode 14

Oh, ::Radio Edit::!!!!!!!  Yesterday was the Temple Prep concert.  It was an absolute disaster!  Well, the concert itself was not a disaster; just my group.  The first tune went ok.  Everyone started together and almost ended together.  But, the second piece... oh, the second piece... at measure 19, there is a repeat, which takes the band back to measure 11.  Its just an 8 measure repeat, how hard could it be?  Yet, when we got to the repeat at measure 19, 1/3 of the band took it and went back to measure 11, 1/3 of the band went on instead of repeating, and the other 1/3 just sat there in complete shock, unable to do anything.  Normally, this kind of thing is not a disaster.  It takes some commanding conducting, and I can get everyone back together.  But, the students still can't read and they don't watch for tempi.  They were relying on their memory, rather than their reading skills and my conducting.  Memory is absolute, whereas know-how gives you the ability to be flexible.  So, in the face of an adverse situation, they were unable to rebound, and I was unable to pull them back together because they just weren't looking at me, regardless of the emphatic motions I was making.  ::Radio Edit::!!!!!

After the initial shock wore off and I calmed down enough to not be so angry at the students, I was able to have some insight.  I had to remind myself that what happened on the stage was a product of poor music education environments for years leading up to that moment, environments which are out of my control.  I had to remind myself that 1) the students made a lot of progress over the 15 hours I had with them this fall and 2) that if I am going to be a doctor of music education, I need to be able to do incredibly positive things in these situations.  In the spring, I will, again, have 15 hours with these students and I must figure out how to make those 15 hours the most impactful musical experience these students have ever had.  After all, I need to make sure that my actions as a teacher set the students up for success and need to reevaluate my strategies when they don't.  So, moving forward:

• Step one is already done: identify the problem.  The students can't read and have developed very bad coping mechanisms to cover up for it.  
• Step two: set a goal that is achievable, yet rigorous, that will motivate the students and me to fix the problem.  The wind ensemble will sightread 3 pieces on the spring concert that they have never seen before the concert day.  
• Step three: develop a course of action that gets us from the point of the problem to the goal.  I have gotten the director of the program to give me an extra hour with the students every rehearsal day, upping my time with them from 15 to 30 hours.  We will work theory, musicianship, technique, critical thinking, ensemble skills, and rhythm in addition to concert music.  Each rehearsal, we will sight read 3 new pieces, each at the level that is doable for the students, but which pushes the boundaries of their acquired musical skills.  The difficulty of the music will increase each week.  We will build a library of skills for use in reading and performing music that do not involve the memorization of musical content.  And once those skills are learned and internalized, we will sightread the concert!
• Step four: Pray to God.

On Monday, we had the Night Owls concert.  That concert went really well.  I felt a great energy from the band as I conducted my two pieces.  The Director of Bands was in the audience and she remarked to me that she enjoyed seeing me conduct.  That's a positive thing, I think!  Anyway, it was a really good time.  I got to employ my high school band director skills by organizing the percussionists for the percussion pack up at the end of the show.  You see, the music building and the performance space are in different buildings, so the equipment is shipped over to the performance building for every performance.  And we used a lot of equipment.  But, I delegated responsibilities, assigned jobs, and we got that stuff packed up in record time.  Bam!

There was a big problem before the show, though.  One of the tuba players called me over and told me that the tuba we brought over for him was a C tuba.  You see, tubas are pitched in different keys.  He plays Bb tuba and doesn't know the C tuba fingerings.  So, playing a C tuba would be disastrous for him.  But, I couldn't believe we 1) had a C tuba, and 2) hadn't realized it until the night of the concert.  Something else had to be wrong.  So, I had him play into a tuner and, sure enough, his open partial was a C, not a Bb.  ::Radio Edit::!!!!!!!  How did this happen?  Well, as I looked at the horn something just didn't look right on the 4th valve.

Here is what I saw:

Do you see what's wrong?

Let me help you.  You see this lever arm?

Well, it should be here:

There is a screw that is supposed to be here:

that holds the arm in place and keeps it between the two little black rubber stoppers.  Well, the screw is missing, the arm must have fallen off at some point, and someone put it on backward!  Well, being the repair dynamo that I am, I put it back in its rightful place and, wouldn't you know it, the tuba was back to playing in Bb.  Future Doctor Mitch, to the rescue!

