The Benefits of Clinicians

Watching a clinician at work
is like seeing a skilled surgeon
in action. It's awesome.

The term "clinic" is so appropriate to band for what it is. You bring in an expert to diagnose the
problems your band is having, prescribe solutions, and set your band on the path to healthy playing and ensemble skills. Kids love working with a guest conductor, but I think I gain as least as much out of it as the students do (if not more). It's hard to believe that anyone out there would not bring in guests to work with their band, but I assume that happens because almost every time I go to a convention there is at least one session on the benefits of clinicians. People compliment the job I'm doing pretty regularly, but even so I feel like I owe so much of that success to the expert teachers that we bring in to work with the students. For me, the more clinicians the better. And when you find a good clinician, your band will experience explosive growth in just one rehearsal! So why does it work that way? What are the benefits to you and your students? And if you've never used a clinician, how do you find one?

Simple Procedures to Develop Literacy & Technique

Wait... is he the only one reading music???

Two of the biggest goals we work towards with beginners, after tone quality, is music literacy and playing technique. When I was in college I had the chance to observe a great beginning band teacher, and made notes of the procedures he used to teach new music to his students. Later on, attending workshops and reading posts on the YellowBoard reaffirmed that this was indeed a widely used practice by great beginning band teachers. The procedures are simple, easy to teach, and quickly become a routine to learn new lines of music. In the process it teaches music literacy, technique, and teach students how to break down and learn new music independently. If you're an experienced teacher, you probably already do this or something like it. But if you're struggling with your beginners, or if you're a pre-service teacher, then I hope this article will help shed some light on how to help your beginners with what can be a daunting task when presented all at once - learning and playing new music.

Motivate Students by Creating Structure

I'll be honest, motivation is something I'm still working on. I feel for the teachers who teach required classes because I myself teach elementary music, and 5th and 6th grade band is required (all of which I do on my own in addition to the HS band). Luckily I've done well with motivating all of the groups except for those required band classes. The Band is on a roll right now, having made incredible progress this year and having had some success at contests. The students are proud of themselves, and they're also getting great positive feedback from their fellow students, the faculty, and members of the community. It took a lot of hard work from everyone involved since August 1st, and often it felt like a struggle, both for me and them. Reflecting on these experiences, especially with the HS Band, I've thought of a few of the things that have led to successfully motivating the students throughout the year.

RythmBee Works!

Hello again!

I've been interested in RhythmBee! since attending a workshop with, among others, Cindy Bullock. She is a nationally recognized, retired middle school band teacher who made her name working at Nemitz Jr. High School in Odessa, TX. My jaw drops every time I listen to a certain clip of one of her honor bands. She's one of those incredible music teachers that gets kids to do things that seem impossible. If she says something, you want to do it without question.

Anyway, I spent the $200 for the package that is targeted for small school and middle school bands. It has to be one of the best investments I've made for the program so far. When the website says that RhythmBee works for everyone, they're not joking. The only people it won't work for are the students who refuse to look at the screen.

How to Organize a Music Library

Hello again!

You're probably not looking for a summer project, but if your music library isn't well organized, it would be a project well worth your time. Last time I talked about the four steps to organize any space, and in this blog we're going to apply those steps to the music library.

Have you ever needed or wanted to find a piece of music and found you had to go digging around in cabinets where pieces were not kept in a particular order, or that you had to go digging around in piles of music that were not yet organized? I have even seen libraries and offices where sheet music lay strewn about on the floor!

Hey, I'm not making any judgments here. What I am saying is that your time is valuable, and our goal is always to push ourselves to accomplish more for the program in the same amount of time. If your library isn't well organized, then this is something that is no doubt eating up your time. Perhaps you've even had to pause class because someone was missing a part, and then you either had to go find it or send a student to go find it (while other teachers have procedures to do these things outside of class, in either case somebody isn't playing for a while).

