Philadelphia is cold in the winter. I am over it.
I think I am finally settling into a rhythm for the semester. It took a while, but things are starting to feel a little more sure footed.
This week was the start of my adviser's research project for which I am the research assistant. The pretest went without major problem and was over far quicker than we anticipated. In the preparation for and execution of the pretest, I have already learned a lot of valuable things about conducting research. Dr. C. talked today about struggles with sampling in a study like this. Because the study is so time consuming, multiple universities have to be involved to have enough participants to provide a sample which will result in robust findings. That is to say that the results of the study will have convincing enough data to show that the treatments really were either a success or failure. I learned that convenience sampling is just not good enough in most cases and that often more extreme and logistically-complicated measures must be taken to ensure robustness. I also learned how important it is to consider all the moving pieces when trying to set things up. People's work schedules, material collection and distribution, facility availability, coordination between participating entities, and more have to be considered when planning a project. Not only do these aspects need to be considered, everyone involved needs to be kept up to speed and included in the planning dialogue so someone doesn't get left out of the loop. This is all really valuable information and experience as I am trying to get started on my first original research project this spring.
I have a research paper coming down the pike at me in Measurement and Evaluation in Music and I hope it will inform my research project this spring and my dissertation down the road. For the paper, we are allowed to research any form of evaluation, measurement, or assessment used in or having impact on music classrooms. I have decided to research the pervasive phenomenon of chair auditions, or the ability ranking of students in an ensemble, and the subsequent assignment of music parts based on those rankings. It is my contention that, while ability ranking is appropriate in professional orchestras and other ensembles, it is not appropriate in school ensembles of developing musicians. I am hypothesizing that by ability ranking developing students and assigning parts based on those rankings, music teachers essentially track a portion of students out of being able to seriously study music. In my initial survey of music research on the topic, I have come across a big problem which is also a big opportunity: there is not much research on the topic. While that makes research for this paper more challenging, it means that this topic of inquiry is wide open for my exploration and research. My paper for this class will end up being based on the small amount of extant literature in music on the topic and a slew of other research in related fields. The trick is going to be figuring out what related research to read. So far, I have come up with educational tracking, effects of competition on children, equitability in education, student motivation, and normed assessments as related research topics.
That being said, I read an interesting article on music auditions this week during my research for the paper. The study examined high-performing, student, orchestral musicians during a weekend-long, orchestra festival experience. The study looked at changes in the students' perceptions of self-efficacy over the course of the orchestra festival as a function of gender and orchestra placement (there were two, ability-based orchestras). Students' self-efficacy was recorded at four points during the weekend: before placement auditions, before the first rehearsal, at the midpoint of the festival, and before the final concert. The study found that there was a significant rise in self-efficacy across the participants over the course of the weekend and that the self-efficacy significantly rose between all four benchmark points. There was no significant difference in self-efficacy based on gender or orchestra placement. However, there was a significant interaction between time, orchestra placement, and gender. This revealed that there was a difference in self-efficacy between females in the top orchestra and those in the lower orchestra between the first two benchmarks only. Interestingly enough, the females placed in the lower orchestra showed a rise in self-efficacy after the placement auditions and the females in the upper orchestra did not. The article postulates that the general rise in self-efficacy over the course of the festival is likely a product of growing familiarity with the music through rehearsal and the resulting belief in probable success in performance. The lack of self-efficacy increase in the females in the upper orchestra after the auditions is attributed to the competitive nature of the top group and the belief of those students that other students were gunning for their positions. Much of this article is not directly applicable to my hypothesis regarding the appropriateness of chair auditions in school band and orchestras because this study did not take place in a school band or orchestra and the article does make a point that self-efficacy is affected by circumstance. The damaging effects on student morale of highly competitive auditioned environments does have the potential to be supportive to my hypothesis.
Hendricks, K. S. (2013). Changes in self-efficacy beliefs over time: contextual influences of gender, rank-based placement, and social support in a competitive orchestra environment. Psychology of Music, 42 (3), pp. 347-365.
