Perceptions and stigmas, Season 4, Episode 7

You might remember that Seminar was not may favorite class last semester.  This semester, however, I am really enjoying the class.  We are spending our time presenting our work-in-progress to each other and providing unbridled critique to one another.  I really mean it, we go at it with the kiddie gloves off.  And it is fantastic.  I feel like when people normally are asked for their opinion, they give either positive feedback or contrived positive feedback rather than constructive feedback.  But, my classmates are taking the critique process to heart and we are really digging into each others' work.  I think we are all going to be so much better writers and presenters at the end of the semester as a result of it.  My work was not on the chopping block this week, but it will be next week and I am so excited for it!

On Tuesday, I went to a friend's school to work with her band.  I did one clinic waaaaaaaaaaay back in my early days teaching in PG County and I have not done it since.  The only clinic experiences I have had since then is having clinicians work with my bands.  I thought I was prepared.  I was wrong.  I was unprepared to provide an incredibly motivating musical experience in 30 minutes.  I ended up just rehearsing the band, rather than igniting any kind of musical spark.  I think I did some good work with the group; I am not saying I was ineffective.  But, I do think I focused too much on the details and less on the bigger picture of making music.  I was faced with some difficult choices: what to say that had the biggest bang for the buck, what glaring issues are simply too big to tackle in 30 minutes, do I mention things I don't have time to explore fully?  I think, given the chance, I will do things much differently in a clinic situation.  I left there feeling a little disheartened that I hadn't been as effective as I wanted, but it was certainly an eye-opening learning experience.

Thankfully, my friend relayed feedback to me from her students.  It turns out the students loved me!  They found me inspiring and appreciated my ability to relay information through analogies and stories rather than directives.  So, I guess I did a good job after all.  That being said, I am still intending on refining my approach and trying to work on my clinic skills.  If you have a band and want a fledgling clinician to come work with your students (free of charge), let me know and I will do it!

The other part of my visit to the school was to fix a broken bari sax.  I really believe that instrument repair should be a required course for music education majors, especially those who will be teaching instrumental music - even if just to be able to identify common problems.  Music education programs try to prepare students with everything they need to be able to survive their first year and the tools to learn the rest as they go.  Instrument repair is something that most don't just pick up.  You really need some form of formal training to be able to do instrument repairs.  I think universities don't do music education students justice by neglecting this set of skills.

After working with the band and fixing the bari sax, the band director and I sat down and had an interesting conversation that raised some philosophical issues with music education and teacher preparation.  We discussed the differences between the Pennsylvania and Maryland certifications.  In PA, music teachers are certified P-12 Music: meaning that they can teach any kind of music from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.  In Maryland, I was licensed K-12 Instrumental Music: meaning I could teach instrumental music from kindergarten through 12th grade.  The focus on instrumental music allowed for more instrumental and rehearsal training in my degree program than what is offered in PA.  I think frustration can arise because PA requires too wide a range of skills, resulting less mastery over them.  Of course this is an over exaggeration.  There are plenty of PA-trained ensemble directors who are masters of their craft and lead wonderful ensembles.  But, I wonder what the right balance between specialization and breadth of knowledge is.

I wonder if the lack of focus on instrumental techniques and rehearsal skills drives "band heads" to seek higher degrees in conducting rather than in music education.  As I have been working on my degree in music education, I feel that some people assume I am less of a "band guy" because of my music education degree track.  Quite to the contrary, I taught secondary band for 10 years before coming to Temple, was one of the conductors of the Category 5 Wind Ensemble (shout out, woot woot!), and have played in bands and wind ensembles for over 24 years.  I wonder how prevalent this stigma is and to what extent it is causing a rift or at least a separation between conducting and music education.  In my experience at Temple, there is little overlap between the two and I think this is a shame as both fields are so interrelated.  I also consider the makeup of the music education professorate, nationwide.  What percentage of music education professors are instrumental teachers?  How many of those were secondary teachers?  How many of them taught for a significant length of time?  How many of them conducted ensembles making quality music?  Essentially, how many "band heads" become music education academics vs. becoming college band directors?  I wonder what can be done to re-fuse these two aspects of teaching back together.