The bottom line is this - having a well organized music library will save you time. Not only that, but it will contribute to a clutter free environment, which not only helps your students to have more respect for the program, but it also reduces your stress level!

Paper Percussion?

Hello again!

Can paper percussion instruments help us keep an army
of percussionists engaged when there are more players
than parts?

Several months ago I wrote a series on how procedures maximize learning, and on the blog specifically about classroom procedures for band, one of the comments left recommended I think about how to handle percussionists.

Schools that are large enough have negotiated this problem by scheduling a percussion class that is separate from the full band class, so that the percussionists can rehearse their parts and additional percussion ensemble music non-stop. This is obviously a great solution, as percussionists only have to risk boredom during after school rehearsals when they put their part together with the full band. But you see, while the separate class is a great solution, it doesn't avoid the problem entirely. When the percussion gets to rehearse with the full concert band, they will inevitably be bored. I did my best in rehearsals this past semester, but I, too, am guilty of allowing this to happen.

At the time I received the comment, all I knew was that you do your best to keep them busy, but thanks to Dr. Peter Boonshaft's book, "Teaching Music With Purpose", I think there may be a much better solution that actually keeps percussionists engaged.

Paper Percussion.

Procedures Maximize Learning: Quickly Addressing Fundamentals

Greetings! Today's blog is the last in my series on procedures I've either observed, read about, or both, that maximize learning by reducing wasted time during a class or rehearsal. This blog will focus on procedures that are used to address issues in the music, as opposed to procedures that help the rehearsal run smoothly.

In case you missed it, you can read my introduction/overview of procedures and how they work by reading Part I of the series. You can also check out the fairly in depth look at Classroom Procedures (Part II).

Rehearsal Procedures, as I'm calling them, are specific procedures that address specific problems. They are techniques or protocols that are used with students on such a regular basis that when you can name the procedure the students know exactly what do to. It is a very common technique. This is in contrast to diagnosing the problem and coming up with an explanation of how to fix it. It is an automatic response on both the teacher's end and the student's end. The teacher hears an issue, says the name of the procedure most likely to address the issue, and the students immediately follow the procedure, often making improvement with each repetition, each of which takes a few seconds.

Every music teacher uses at least a few. Here are some that I observed this past semester in a middle school setting.

Rhythm Procedures

Sometimes students can understand the rhythm and figure it out on their own if they have another shot or two at it. A new teacher might give an explanation of the rhythmic error the first time they catch the problem. I'm sure I did that at some point myself. But I quickly observed that students were able to grasp it for themselves if they were given 2-3 chances at it. To facilitate this process quickly, there were a number of responses, depending on the severity of the error.

"Count measure (X)"

The teacher would say, "Count measure 16", turn on the metronome (which triggered the response of toe tapping for most students), and say, "Down - Up - Set - And - Ready - And - Count - " Down Up being the reminder for some students to get their foot tapping. The students would then attempt the rhythms, and vamp (or repeat without coaching) it. If problems still existed, or if they were not following other procedures (like tapping their feet, impulsing, counting loudly) they would get that feedback. If after a couple of times if there were still problems, then the teacher would call their attention to the trouble spots and either give them the answer or reinforce the skills needed to lead them to it. 

However, this was the more typical procedure.

"Count and Finger Measure (X)"

In this case the students are counting the rhythm while fingering the notes on their instrument. Percussionists would place their index fingers on the appropriate bars in rhythm so as not to make noise. 

In our high school honor band, not only would we tap our feet and count the rhythms, but we would also clap. We might count the beat and clap rhythm, or count the rhythm and clap the beat. To add to the complexity, we would switch between the Eastman counting system (One-ta-te-ta) to an off shoot correlating to what our feet were doing (Down-ta-Up-ta or Down-ta-Press-ta-Up-ta). 