I have an intern for Temple Prep. An undergraduate student caught me in the hallway and asked if he could help out with the Temple Prep Wind Ensemble. He wanted to get real experience working with kids in a musical environment. His initiative is something I respect. It is the same thing I did when I asked Tony Townes if I could help out with the Northwestern HS band program while I was in undergrad. I learned so much from working with Tony that I had to agree to take on this intern. It is going to be a really positive thing, I think. I am going to have to figure out the right amount of guidance to give him. This past week, I gave him no guidance at all. I wanted him to prepare what he thought to be the right music and the appropriate way to teach it. I think he learned a lot from that experience and the resulting experience of trying to work on the music with the students. This week, I am going to provide him some questions for thought on this past weekend's successes and shortcomings as well as questions to help him focus on some things that will aid his music selection and lesson sequencing for this coming weekend. I will still let him pick his own music without my input, as long as he considers the questions I pose.
Tomorrow, I am playing in a Wind Symphony concert. Check out the live streaming broadcast of the concert tomorrow starting at 7pm. I will post the link once I find it!
Well, I think that is it for this week.
Future Doctor Mitch, out!
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Monday, February 2, 2015
Buy My Book! Season 2, Episode 4
It has been a little tough to get into a routine because we had another day off of school on Monday due to the "snow." I guess I should say a day off of school due to the threat of snow, since nothing of substance really fell from the sky. I just finished up my third week of the semester and I have only had my Monday night class once so far. I guess we will have a lot of ground to cover this coming week!
I will start with Temple Prep because that was my biggest triumph of the week. I am firmly entrenched in my goal to have the students sightread the concert in the spring. The director of the program told me that some of the students feel a little uncomfortable about the idea of sightreading the concert. But, I think that discomfort is a good thing. It means I am pushing them to leave their comfort zones and stretch a little. I hope that I can always keep them a little uncomfortable. Though, I do know that I need to balance the discomfort with success. Goals should be rigorous, but not unattainable. This week, we did our first real sightreading. I must say that it wasn't a total disaster. Rhythm still seems to be the major tripping point. But, I think the work I am doing with the students in my Musicianship class is really helping with the rhythm. In musicianship, I approached rhythm from a different angle than I have in the past and it seemed to work really well. I started with this rhythm:
I asked the students to clap the rhythm. I counted them off and... disaster! Not to fear, though. We hadn't counted or subdivided it yet. (Side note: I am pushing for "subdivode" to be the new past tense of the verb subdivide). So, I asked the students how many eighth notes take up the same space as each of the notes in the rhythm. Why eighth notes, you ask? Because that is the smallest note value present in the rhythm, of course! And we ended up with something that looks like this:
So, I asked the students to just say that series of numbers without pausing between each one. "1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2." Then, I asked them to clap everytime they said "1." Wouldn't you know it: subdividing worked and they could clap the rhythm together as a class, and pretty accurately as well. Bam! "But," I asked the students, "why do you think we might want to use standard counts instead of 1s and 2s?" (Standard counts being 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +). Well, because while the 1s and 2s give us the subdivision, the standard counts also give us location and help us stay together when doing it as a group. So, we substituted the 1s and 2s for standard counts and we ended up with this:
Guess who can count rhythms and clap them without much error? That's right my Temple Prep kids!
*Patent pending!
*Buy my book. Pre-orders accepted now, no delivery date guaranteed in the near future.
Statistics still makes me want to jump off a building. That is all on the subject.
I read an article this week about President Obama's plan to start taxing tax-free college saving accounts on the grounds that the people using those accounts aren't really the target audience for them; that rich people are using them as tax shelters. My question is: why does saving for your children's college education have to be class-specific? Can't we just say that education is important and saving for it is something America values, regardless of the saver's tax bracket? I always feel like, when I read an article on education and politics, that education is being used as a pawn or a smoke screen for some larger political initiative. But, let me set your fear aside and say that the article noted that the plan to start taxing these accounts was abandoned and college savings are still safe for the time being. But, how can we really be mad at a guy who, if we are to believe the Super Bowl pregame show, brews his own beer in the white house?