I had an interesting Philly experience on Tuesday.  I was walking to my car and this girl, who looked to be in her early 20s, started calling to me and waving me over.  Not sure what was going on, I approached tentatively.  When I got close enough, she asked me, "do you want to do a date."  I had no clue what was happening, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks.  She was a prostitute!  I told her, "no thank you," and started to walk away and then she started begging me, saying, "please," and, "only $15.00."  Welcome to Philly, right?  And no, I did not "do a date" with her, for those of you questioning my moral fortitude.

Well, I have been putting it off for weeks already, so here is the video summary of the first chapter of the creativity book I am reading.  Forgive the audio, my mic is crapping out on me and I did the best I could.  I will rerecord when I get a new mic.  Watch it in full screen.

 

Ravens win, Steelers win, Bengals win, Browns lose.  Nothing changes.  Playoffs?  I hope so, but I'm not so sure its going to happen...

That's it for this week.  I am not sure if I will make new posts during break or not.  So, I'll see you when I see you.

Future Dr. Mitch, out!

Forced to go to New Jersey: Future Doctor Mitch, Forever Unclean! Episode 13

So, I was on my way home this evening and had to drive past Eagles Stadium.  I knew there was a home game and was anticipating a little traffic, but I was unprepared for just how awful the city of Philadelphia handles the exodus of their fans from the stadium.  Essentially, they block off all exits from I-95 so you cannot enter the city anywhere near the stadium and only allow people to leave the area.  Well, that's great for getting all those Eagles fans home, but what about those of us whose homes are in the shadow of the stadium?  How are we supposed to get home?  Well, I found an exit that would get me there, so I took it.  I have taken this exit before and it drops me off pretty close to my house: score!  Next to the exit was a sign that said, "this way to New Jersey."  It did not say, "New Jersey Only."  However, the split of the for that led to Philadelphia was blocked off and all traffic was funneled over the bridge into New Jersey.  By that time, it was too late.  I had no other choice than to enter New Jersey.

And to make matters worse, there is no toll to cross the bridge into New Jersey.  That trip is free.  But, if you want to leave New Jersey and enter Philly, you have to pay $5.00!

Anyway, I suppose I should talk about my week at school.  On Wednesday, I played my final Wind Symphony concert of the season.  A few weeks ago, I talked about my distaste for the repertoire for this concert.  Well, Wednesday, as I left the dress rehearsal, I found myself humming the music.  Somehow, in the rehearsal process, I had come to enjoy the music.  And to be quite honest, I had a blast performing it on Wednesday night.  It was a wonderful reminder for me to always keep an open mind when faced with something new.  After all, one of the reasons I decided to return to school was to work with people who would challenge my perspectives and force me to see music, teaching, and the world in a different light.  Performing this music, though unpleasant at first, did exactly that and I am grateful to the Wind Symphony director for putting me in a situation which forced me to become comfortable with unfamiliar music.  I have, for a long time, been an advocate for "classical" music and everything that has come to fall under the wide umbrella of that term.  I often tell people that if they give classical music a shot, they just might enjoy what they experience.  This Wind Symphony concert was a reality check for me, reminding me that I must practice what I preach because, I just might come to enjoy new experiences.

A couple weeks ago, I posted my Psychology of Music Learning and Behavior paper on the factors influencing children's instrument choice for you all to read (and, I am sure you all read it.  Seriously, if you haven't, go back and read it.)  There is a student in one of the brass methods classes that I teach who is a master's degree student, so he has already taken the psychology class.  He told me that this paper causes many people to fail the class.  The professor, according to him, grades the papers with an incredibly scrutinizing eye.  Well, I got my grade back on the paper.  You know what has two thumbs got a perfect score on the paper?

This Guy!

(I had to take that picture with my toe so I could give two thumbs up.  That is much harder that you would think)

Check out how awesome I am:

 

There wasn't much else of note that happened this week.  Things are kind of wrapping up for the semester.  I am still working on my chapter summary of the creativity book.  I am hoping to have that ready for you all next week.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Also, Ravens victory today.  Bam!

Some of you have not been getting the subtle and sometimes not so subtle jokes and references in the titles of each of my posts.  So, in case you didn't get this one, it is a quote from the TV show, The League.

Until next week,
Future Doctor Mitch, out!