I might at some point write a blog on the importance of using a counting system as a means of helping students establish a schema (or mental organization system) to understand rhythms at a later date, but the important thing here is not the counting system itself. The important observation is that the teacher established a consistent procedure for isolating and fixing the rhythm issue. Rhythms are such a constant issue that it makes sense to have a procedure in place so that when it is addressed, it can be fixed in as little time as possible.

Fingering/Note Naming Issues  

In many ways this was one of my favorite procedures, especially for the beginner classes where the instruments were grouped together and were all saying the same thing. Young students struggle for a while to immediately recall note names and fingering. Once the rhythm has been corrected, if there are wrong notes the teacher will say...

"Note Name and Finger Measure (X)"

This specific procedure works just like the previous ones mentioned, where he then turns on the metronome and gives preparatory beats before the students come in. They then say the names of the notes in rhythm while fingering the notes. For trombones, the name of the procedure is the same, as these procedures continue to be used when they bring everyone together in a full band setting. The teacher can listen for note names to reinforce that aspect of music literacy, while carefully watching which valves or keys are being pressed. If after a couple of tries he needed to break it down further he could have them note name and finger one note at a time before going back to having them do it in rhythm.

This was one of my favorites because nearly every public school tuba player I've encountered within an 80 mile radius of San Angelo (except at this school) lacked the basic music literacy skills of naming notes, and of course that also meant they didn't understand key signatures. Yikes! Surely they had been taught it at some point, but perhaps they needed more reinforcement. This procedure reinforces those important fundamental concepts on a daily basis.

At this point they could usually play whatever they were having trouble with. 

Note or Intonation Accuracy

"Buzz (insert passage)"

Specific to brass players, this indicates that they remove the mouthpiece from the instrument and, after a count off, buzz the passage they were struggling with, in tempo. It is more effective when the students have a pitch reference to match, whether it is the teacher on an instrument/midi-stick, a SmartMusic playback, or the best player on the part playing while the rest buzz. I've heard of all of them being effective, particularly the first and third options coming from master teachers I know or have met personally. If your brass players are using BERPs (Buzz Extension Resistance Piece), the procedure may require them to place the mouthpiece into the BERP. 

Some argue against the effectiveness of buzzing, and while I understand their arguments, I whole heartedly disagree. But that's a topic for a different blog. When using this, it is important that the students transition from the mouthpiece back to the instrument as quickly as possible for it to be effective. If they take too much time, make them buzz again and get the mouthpiece back into the lead pipe quickly as a means of rehearsing/reinforcing the correct procedure, because the longer they wait before playing the passage on the instrument, the more muscle memory is lost and the disconnect between playing and buzzing grows. It becomes a waste of time, and a few seconds can make a difference.  

"Wind Pattern (insert passage here)"

In brass playing (and probably in woodwind playing) we like to say that 90% of all problems are caused by how we're using our air. Wind Patterning is a pedagogical tool originally created by Arnold Jaccobs (tubist), and officially labeled, refined and promoted by tubists Pat Sheridan and Sam Pilafian in both their Breathing Gym and Brass Gym products. A wind pattern happens when you turn a musical line into a "Wind Pattern" by taking a full breath and blowing air as if you were playing - using the tongue, pressing the valves/keys, but not producing a sound. Most importantly, you're using your air exactly as you would if you were playing, including articulations, shaping, dynamics, etc. This is a procedure I have experimented with, but not at great length. It was always effective, but I've never seen how efficient it could be because I've never been with a group long enough for it to become a routine, and it's always a new pedagogy for them. Arnold Jacobs, in his book, "Song and Wind", stresses the connection between music making and how we use our air. We all agree that most intonation problems with young players are the result of a bad sound, 90% of which is probably due to air flow issues, so a procedure grounded in this makes a LOT of sense. I can't wait to test it out more with my bands.

So there you have several examples of routines that are used or can be used to quickly fix fundamental playing issues during rehearsal. Again, this is nothing ground breaking or anything. It's merely a recognition of one strategy great teachers use to fix problems quickly and efficiently.