We also discussed band curriculum... or, rather, the lack of band curriculum.  I think that band curricula are left purposefully vague, which can frustrate newer teachers searching for some structure.  Near the end of my tenure teaching in PG County, I had developed a curriculum.  I think I am going to use my experience doing that as the basis for a project in Seminar.  I will explain this in more detail next week after I flush out these ideas a little further.

Well, maybe...

I might get to go to Italy after all!  Dr. C. told me that she is going to be lobbying heavily for the school to pony up some money to get me over there.  Let's keep our fingers crossed on that one.  I certainly don't want to get "Templed" like with the money for my trip to NAfME in the fall...

... about which there have been some updates.  First, a recap.  I presented at the NAfME National In-Service Conference back in October.  I was told that there was a grant called The Dean's Grant which is used to fund student presentations at conferences.  What's more, I was told the pot had been increased from $10,000.00 to $20,000.00 for the year and that I was pretty much guaranteed full funding for my trip.  So, I filled out the application, submitted the application, went on the trip, and waited to hear back about the grant... and waited... and waited.  I finally sent an email to the dean to inquire on the status of my grant application and waited for a reply... and waited... and waited.  And sent a second inquiry to the dean on the status of my grant application... and waited... and waited.  Finally, after not hearing anything from the dean for a long time, I asked the department chair (who sat on the committee that reviewed the grant applications) about it.  He said, "huh.  We haven't even met about it yet."  And then he emailed the committee chair, who replied that he had been instructed to hand over all materials of the committee to the dean, essentially disbanding the committee.  So, we decided to submit the application directly to the dean above the dean I had originally submitted to.  I finally heard back this week that Dean F. may be able to find me "some money."  ... great... I am going to keep pushing till someone is able to find me all the money.

All of it.

On Wednesday, Wind Symphony gave our first concert of the semester.  It went well.  But, our guest conductor for the cycle did something that struck me as odd.  Right before the first piece I played on, which was the second piece of the concert, he walked up to the podium, stood beside it, and whispered to the band something along the lines of, "make sure you play the triplets just like we talked about in rehearsal."  It seemed very out of place.  He had prepared the band well, and the dress rehearsal sounded fine.  But, just by saying that, he placed into the subconscious of the players the notion that he was nervous and was sure enough that we would make mistakes without that last minute reminder.  It seemed like such a surefire way to shoot down the confidence of the band before even playing a note.  I remember doing things like that with my bands when I was a young teacher.  But, it didn't take me long to realize that, not only did my ensembles not need the last minute reminders, that kind of behavior from me did more harm than it did good.  I was struck that a conductor of such repute would feel the need to resort to something like this.

I had another thought at the concert.  As I looked around the stage, I noticed that all the musicians kept quite stoic faces for the duration of the performance.  I wonder whether classical musicians should be more aware of their stage presence and do more with their body language and facial expressions to convey the energy of the music to the audience.  I wonder how this might affect the audience experience and whether a change would entice more people to come see live classical music.

I know this post was filled with a lot of my musings.  But, be prepared for more to come!  I am feeling very philosophical at the moment and will likely be working out some of my philosophical strongholds and their challenges in this space over the next few weeks.  Aren't you excited?

Well, that's it for this time around.  As always, if I said something that sparks a thought about your own experiences, philosophy, or musical perspective, leave comments below or on Facebook!

Until next time, Future Dr. Mitch, out!

