It's been quite a while since my last post. So much has happened! I would apologize for the lack of a post, but I notice it's common on education blogs, especially those written by active public school educators, for there to be long gaps between blogs while school is in session. I figure the people who would be interested in this blog can probably understand.
And while I look forward to writing over the breaks, I have to admit I'm not too sure what to blog about. Many of my past blogs were based on findings in my research, but since August 1st I've been engaged in nothing but practice. When I do resume blogging, I imagine it will be as unstructured as many of my earliest blogs.
So with that in mind, I wanted to just post a journal entry more than anything else. For my friends and family out there who follow this, and anyone else for that matter, I'm happy to report that most of what I have shared on this blog in terms of pedagogy and procedures has been largely effective. For example...
Wind patterns, while I haven't been using them as much lately, tend to be a big help for a variety of things. Improving sound is an obvious one, and the main reason I started using it, but I've gradually found other ways that it can help. For example, when I need to line up 8th note 16th note runs (whatever the combination), I have used this with some great success. When students don't have to focus on producing a sound, they can listen to whether or not their tongues are lining up with everyone else on the part. Once they can line it up without the instruments, it tends to line up much better back on the horn. Think of it as an alternative to hissing. It's more quiet, but still easy to hear (if they're producing good air speed, and if not you can comment on that too) and they're using a better oral cavity shape. By listening for air speed you can also hear things like accents, dynamics, and so on. Do you sometimes have students just finger through a part? Adding a wind pattern to that requires little additional thought on their part, and it helps them work on air flow while getting the fingers down. I figure, the closer you can simulate playing, the better.
Procedures for running a more effective class has worked really well. At least... for the high school band.
For a brief background, I'm at a small school and teach 1 - 4 general music (separate classes each twice a week), then 5th grade band, 6th grade band and high school band (grades 7-12).
The band came from a director who employed little or no structure. Instruments were stored at random, the shelves themselves were torn up, there was no designated space for anything. The band facility was in pretty bad shape when I walked in. It's a small facility, but I still spent about 40 hours getting things organized and clean. The only officers at the time were the two drum majors, so I appointed several officers and had them play test and maintenance as many instruments as possible during the leadership camp. We discovered 1/3rd to 1/2 of our inventory was unplayable, and even then our students had equipment problems during the first two weeks of camp. We had uniform issues throughout the season due to missing overlays and mismatched items. What I did over the summer was a massive improvement, but there is still much work to be done in that area. Over the summer I hope to reorganize the library to facilitate long term growth (it uses an alphabetical storage system rather than a numbered one, which would require moving around a lot of music when cabinets are full, which they are). I also, perhaps more urgently, have to sort out our uniform situation.
But the students responded well to the structure. At least at first. They liked having a clean band hall. They had no problem keeping their instrument in its designated storage space, and music likewise in a designated space. When I'm on my A-Game, they rehearse well. They hate relearning the procedure for getting quiet when I clap or rap the baton 3 times, so they tend to follow it pretty well. Although I have to say they rehearse far better indoors than outdoors. I blame myself for not doing a better job of teaching them outdoor procedures as thoroughly as I did indoor ones. It was a situation where it was a detail I hadn't thought of ahead of time, and when the time came it slapped me right across the face.
One of many rookie mistakes I won't be making next year.
I had a conversation with a board member not less than a week after I accepted the job, and he told me what the Board wanted in a director was someone who could, "...lasso the kids." This was said before anything regarding music. The expectations were not very high, obviously. There had even been some talk of cutting the program, since the previous director retired and they wouldn't have to cut any positions, and it would free up some money in this desperate time we're living through. That motion failed, obviously. But I say these things to give you some idea of the program I walked into.
I actually wasn't surprised at how well they responded to the structure. I was confident in what I was doing, and that it would work. There were kinks, but I'm gradually tweaking things. Little things you might not think of ahead of time.
It didn't get rough until our first football game. While most of the students had no issue with the new set up for football games, several were quite unhappy to have to wear a "hot weather uniform" that included bibbers, black socks, marching shoes and their band shirt. Those students were especially unhappy about having to sit with their sections, and in designated rows. A couple of them were bummed that I didn't allow for "solo playing" in the stands. Of course, everyone else loved all of these changes. But they're not the ones that have to live through them.
But I'm not griping. Change can be difficult for anyone, and I brought about many dramatic changes.
There is also a better sense of camaraderie than in previous years, where I heard students didn't get along very well with each other. It isn't all sunshine and flowers, of course, but there are good signs. The clarinets get it. They're a model for what I want the band to become. Talent wise, they're very diverse. It didn't start that way. 9 clarinets showed up the first day of camp, and 5 or 6 had never been across the break. But they worked hard during the season. Most of them took 1-4 private lessons with me after school. They were the only section to call their own sectionals after school, and they did that I think three times. So they're probably the hardest working section in the band, and they've made the most improvement as a section. At the same time, they're also the only section in the band that has organized a section party just to hang out as friends. One afternoon they ordered a couple of pizzas, got some sodas, and hung out together in front of the school. They love band. They have fun together. They work to reach their potential. You can't ask for better than that.
Also, on a football bye week we had a social activity at a local park. All we did was provide food and drinks. On less than a week's notice we got 2/3rds of the band out there. A few others would've been there were it not for work and previous family commitments. They had a great time just hanging out and enjoying each other's company, and asked to do it again.