I'm sure there are many other problems that can be fixed with procedures. I hope to go back to this concept as I learn how to successfully teach concepts to see how many of them can be fixed through procedures. Obviously not all of them can be, but I bet most fundamental issues could be. Again, these are unique in the sense that they are repeated so frequently that the students have an automatic response. Everyone is engaged, and yet at the same time the students and teacher are acting on auto pilot to fix the problems. Careful, though, as I should mention this can also get boring, especially if you use the same 3 procedures over and over again.

Are there other examples of procedures you have seen? Variations on the themes above or otherwise? I'd love to hear them! 

Otherwise, I hope this series on procedures, how they can be used, and how they maximize learning, has at least given you food for thought. I think it has certainly been helpful to reflect on them. Thank you for reading, and until next time, take care!

Musically yours,

Mr. Cooper

PS. As an update, I HAVE been able to try out the Wind Pattern procedure, and it's been very successful. Not just for improving sound, wind patterns can also be used to address finger coordination, and note lengths, articulations, dynamics, and other stuff. Have fun with it!

Procedures Maximize Learning: Classroom Procedures

Hello again! Thanks for joining me in my reflections from this past semester of observations, clinics and other experiences as I prepare for student teaching and soon, my career!

Last time we talked about what procedures are, why they're important, and how they maximize learning by preventing wasted time. It was an overview, but has concepts I will reference but won't reexplain, so if you missed it, you can check it out here.

In this blog we'll discuss Classroom Procedures. This is one component of classroom management. In fact, it is the most important aspect of it. It is far more important and more effective than rules/consequences/rewards (though those are important and necessary), and it is the component that many classroom teachers fail to use, or fail to implement correctly. Classroom procedures tell students how to go about the business of class so that we can focus on learning and be as productive as possible. They are specific instructions on how you want something done. Teachers who account for every possible event in class can create a procedure for it. If you teach the procedure, rehearse it, and reinforce it, then after a couple of weeks they will be ingrained habits and soon the class will run itself. At least, that's what the books tell me. 

And I have to believe it, to be honest, because I've experienced classes where procedures are clearly defined, rehearsed in some way, and reinforced. They are always far more productive, and in bands, the performances were far more worthwhile. I've also observed a couple of bands where there was not a clear procedure that day, and it was chaos. I've also observed a couple of bands where some form of procedure existed, but the procedures where ineffective. They had not been clearly defined, and/or they had not been rehearsed and reinforced. It is not enough to simply explain your expectations. You must have them practice the procedures, go through the process, and reinforce it when it is done correctly or when someone slips up. It takes a commitment of time and energy on the teacher's end, but it's worthwhile.

Anyway, let's look at the various situations that happen in a given band/music rehearsal and see what procedures we might need, examine the situations, and then I'll give you my sample procedure that I plan to implement with my first class. These procedures will surely evolve as I gain experience, but hopefully they're good procedures. I'd love to get feedback on them, especially from anyone who is actively teaching, and especially if they make it a point to use procedures in their class.

Entering the Band Hall

Students should start working from the moment they sit down.
Which trumpeter do you think is having more success?

Think about what all a student has to do when they enter the band hall. They usually don't have a lot of time before class is to begin. Are they allowed to have their back packs at their seat? If so, where? Under the seat? Beside it? Do you want them to put their electronic device in their bag and leave it in a certain place? What about their instrument cases? I've seen instrument cases sprawled out and open in front of the lockers, I've seen them placed under seats, and also returned to lockers before entering the set. Do you expect students to remove their head gear? You also have to give instructions as to what students do before the bell rings. Are they allowed to chat with their neighbors or should they start working on something? Remember, if you don't specify your expectations, they will do as they please. Also consider what you want the band hall to look like during rehearsal. Have you seen a band hall that looked like total chaos during a rehearsal? What if that was your band hall and someone important saw it in that condition during class? Yikes! An organized rehearsal space (or classroom) is essential to creating an environment conducive to learning, so there's that, too. Most importantly, the procedure should aim to get students learning as soon as possible. Consider all of these elements, and then think of what your procedure would look like. It might look something like this:

A. Students are expected to be on task and working to improve from the moment they enter the band hall.

B. Place electronic devices inside your bag, leave bag at the front of the room. Make sure you have your rehearsal materials.