Speaking of the Super Bowl: Gaaaaahhh! Why does the league keep letting the dirty, cheating Patriots play the game, let alone win championships? On the bright side, how about the pregame commentary by none other than Coach John Harbaugh? Gotta love it when Ravens get some national attention!
Well, that is all for now.
Until next week, Future Doctor Mitch, out!
I will start with Temple Prep because that was my biggest triumph of the week. I am firmly entrenched in my goal to have the students sightread the concert in the spring. The director of the program told me that some of the students feel a little uncomfortable about the idea of sightreading the concert. But, I think that discomfort is a good thing. It means I am pushing them to leave their comfort zones and stretch a little. I hope that I can always keep them a little uncomfortable. Though, I do know that I need to balance the discomfort with success. Goals should be rigorous, but not unattainable. This week, we did our first real sightreading. I must say that it wasn't a total disaster. Rhythm still seems to be the major tripping point. But, I think the work I am doing with the students in my Musicianship class is really helping with the rhythm. In musicianship, I approached rhythm from a different angle than I have in the past and it seemed to work really well. I started with this rhythm:
I asked the students to clap the rhythm. I counted them off and... disaster! Not to fear, though. We hadn't counted or subdivided it yet. (Side note: I am pushing for "subdivode" to be the new past tense of the verb subdivide). So, I asked the students how many eighth notes take up the same space as each of the notes in the rhythm. Why eighth notes, you ask? Because that is the smallest note value present in the rhythm, of course! And we ended up with something that looks like this:
So, I asked the students to just say that series of numbers without pausing between each one. "1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2." Then, I asked them to clap everytime they said "1." Wouldn't you know it: subdividing worked and they could clap the rhythm together as a class, and pretty accurately as well. Bam! "But," I asked the students, "why do you think we might want to use standard counts instead of 1s and 2s?" (Standard counts being 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +). Well, because while the 1s and 2s give us the subdivision, the standard counts also give us location and help us stay together when doing it as a group. So, we substituted the 1s and 2s for standard counts and we ended up with this:
Guess who can count rhythms and clap them without much error? That's right my Temple Prep kids!
*Patent pending!
*Buy my book. Pre-orders accepted now, no delivery date guaranteed in the near future.
Statistics still makes me want to jump off a building. That is all on the subject.
I read an article this week about President Obama's plan to start taxing tax-free college saving accounts on the grounds that the people using those accounts aren't really the target audience for them; that rich people are using them as tax shelters. My question is: why does saving for your children's college education have to be class-specific? Can't we just say that education is important and saving for it is something America values, regardless of the saver's tax bracket? I always feel like, when I read an article on education and politics, that education is being used as a pawn or a smoke screen for some larger political initiative. But, let me set your fear aside and say that the article noted that the plan to start taxing these accounts was abandoned and college savings are still safe for the time being. But, how can we really be mad at a guy who, if we are to believe the Super Bowl pregame show, brews his own beer in the white house?
Speaking of the Super Bowl: Gaaaaahhh! Why does the league keep letting the dirty, cheating Patriots play the game, let alone win championships? On the bright side, how about the pregame commentary by none other than Coach John Harbaugh? Gotta love it when Ravens get some national attention!
Well, that is all for now.
Until next week, Future Doctor Mitch, out!
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Animal House: funny classic of American cinema or impetus for college tragedy?, Season 2, Episode 3
I am surprised at how different this semester feels than the previous semester. I feel much less in control this semester and feel more at the mercy of others. Last semester, I taught three undergraduate classes and felt very autonomous. This semester, I am very much an assistant. I am assisting a professor with two undergraduate classes and assisting my adviser with her research. I guess it feels like I am not doing as much of my own work. I feel like a classroom fixture in the classes I am assisting. I don't get to say or do much; I am more of a teaching tool for the professor than a resource of experience. I guess that really what this means is that I need to find more ways outside of those handed to me to express my individuality and interests in the field. Hopefully I can get my own research off the ground this semester!