Introducing: Professor Mitch, Season 4, Episode 6

Finally, with all my clearances in hand, I was able to visit my student teacher this week!  I was actually really nervous as my visit with her approached.  Her concentration is choral music education and is student teaching in a high school chorus placement.  As you probably know, my concentration is instrumental music.  I have never taught a day of chorus in my life.  I only had one choral methods class in undergrad and I remember very little from it.  I remember working with vowels (but I don't remember what we actually discussed about them), I remember talking about the placement of voices in an ensemble, and I remember discussing the challenges of keeping boys interested and involved in chorus, and that is it.  How on earth could I have anything constructive to tell her?  I kept telling myself that good teaching is good teaching and, while I may not be as familiar with the content, I would be able to discuss teaching with her.  And I was right!  It turned out I had a lot to talk about.  I was able to discuss effective communication, body language, methods of instructional delivery, conducting, lesson planning, and other things.  I think V. received most of my comments quite positively.  She seemed very receptive to the things I talked about with her.  I told her - and I do believe this - that I view my purpose largely to prompt her to think critically about the choices she makes in designing, delivering, and evaluating instruction.  There is no one way to do things.  So, I really want to help her explore the possibilities that are open to her.  I am quite proud that I was able to ask her some philosophical questions that she couldn't answer right away.  I hope that she went home and considered her stance on the issues I raised.  For myself, I want to make sure that I sprinkle enough complimentary feedback into the constructive feedback I give her.  I don't think I was overly critical.  But, it is so easy to take notice of the things that may need future attention and gloss over the things done well.  The next time I observe her, I am going to make a conscious effort to identify and celebrate the things she does well.

I took particular issue with something the guest conductor said in Wind Symphony this week.  We are working on a piece entitled, Farewell to Gray, by Donald Grantham.  It's not my favorite piece, but it is worth a listen if you don't know it. 

There is a particular ritardando (gradual slowing of tempo), which he has spent some time working on with the ensemble.  I think he is not happy with how well the group follows him in the ritardando.  He told the group, "I am going to do it differently each time to make sure you're paying attention."  I understand he is likely frustrated that the group isn't following him.  But, I wonder if this approach is the most effective.  (I don't think it is).  I think that statement communicates to the ensemble that the important thing in that moment is to get eyes up and stay with the conductor.  But, is that what that section of the music is really about?  Staying together and following the directions of the conductor?  I believe there to be a more musical, collaborative, and effective way to handle situations like that.  "Follow what I do" prompts the ensemble to only consider the "what" in performance and not the "why" or "how."  I wonder how much more effective he could have been if he described his musical thoughts for the effect and involved the ensemble in a discussion on possible other alternatives - and tried them!  It's like Simon Sinek says in his TED Talk: you get buy in from other people when you start from "why" and then move out through "how" and "what".  Wait?  You're not familiar with his talk?  You should totally watch it.  It is one of my absolute favorites (despite his reference to outdated brain research).

It also acknowledges the musicians as creative individuals rather than the mechanical arm of the conductor's creativity.

So, this damn paper I am struggling to write.  You remember the paper.  It is the same one I wrote about last week.  And possibly the week before.  I spent all week trying to rewrite 2 paragraphs.  Granted they are the opening paragraphs, so they are pretty important.  I spent the week writing, deleting, writing again, deleting, etc.  I think I finally figured out my problem.  I wanted to write the paper about creativity and using chamber music as a means to support it.  The issue is that I am not a creativity expert.  I have just barely begun my reading on creativity.  So, I needed to flip the paper around.  I needed to write about chamber music and use the creative benefits as the support for it.  Because, you see, I am an expert in implementing chamber music assignments in my ensemble classes.  I did it successfully for 9 years of teaching.  Once I realized that, I found it a little easier to write.  I am still not happy with this past week's stab at the paper's introduction, but I am much closer than the previous week's offering.  Once I iron it out a little more, I will post it for you to read.

I fell behind this week.  I got so hung up on that paper, that I neglected just about everything else.  I don't have as much to write about in this entry because of it.  I need to be much better about my time management.  This coming week will be an insane week as I try to catch up on the things I dropped last week.  Wish me luck!