C. Remove hats or other head gear and place it with your bag.

D. Retrieve a pencil from the pencil cup if you do not have one.

E. Retrieve instrument and other materials from your locker (if you have one). Leave your case inside your locker (or bag). Do not bring your case into the rehearsal set, or leave it on the floor, as this makes our band hall look disorganized and unprofessional.

F. Sit in your designated chair, check the day's Objectives, and begin working on the Warm Up as soon as possible.

In this case, I should specify that my "Warm Up" is not the traditional warm up. I consider the traditional warm up to be "Technique Builders", and that's how I will present them to the students. Warm Up, in this case, is an assignment, not to be graded, that basically has them either working on a specific exercise or reviewing the previous day's progress. Mr. and Mrs. Wong stress in their book, "The First Days of School", the importance of using an activity at the beginning of class to get the students working as soon as possible. This activity or assignment is posted on the board and students know when they come in that they are to begin work on it as soon as possible. In core classes you would pass this assignment in for participation points, but that doesn't do us much good. None the less, it is important to me that students start working on improving their playing or progressing on the music as soon as they sit down.

This is a particularly important procedure. In my recent observations of different bands I noticed that anywhere from 1-5 minutes were wasted on a regular or daily basis, both because students were not moving quickly and occasionally because the teacher was preparing materials. There was a procedure, but it had not been properly reinforced. Adding a countdown timer helps a great deal, one teacher noted. They had used it in the past but were not set up to use it at the time. The day I did see a countdown timer in effect, students were hustling to get to their seats - big difference. In one case a group lost nearly ten minutes because students were moving casually to set out chairs and stands. A few were trying to get a tuner at the front of the class to work (visiting a tuner was part of their daily procedure), but most of the students who were in place were chatting with their neighbor. Yikes! And these were good kids. Once we did get started, they were on task, cooperative, and focused. A better procedure with some rehearsal and reinforcement at the beginning of concert season would make such a huge difference, don't you think?

Forget the impact of a well implemented procedure like this on a daily basis. Imagine the weekly, monthly, and yearly impact! This is how you start class as soon as the bell rings, which is crucial to increasing student learning outcomes, according to Harry and Rosemary Wong's book, "The First Days of School".

When to Play

Would you let it fly if a student was playing out of turn? And yet, if we don't establish a procedure for when to play, we're allowing them to make that decision for themselves. Sometimes when a student plays they're just screwing around, but sometimes a student is trying to improve by finding notes at a soft volume. Either way, we need a procedure that is consistent.

A. During rehearsal time, students are to only play their instruments when directed by the conductor. It is assumed that you will play during the Warm Up.

B. When the baton comes up, instruments come up. We will wait to play until all instruments are up. Please don’t be the one who makes the band wait!

C. Playing out of turn is considered disruptive, and will result in a check.

Susan Finger is a nationally recognized middle
school director for Anderson Community
Schools.

The "check" refers to the rules/consequences/rewards system I plan to use. It's essentially stolen from an incredible middle school teacher named Susan Finger who worked at the last Angelo State Band Camp a couple of years ago. Anyway, perhaps the most important aspects of this procedure are the expectation to not play out of turn, and the procedure of instruments coming up when the baton comes up.

Have you been in a band where the conductor had the band practice raising their instruments with the baton because it took too long for the band to get on task after they gave instructions? I have. And if you have, too, then guess what the director was doing? They were rehearsing a procedure. In this case, the procedure is, "When the baton comes up, instruments come up."