Statistics is killing me! I have been told my professor is the best statistics professor we have, but I find his class very frustrating. His class consists of a 2 hour lecture, where he reads his notes to us. The combination of the nature of the material, the lack of stimulation in the class, and the uncomfortable chairs makes it so hard to pay attention. For a class being offered by the school of education, I would have thought the instruction would be better. Where is the active learning? The activities? The engagement? I mean, really: who can sit and listen to someone drone on for hours about statistics and stay engaged?
On Friday night it snowed. Not a terribly large amount of snow, but enough to be substantial. Temple Prep did not cancel Saturday morning. However, very few students actually showed up - certainly not enough to have band rehearsal. So, I did an impromptu lesson on rhythm...
... and it was awesome! It was one of those lessons where everyone was picking up what I was putting down. I managed to explain rhythm in a way that the students were able to both understand and apply to the performance of music! Score! Who wants to buy my rhythm book? I haven't written it yet, but I will need your money upfront. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
For Teaching Music in Higher Education, we were required to subscribe to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Each week, I am to read an article from the chronicle and report on it to my class. This week, I read an article entitled, If Students Have Time to Get Drunk, Colleges Aren't Doing Their Job. The article is about the alcohol abuse issues which are rampant on college campuses across the country. What made it worse was that the cover photo of the article was a picture of a University of Maryland student, wearing University of Maryland apparel, shotgunning a beer. The article raised some very important points with which I agree.
The author cites research that says that modern college students spend less time on their studies than their predecessors and reasons that if colleges would keep their students busier with school work, they would have less time to abuse alcohol. The author ends the article by saying that when his own daughter is old enough for college, he will send her to a school that has the reputation of being "where fun goes to die."
This article presents an interesting moral dilemma for me. I realize the detriment of underage drinking, but as an undergrad, I did my own fair share of underage drinking. On the one hand, I recognize the tragic results that underage drinking often come to. But, on the other hand, does it make me a hypocrite to condemn something I willingly took part in and still have fond memories of? I am also not sure that the author's proposed solution of more rigorous academics will solve the problem. Students who are going to drink are going to do it, whether their curriculum is rigorous or not. As I learned in Child and Adolescent Development, exploration and experimentation is a natural process of adolescence. Also, overly rigorous curricula may end up causing burn out, stress, and depression in students and cause other traumatic practices to occur. Well, as is completely obvious, I have no answers to this problem. Thoughts, anyone?
In other news, the Boyer Ballers kickball team is now 1-1. We had a really great first game, winning 8-6 or something like that. But this past week, we got completely destroyed... 42-10. Gack! We are going to need to practice!
Anyway, that should wrap it up for last week.
Future Doctor Mitch, out!
Statistics is killing me! I have been told my professor is the best statistics professor we have, but I find his class very frustrating. His class consists of a 2 hour lecture, where he reads his notes to us. The combination of the nature of the material, the lack of stimulation in the class, and the uncomfortable chairs makes it so hard to pay attention. For a class being offered by the school of education, I would have thought the instruction would be better. Where is the active learning? The activities? The engagement? I mean, really: who can sit and listen to someone drone on for hours about statistics and stay engaged?
On Friday night it snowed. Not a terribly large amount of snow, but enough to be substantial. Temple Prep did not cancel Saturday morning. However, very few students actually showed up - certainly not enough to have band rehearsal. So, I did an impromptu lesson on rhythm...
... and it was awesome! It was one of those lessons where everyone was picking up what I was putting down. I managed to explain rhythm in a way that the students were able to both understand and apply to the performance of music! Score! Who wants to buy my rhythm book? I haven't written it yet, but I will need your money upfront. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
For Teaching Music in Higher Education, we were required to subscribe to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Each week, I am to read an article from the chronicle and report on it to my class. This week, I read an article entitled, If Students Have Time to Get Drunk, Colleges Aren't Doing Their Job. The article is about the alcohol abuse issues which are rampant on college campuses across the country. What made it worse was that the cover photo of the article was a picture of a University of Maryland student, wearing University of Maryland apparel, shotgunning a beer. The article raised some very important points with which I agree.