Until next time: Future Dr. Mitch, out!

KISS - I wish! Season 4, Episode 5

I learned a lot this week.  As you know, I am supervising a student teacher at another Pennsylvania institution of higher education.  Well, figuring out what I am supposed to be doing has been a struggle.  So far, I have four different contacts at the university (and I am not sure who is who or what each does), information has been sent to me from all four, and in both digital and hard copies.  I have been so inundated by this barrage of information from multiple sources, that it has been nearly impossible for me to figure out what is going on.  I am still not exactly sure of my responsibilities, but I am trying to work through it.  I imagine in my future career as a music education professional that I will have to supervise folks who are supervising student teachers.  I have learned from this experience to keep it simple.  Information should be concise and come from a single source.  Clear expectations, guidelines, and responsibilities should be laid out from the beginning.  And there should be ample opportunity for student teaching supervisors to voice their confusion so situations like my current one (4 weeks into observing a student teacher and still not sure of what I am supposed to do) don't happen.

What's more, there was a clearance issue.  You may remember the Penn State football scandal a few years back.

Well, because of that, Pennsylvania makes all people who work with kids go through a rigorous screening process.  Let me just say that I am in favor of screening those trusted with the welfare of children.  My frustration is not with this process.  Go safety!  Woo!

However, it would have been nice to know I had to pass the clearances.  See, here's how it happened.  I knew about the Penn State thing and that I had to get my child abuse clearances done.  Well, when I was hired, the lady I was receiving instructions from set me up with the information to get my child abuse clearances done.  I filled out some paperwork, got fingerprinted, and was officially shown to be a perfectly law abiding citizen.  So, I checked that off my list.  But, it turns out, the clearances needed for the university to hire me are not the same as the clearances needed by the state department of educations.  Which is fine.  Except nobody told me!  So, there I was, about to go visit my student teacher, when I was told I could not set foot in the schools until I got my clearances done.  "Wait a minute," I said.  "I did them!"  But, I was told I needed other clearances.  So, I rushed to get them done.  I even needed to be finger printed again.  Yes, again!  So, when I was getting my finger prints done - THE SECOND TIME! - the guy told me that PA finger prints are transferable and they can be used for any job in the state.  "Wait a minute," I said to myself.  "If they are transferable, shouldn't I be able to use the finger prints I ALREADY DID when I was hired?"  So, I asked one of my other contacts at the university.  And she said, "no.  You have to do them again."  But then, AFTER I PAID FOR AND COMPLETED MY SECOND SET OF FINGER PRINTS, a third contact at the university told me, "oh wait.  The first set of prints is transferable.  You didn't need to get the second set." 

I just hope that, when I am in charge of a staff of people, I will be more organized than this!

Anyway, Monday was not my day.  Classes went fine.  But, I realized I had forgotten to check on the recording equipment in the band rehearsal room.  Dr. C. had asked me to do it the week before and I agreed.  I have been trying to write down in my calendar everything I have to do in an effort to keep myself organized.  And it has been working... when I remember to write down what I have to do, which I didn't when Dr. C. asked me to check on the recording equipment.  So, I remembered on Monday that I needed to make sure the equipment worked and that I knew how to operate it.  Well, I went to the rehearsal room and found out that the cabinet has two locks on it... and they only gave us one key.  I went down to Dr. C.'s office to tell her the bad news (it was after the office was closed and we couldn't get a copy of the second key).  She scolded me for not doing my job in a timely fashion.  She certainly didn't yell at me or act in an unprofessional way.  But, she let me know I had dropped the ball and that she holds a much higher standard for my performance.  Well, she was absolutely right.  I had dropped the ball and it was totally my fault.  