Here is another specific aspect to define - how quickly should everyone's instruments come up? In good groups it is an immediate response. One conductor I sat under put the baton down (instructing us to put instruments down) when not everyone's instruments were up after a couple of seconds. This was repeated until everyone brought their instruments and sticks to playing position when his baton was up. Later down the line it was reinforced on a given day when, despite it having been a student habit, someone did not have their instrument up in time. He again stated the expectation and rehearsed it 2-3 times. Students don't like having to rehearse procedures after they've taken ownership of them and turned them into habits. I don't think he had to rehearse it ever again. 

This process only really takes a few minutes to explain and rehearse, and will need to be reinforced, but what is the alternative? Have you been in a band where it took several seconds or more for the conductor to get everyone's attention, or they stood there with the baton up just waiting? How many times does this happen in one rehearsal? In a week? A month? A semester? You can't tell me investing a few minutes on this procedure won't pay off. 

In fact, without knowing I was teaching a procedure, I've had to teach this to almost every group I've worked with. Even if their teacher had taught it to them, they perhaps wondered if they'd have to do it with me. Knowing it was a key to efficient rehearsals, I made them do it, and it always paid off. Even recently when I got to rehearse a full band for a full class period for the first time, I did this when they were not immediately bringing their instruments up. I explained it, rehearsed it once, and reinforced it later. The rest of the rehearsal it was not an issue. They remained focused and on task, and we were more productive and efficient with our time.

When Attention or Silence is Needed...

One pitfall that is more costly than knowing when to start playing is knowing when to stop playing, or stop talking. Surely we have all been in bands where the conductor commanded our attention at any moment, and bands where a more lax atmosphere lead to wasted time as the conductor struggled for several seconds or more to get everyone to focus. Having a procedure to get everyone's attention is critical. But more critical than having one is rehearsing it. If your signal to get attention is saying, "I need your attention, please," they will probably give you their attention. How long it will take for them to do that is another question, and it depends greatly on what expectation you put into place. Having them successfully live up to that expectation via rehearsal is critical to making the procedure successful. What is your signal? Here is mine:

A. The conductor will raise one hand, or...

B. Tap the baton on the stand.

C. Given either of these cues, students must stop what they’re doing and look at the conductor to await further instructions.

Notice the specific instructions. Whether a student is talking, playing, fingering, whatever they're doing, they are to stop and look at the conductor. This gives you measurable feedback. It also requires that you look up to get that feedback at least half the time, so they know you're watching for their eyes when you give your signal. Imagine how much time would be saved if when you needed your student's attention you merely raised a hand or rapped the baton and had silence within 2-3 seconds. 

Speaking of silence, younger groups (maybe older ones depending) need to be taught what silence sounds like. Does it just mean no talking or playing? What about students who are shuffling things around? There is a lot of ambient noise that can invade silence and hinder communication. If you have the students listen to perfect silence, they can better duplicate it. This was a neat trick I watched one teacher I observed use. It took a little time to get students truly quiet. At first they thought it only applied to talking and playing. But they managed to get still. This kind of silence is especially important with larger groups, as ambient shuffling of papers, materials, or fidgeting can get quite loud when a hundred plus people are doing it at once. 

What to Do When Not Playing

This one is important to me, but it's going to require some experimentation. The best bands I've been part of were those were students were working to get better at all times. When I am my most motivated as an ensemble member, I finger through passages, mark missed notes and rhythms, etc. etc. However, we can't expect students to just know that they should do this. We have to teach them this behavior, just as it was taught to me (and probably to you at some point). So I plan to outline what I expect them to do when they're not playing, specifically when I'm working with an individual or a section. I also plan to have this procedure on permanent display where it is easily visible during rehearsal. The experimentation comes in by adding and subtracting things from this list. For example, fingering passages or wind patterning can be quite noisy, and allowing individual wind patterns may not be wise since I expect them to play with fast air. Wind patterning with slow air would be counterproductive, after all. Here is the procedure they will have on paper, and as I will teach, rehearse and reinforce with them. Some teachers just reinforce behavior like this by complimenting a student who does it, hoping other students will follow that example. That's certainly a great technique, but I want to find out if I can get all students on task by implementing this as an expected procedure for every student, not just a good practice of the accelerated students. After all, would a great core class teacher allow a student to be off task at any time during their class? Then why would we allow that in our classes except to allow for silence. There are quiet things that can be done when we're working with a specific section or player. Anyway, here we go:

A. Always do something to get better. If the conductor is working with a specific section or group, use some of the following strategies to improve on your part:

     i. Wind Pattern – Move fast air (not loud air) and quietly press down keys/valves, as if you were playing the part, except that your instrument doesn’t make a sound.

     ii. If you miss a note or rhythm, make a mark so you don’t miss it again!

     iii. Mark missed notes by writing an accidental next to it, or the note name under it if the note is in an unfamiliar range (no fingerings!).

     iv. Mark where you’re going to breathe.

     v. Write in up and down arrows on downbeats and upbeats to help you understand tricky rhythms.

     vi. Write in other musical marks the conductor may have indicated while you were playing.

     vii. Silently count rhythms.

     viii. Quietly finger tricky passages without moving air.

      ix. Perform simple instrument maintenance. 

B. If you are unable to figure something out on your own, you may ask your neighbor for help (ex: note fingerings, rhythms, musical questions), provided it is done in a whisper. You may only do this when you cannot figure it out on your own. This is the only reason you may talk to your neighbor during rehearsal time. If the noise level is such that the conductor cannot easily hear or communicate with the students, this privilege may be removed until further notice. Remember, they are trying to improve on their part, too!

That last bit is something I'll also have to experiment with. In the system I came up in, even asking the student next to you a question was forbidden, like breaking one of the ten commandments. However, I'd like to promote an atmosphere of cooperation along with high standards. Plus, if a student can get a question answered by someone else, it saves me the trouble and the ensemble the time to answer it. However, finding that balance could be tricky. We were doing it in Junction during the summer camp, but on Friday things started to get out of hand. Anyway, I think the idea is good, but the details will take some trial and error. But then in the procedure about how to ask a question, I can specify that if it is a particular type of question, to quietly ask your neighbors first, and if nobody knows, then ask me. I can state that in addition to the "raise your hand and wait to be called on" part of the procedure.

Speaking of which, if you answer a student's question even though they haven't raised their hand, you're reinforcing poor rehearsal etiquette. I'm guilty of that one, and I need to stop letting it slide simply in the interest of time.

By now you surely have the idea of how procedures can be outlined based on a logic of what happens in the classroom. Since this blog is already running a little long, I've decided to list my other concert band procedures on a separate page that you can view by clicking here. Please feel free to give me any feedback you might have!

So this is where I'm at right now. There are some obvious things missing, for example, what is the procedure for playing/chair tests. There are some things I'm still thinking about, and/or would like to get more data on before I write it in. Not all procedures need to be taught right away. If you noticed some procedures I haven't mentioned (for a concert band setting), or have questions, or would like to make recommendations, I'd love to hear from you in the comment section below! 

Next time we'll talk about how procedures can also be used for rehearsing/improving music. Many teachers already use at least a couple of these, but I think the most efficient teachers have numerous procedures. I don't know that they could work for everything, but I bet they would make fixing problems much faster in most cases. Expect the next blog to be a bit shorter, because I only have a few specific examples to share, but I need to document it for myself, and I hope that it will be helpful food for thought for anyone else who reads it. 

Until then, thank you for reading, and take care!

Musically yours,

Mr. Cooper

Continue to Part III to see how procedures are used to quickly reinforce playing fundamentals.

More Classroom Procedures for Band

Tardy Procedure

A. When you walk into the room you will see a countdown timer on the wall. When the timer reaches zero, you will see the message, "You are tardy!"