- Underage drinking and alcohol abuse are getting out of control on college campuses.
- Alcohol abuse is leading to an increasing number of rapes and sexual assaults.
- Underage drinking is the cause of many tragic car accidents and resulting fatalities.
- Illness and death caused by over-intoxication.
The author cites research that says that modern college students spend less time on their studies than their predecessors and reasons that if colleges would keep their students busier with school work, they would have less time to abuse alcohol. The author ends the article by saying that when his own daughter is old enough for college, he will send her to a school that has the reputation of being "where fun goes to die."
This article presents an interesting moral dilemma for me. I realize the detriment of underage drinking, but as an undergrad, I did my own fair share of underage drinking. On the one hand, I recognize the tragic results that underage drinking often come to. But, on the other hand, does it make me a hypocrite to condemn something I willingly took part in and still have fond memories of? I am also not sure that the author's proposed solution of more rigorous academics will solve the problem. Students who are going to drink are going to do it, whether their curriculum is rigorous or not. As I learned in Child and Adolescent Development, exploration and experimentation is a natural process of adolescence. Also, overly rigorous curricula may end up causing burn out, stress, and depression in students and cause other traumatic practices to occur. Well, as is completely obvious, I have no answers to this problem. Thoughts, anyone?
In other news, the Boyer Ballers kickball team is now 1-1. We had a really great first game, winning 8-6 or something like that. But this past week, we got completely destroyed... 42-10. Gack! We are going to need to practice!
Anyway, that should wrap it up for last week.
Future Doctor Mitch, out!
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Sooooo busy! Season 2, Episode 2
Holy crap this semester slammed into me like a Mack truck!
I think I bit off more than I could chew for this semester and got just a smidge ambitious. I registered for four academic classes (Teaching Music in Higher Ed, Measurement and Evaluation in Music, Intermediate Statistics, and Wind Rep). In addition, I agreed to help Dr. C. with a research project she is conducting (more on this later). After realizing how much work the research project is going to take, I came to the conclusion that I was on course to be overextended this semester. So, a decided to drop Wind Rep. I hope Dr. T. is not upset with me for dropping her class. But, there was just not going to be any way for me to be able to be awesome at everything with the schedule as busy as it was. However, Dr. C. has agreed to give me independent study credits for my work on her project, so my total credit hours for the semester is still at 12. Bam!
I can't tell you the specifics of the research project because I need to protect Dr. C.'s intellectual property. But, it is shaping up to be a big undertaking. There are going to be a minimum of ten participants, each needing two fifteen-minute treatments per week for five weeks. I will be administering all the treatments. Do the math... that is a lot of time!
We had our initial planning meeting for Night Owls. I think it is going to be a good semester. Last semester, Dr. C. asked for suggestions for pieces to program for this semester. As we were sifting through the tunes she picked, I saw that she programmed two of my suggestions! That made me feel good!
Well, being the first week back, there isn't much to report, so here is a loosely music related video for your entertainment and possibly nostalgia if you remember this one from way back.
Next week, I should have actual music education content to report!
Future Doctor Mitch, out!
I think I bit off more than I could chew for this semester and got just a smidge ambitious. I registered for four academic classes (Teaching Music in Higher Ed, Measurement and Evaluation in Music, Intermediate Statistics, and Wind Rep). In addition, I agreed to help Dr. C. with a research project she is conducting (more on this later). After realizing how much work the research project is going to take, I came to the conclusion that I was on course to be overextended this semester. So, a decided to drop Wind Rep. I hope Dr. T. is not upset with me for dropping her class. But, there was just not going to be any way for me to be able to be awesome at everything with the schedule as busy as it was. However, Dr. C. has agreed to give me independent study credits for my work on her project, so my total credit hours for the semester is still at 12. Bam!