I went to set up for Night Owls rehearsal after finishing with Dr. C.  It turned out there were multiple events in the building that night, so music stands and chairs were in short supply.  I went in search of chairs and found some in the practice rooms on the third floor.  On one room, there was an oboist.  He was in the middle of playing something and I waited patiently till he was done to knock on the door and see if I could gran the extra chairs in the room.  I could have sworn he had finished playing and given me a nod to indicate I could enter the room.  I was wrong.  He yelled at me for interrupting his recording.  Strike 2 for Mitch.  So, needless to say, I wasn't feeling on top of the world when I got to Night Owls rehearsal that evening.  It took me a while to perk back up, but I did and got some good work done on my pieces.

My preliminary paper (the one I am using for Seminar) is having an identity crisis.  I am writing about how chamber music can be used to foster students' creative thinking.  In Seminar this week, we took a look at what I had written so far.  I had my introduction ready to go.  An introduction should serve to set the purpose of the paper and draw the audience in.  Well, my introduction had the opposite effect.  My classmates had trouble wrapping their minds around what I was trying to say.  They couldn't figure out how I was attempting to integrate chamber music and creativity.  They felt like, in my writing, they were two separate ideas.  So, I need to spend some time really figuring out what I am trying to say with the paper and then find some words that actually say it.

I gave a presentation this week in History and Philosophy of Music Education on the Steamboat Springs High School Ski Band.  It is a marching band out of Steamboat Springs, CO that performs on skis.  Here is a reenactment of my presentation: (Sorry for the sniffles and tripping over my words.  It is cold season, after all.  Also, sorry for the volume level.  I need a new microphone for my computer.  The onboard one just doesn't record loud enough.)

I have a professor with whom I am having some trouble and I don't know what to do about it.  I am not naming names, nor will I identify the class.  The professor is incredibly knowledgeable in the subject matter.  However, the professor treats the students in the class differently based on the degree each student is seeking.  It feels like the professor has made assumptions about each of our prior knowledge and experience and lets that inform the way instruction is delivered.  I thought I was imagining it, but one of my classmates has also noticed this behavior.  I feel like a second class student in that class.  It feels like the professor is very interested in educating a certain degree track and is less interested in the rest of us.  I am not sure what to do about it.

I decided to cancel half of my repair workshop sessions.  Though people said they were going to come to those sessions, actual attendance numbers did not justify having the sessions.  

Well, that is all for this week.  Until we meet again, Future Dr. Mitch, out!

Don't Do Drugs or an Owl Might Rip Your Face Off, Season 4, Episode 4

This week started off with an absolute panic attack!  You see, the university makes us jump through a number of hoops in the pursuit of a graduate degree.  One of them, as you might recall from one of my very early posts, is passing the diagnostic exams.  There are exams in:

• form and analysis,
• canon and fugue,
• music history, and
• harmony.

 You get two tries to pass each exam.  If you don't pass, you have to either take a remedial course or complete an assignment.  When I first took the exams, I was told that I had to pass everything before graduation.  However, when I retook the exams about a month ago, they told us everything needed to be passed before any work could commence on a dissertation or thesis.

So, here I am in my last (fingers crossed) semester of coursework and I found out on Monday that I did not pass canon and fugue.  And, I am being required to take the remedial course.  And I don't have any room in my schedule for it this semester.  And it is already the third week of classes, so it is nearly impossible to move things around.

Don't worry, I met with the professor this morning and satisfied my remediation and all is good in the world.  What's more, I understand fugues now!  This is what I learned.

• If the statement starts on the 1st scale degree, the answer is a real answer and starts on the 5th scale degree.
• If the statement starts on the 5th scale degree, the answer is a tonal answer and starts on the 1st scale degree.

 In Seminar, we nailed down our work for the semester.  And I am super excited about it.  We are going to use the semester to each produce a paper and presentation on a topic that interests us.  We will be able to use the paper for our Preliminary Paper and we will be giving our presentations at a mock conference we put on here at Temple.  I think this is a very meaningful and authentic learning experience and one which I am greatly looking forward to.  I will be writing about using chamber music in large ensemble classes as a vehicle for student creative thinking.  (Noticing a trend here?)