I think a good chunk of the progress on this front is due to the Band Challenge Day we did on the last full day of our summer camp. It was based on the Challenge Day program featured on MTV's "If You Really Knew Me", and it was such an incredible experience that I will likely blog about how we put it together.
The camp itself was also highly successful, and drew acclaim from the students, faculty and parents. There are a lot of ways to do camps, but that might also be a future blog.
The only area where we were not successful was at UIL. I accept responsibility for that, too. Some of it was simply not knowing what to do to more effectively rehearse drill. I've learned a lot there thanks to clinicians and talking to my mentors. I got a lot better as the season progressed, but if I had known certain tactics even a few weeks earlier, and especially when I started, they would've been more successful.
Ultimately the biggest culprit, no surprise, was programming. The band was used to a lot of "park and bark" or sequences where only a few students were responsible for moving at a time. We had everyone marching together. The number of sets was achievable, but it was still a big jump, and again, I wasn't armed with as many strategies in the beginning. The music was also too challenging, even after rewriting some parts. Of course, we were practically walking in blind. I'm already working with our arranger on next year's music. He only had a few weeks to produce those arrangements, and I got them two days before summer camp. The soonest we could get rewrites was 2-3 weeks later. We're already developing next year's music, and this time we know exactly what is challenging and achievable for every section in the band. The difficulty of drill will be roughly the same, but with a couple of small tweaks to our overall approach.
Ultimately, the band did improve. Their rating stayed the same from a year ago, but they also had a much tougher panel than in the previous year. Except for the three bands in our region that made 1's, every other band but us went down a rating from a year ago. And had they performed the way they did the night before, their rating would've been better. Which is a shame, because they took their UIL rating so hard. Their performance at the football game the previous night was one of those performances where the crowd just lit up. It's a small town, and by the next morning practically everyone had heard about how great that band was at halftime. For about six minutes, those kids got to feel like rock stars, and isn't that really the best part of what we do? The superintendent, who helps in the press box, commented to a board member that it was the best he's seen the band in his five years there. What a shame that UIL went the way it did!
So the band is improving, and I know next year's marching season will be so much better. They will be much more talented musically and marching wise. They will start with more pride. They will be familiar with the system. The music and drill will be right on their level. I know we just got done with marching season, but I can't wait for next year!
They're improving. As a concert band, their tuning and ensemble sound is improving a little each day. The foul taste of failure at contest is finally starting to wear off. My pride finally restored itself to a point where I set some goals for how I can rehearse better. This past week I focused on doing a handful of things each day to rehearse better, and the difference it made was awesome.
For example, I committed myself on one day to move at breakneck speed the entire rehearsal. The improvement in those sections of music we worked that day was incredible. And I took it to the point that if I wasn't exactly sure what to comment on, or how to put something, I would just say, "I need to hear that again, please." and count them off. I committed to prioritizing score study over everything else during the hour or so before rehearsal, and that helped a lot. There was a time for a couple of weeks where I wanted to do it, but things kept coming up. I think I will continue to push those things aside in favor of score study. I also noticed I wasn't dishing out a lot of good compliments lately, so I literally think about what student or section I'm going to give props to each day. If they don't do something outstanding during the first piece we work or during the warm up, then I do it during the transition between the first piece and the second. Even this move has brought a better atmosphere to the rehearsals.
So I'm improving. A lot.
I wish I could say as many positive things about my other classes. Beginner classes have been rough going. Teaching procedures hasn't worked with them. It's not all bad news, of course, but they have not gone anywhere near as well as I would've hoped. I feel fairly confident that my 5th graders will be awesome players by the time they hit the high school band. I'm not upset about where they're at. I just wish I could do a better job of getting them to not talk as soon as they stop playing, and to get them to get their horns up more quickly. Again, I blame myself. 6th grade had a more difficult time than the high school adjusting to the structural changes. They also had a hard time because they were taught entirely by rote last year. The previous director also had them switch instruments frequently. They were never tested on instruments. He basically just had them switch around until they hopefully found something they could succeed at. They also didn't understand how to read music. At all. Apparently, everything in 5th grade was done by rote. Of course, the previous director only had half an hour to pick them up from their class, walk them over to the band hall, try to get something accomplished, and walk them back to their class. This was with both 5th and 6th grade. Fortunately the principal was happy to change this for me, but I can understand how it would be difficult to teach heterogeneous classes and get very far when you're realistically looking at only having 15-20 minutes a day to work with. Throw in a lack of any structure, and it's a small wonder that this year's high school rookies are achieving as much as they are.
Anyway, this turned out to be quite a long journal entry. I'm working hard. I'm doing the best I can while still trying make sure my wife and two children (one of which was born during the second week of summer camp!) are happy and receive the time and attention they need. The band is improving, and I'm excited for the future. I can't wait for the upcoming Winter Concert. I can't wait for the spring trip (assuming the fundraising happens), I'm optimistic for Concert Contest (still researching lit for that as well as sight reading prep) and I'm pumped for next year's marching season!
So now that I got a bunch of that stuff off my chest, I promise that the next few blogs I do will be more in line with what I usually do. I'm learning more about score study, concert preparation, conducting, teaching, etc. etc. Some of it I'm not ready to share, but some of it is probably worthwhile.
So until then, thank you for reading, and take care!
Musically yours,
Mr. Cooper
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