I can't tell you the specifics of the research project because I need to protect Dr. C.'s intellectual property. But, it is shaping up to be a big undertaking. There are going to be a minimum of ten participants, each needing two fifteen-minute treatments per week for five weeks. I will be administering all the treatments. Do the math... that is a lot of time!
We had our initial planning meeting for Night Owls. I think it is going to be a good semester. Last semester, Dr. C. asked for suggestions for pieces to program for this semester. As we were sifting through the tunes she picked, I saw that she programmed two of my suggestions! That made me feel good!
Well, being the first week back, there isn't much to report, so here is a loosely music related video for your entertainment and possibly nostalgia if you remember this one from way back.
Next week, I should have actual music education content to report!
Future Doctor Mitch, out!
Sunday, January 11, 2015
I'm Back! Season 2, Episode 1
Did you miss me? Oh, I know you did! I feel so warm and fuzzy inside! And I am so happy that we can once again start sharing this beautiful time together! Well, let me fill you in on my winter break.
I slept...
... that is all.
Kidding! Of course I was a smidge more productive than that. I ate too!
In all seriousness, though, the first major event of winter break was the publishing of the fall semester grades. I know you have been waiting for this just as anxiously as I have. So, here you go!
Damn you, Statistics! Other than that, I totally rocked the first semester. But, holy crap, I need to figure out how to do statistics! Ruined my 4.0 in the first semester. An A-! Gaaaaaaah!
In other news, I spent the break working on my proposal to speak at the NAfME (National Association for Music Educations) conference in the fall. Writing a session proposal turned out to be more of a tasking endeavor than I originally thought. It is an art form all unto itself. I only had 500 words to describe an entire hour session. It was a very delicate balancing act between being informative, engaging, entertaining, and brief. Regardless of whether or not I get invited to speak at this conference, it was a great learning experience just to put the proposal together. What's the session, you ask?
Drum roll, please!
"Transcending the Notes and Rhythms: Fostering Creativity in Ensemble Rehearsal"
If this ends up happening, you better get your butts to the NAfME conference!
This past Saturday was the first day of Temple Prep for the semester. I feel incredibly optimistic about how the semester is going to go. My first hour - with the Wind Ensemble - was spent debriefing the absolute debacle that was the concert and setting goals for the semester. I was pretty honest with the students and it seemed that they appreciated my candor. I told them that they don't read music. Not that they can't read music, but that they rely more heavily on their memories than on the sheet music in front of them. Then, I gave them the Band Skills Inventory, a tool I designed for students to evaluate their own progress and acquired skills. After all, they will not fix problems that they do not recognize as being problems. And then I dropped the bomb on them. We are going to sightread the concert in the spring. They actually took to that news pretty well and were anxious to step up to that challenge. The best reaction, though, was one of my assistants, a masters student in oboe performance, who stared at me in disbelief when I told the students the news. After rehearsal, I had a 30 minute theory class, which I am going to be calling musicianship since I will delve in to topics other than theory. We did some diagnostic exercises just to see where everyone was. Looks like we are starting from the very beginning. But, that's ok. My motto (well, one of them) still holds true. I would rather that my students be able to do less, but do it well, than be exposed to more and not be able to do any of it.
This semester is going to be a busy one. I am assisting my adviser with some of her research, which is going to be super fascinating. In an email I sent her the other day, I told her that I also have an idea for some of my own original research that I would like to pitch to her on Monday. Her response: "Sounds good - I'll be interested in hearing about it. Let's get this party started!" So, if she likes my idea, I am going to be coming to you, my middle school band and orchestra director friends, for assistance. Don't hide there in the back. I am talking to you...
and you
and you
Well, in other news, the Ravens made a valiant effort in the playoffs - much more solid than I thought they would be. But, in the end, we just couldn't get it done. I feel optimistic for next season. We definitely have some gaping holes to fill, but it was a much better season than last. Here's to hoping!
And with that, my second semester begins tomorrow. Wish me luck and keep reading!
That is all for now.
Future Doctor Mitch, out!
Sunday, December 14, 2014
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:
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!
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.
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.
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!
Sunday, December 7, 2014
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?
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!
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:
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!
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