Monday night, I planned to hit the sack as soon as I got home from Night Owls.  But, one of my roommates, who has asked to remain nameless, and I ended up discussing band music - you know, one of those riveting topics that never fails to engage.  We wound up diving into my cache of military (and other) band recordings and listening to tune after tune after tune.  I hadn't listened to many of those recordings in a long time.  It turns out my ear has matured (or at least changed) and some of my favorite recordings no longer engaged me the way they used to.  It was both enlightening and sad at the same time.  My roommate and I do agree, however, on the awesomeness of Gandolfi's Flourishes and Meditations on a Renaissance Theme.  You should listen to it.  Incidentally, here is a recording!

Remember how I decided to try to establish a graduate student music education journal?  Well, this week I tasked myself with asking as many questions as I could come up with.  I wasn't expecting to have so many questions!

• Who?

o   Who will be able to submit papers to the journal?

o   Who will review the papers submitted to the journal?

o   Who will approve papers for publication?

o   Who will staff the journal and in what capacity?

§  Editorial Board?

§  Copy Editors?

§  Proofreaders?

o   Who will design the layout?

o   Who will be in charge of publishing approved papers to the journal?

o   Who will read the journal?

o   Who owns the rights for any published papers?

• What?

o   What will be the identity of the journal?  Is it a real journal, or just a practice one?

o   What will be the criteria for submission?

o   What will the journal look like?

o   What form will the journal take: online or print?

o   What publishing tools are available for online and print journal design?

§  Open Journal Systems is a free, open-source journal management software.  I will need to meet with Sandy to determine if the university server has the functionality we need to use the program.  https://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs/

o   What is the functionality of Open Journal Systems (above)?

o   What web design skills are needed to publish online?

o   What will the journal be named?

o   Does the journal need a logo?

o   Do the name, logo, and any other identifying information of the journal need to be copyrighted or trademarked?

o   What are DOI numbers and do we need them?

o   What does an Editorial Board do?

o   What is an OA Policy and do we need it?

§  Creative Commons Attribution?

o   Do we need an ISSN?

• Where?

o   If online, where will the journal be hosted?

o   If physical, where will the journal be printed?

o   Where will the archives and backup data be housed?

•  When?

o   When will the journal be published?

§  Issues or rolling submission?

o   When will submissions be due?

o   When will reviews be completed?

o   When will revisions be due?

• Why?

o   Why is there a need for this journal?

o   Why should the university sponsor the journal?

o   Why should grad students submit to the journal on top of all the other requirements of the degree programs?

•  How?

o   How will students be notified of calls for papers?

o   How will students submit papers to the journal?

o   How will submissions remain anonymous to the reviewers, but not to the journal?

o   How will reviewers be assigned?

o   How will submissions be approved for publication?

o   How will the journal be advertised to and shared with the intended audience?

o   How will any expenses be funded?

o   Can papers published in the journal subsequently be submitted for publication in established journals?  Would the papers need to be deleted from the online journal if this is possible?  What if there was a print issue?

I did find a really cool article about how to set up an open source journal.  My next step is to read the article and start to answer some of the questions.  If you are interested, here is the link: https://www.martineve.com/2012/07/10/starting-an-open-access-journal-a-step-by-step-guide-part-1/

I have been having some trouble with instrument repair.  The students last semester asked for more time for instrument repair.  So, I added a second session.  But, nobody has been coming to the second session!  Two weeks in a row, nobody showed up.  Well, that is not true.  I had one student come this past week.  I think I am going to have to cancel the second session.  

I realized this blog entry has very little multimedia in it.  I usually try to use a lot of pictures, videos, and sounds to liven things up.  But, it just didn't happen this time around.  So, I will make up for it with one final video.  It's topical because Temple's mascot is the owl.

Well, kids, remember: don't do drugs or an owl might rip your face off.

That is all for this week.

Future Dr. Mitch, out!