B. Being on time means that you are in your seat working on the Warm Up before the timer has reached zero. If you are not in your seat working on the Warm Up, you are tardy, even if you are in the room.

C. If you enter the band hall late, but have a pass excusing your tardiness, place your pass in the appropriate labeled bin on the desk at the front of the room, then enter the set using the "Entering the Band Hall" procedure as quickly as possible.

C. Students who are tardy and unexcused will receive a check and must sign up for after school detention. Sign your name on the list and get into the set as quickly as possible. If entering the room late, sign your name on the list before retrieving your materials and enter the set as quickly as possible.

The detention list will be located near the door so that it can easily be signed as they walk into the room without disturbing anything else that is going on. This can also be modified (and should be) based on the school's tardy and/or detention procedures.

Distributing New Music

A. New music will be stacked on the front table in score order from highest voices to lowest voices.

B. Section leaders will be called one at a time in score order to retrieve the music for their section. They are to distribute the music as quickly as possible.

C. Upon receiving new music, each student must write their name on the top right corner of each page, in legible print, using a pencil. Under your name, write which ensemble you are in, and under that (on the third line), write your cell phone number.

     i. Example: Jane Doe

                      Concert Band

                      (555) 555-5555

    ii. If you lose your music and someone finds it, they can return it to you shortly.

   iii. If your music is found on the floor it will be placed in the "Lost" bin, and you will be assigned band hall clean up duties that week.

Returning Music

A. Students will pass in music to the person on their right. The person on the far right will ensure that parts are ordered correctly based on their number (ex: 1^st and 2^nd Trumpet) and in Score Order.

B. The conductor, or an appointed student, will retrieve the stacked music from each row and place it into its labeled manila envelope on the front table.

Distributing Binder Materials

A. The conductor or an appointed student will distribute the papers to the student on the end of each row.

B. Students will take one and pass the rest to the student on their left.

C. Students are to write their name and phone number on the top left of the page and place it immediately into their binder in the appropriate section. Any loose papers found on the floor will be placed in the "Lost" bin and the student will be placed on band hall clean up duties that week.

D. The conductor or appointed student will collect any left over papers on the other side of the rows and return them to the labeled manila envelope on the front table.

End of Rehearsal

A. Students will be given approximately two minutes at the end of class to put away their instrument and materials.

B. All stands must be pushed all the way down as shown during the orientation.

C. The chair and stand arrangement should be left as orderly as it was found.

D. All instruments must be returned properly to their cases and placed neatly back into their assigned locker (if a locker is assigned to you). No instruments may be left on the floor or placed in a locker that it is not designated for.

E. Students will pick up any loose trash on the floor.    

F. Students may retrieve their bag and form a single file line at the tape mark near the door.    

G. The conductor dismisses the students, not the bell. Students will not be dismissed until all trash has been picked up, all instruments and materials are put away in their proper place, and the rehearsal set looks as organized as it was prior to the start of rehearsal.

Absence Procedure

A. Any music or binder materials distributed during class should be left on the seat of an absent student in a neat pile.

B. At the end of class, section leaders are responsible for filling out a "Make Up Assignment" form (located in the bin at the front table... write in legible print), attaching it to the pile of papers from the student's chair (if applicable), and placing it into the "Make Up Assignments" manila envelope.

C. When an absent student returns to class, upon entering the band hall that day they are to find their make up assignment in the manila envelope. If the student has questions, they are to ask their section members and/or section leader first. If they are still confused, they may ask the conductor for help after class.

D. The student is to take the assignment and related materials home. A parent must sign the "Make Up Assignment Form" to verify  the student has practiced the material. The student can then return the signed form by placing it into the "Make Up Assignment Drop Bin" on the front desk the next day.

E. All Make Up Assignments are due the following class period after a student has returned to school.

Are there other procedures you can think of, or situations that might require procedures in a concert band setting? Please feel free to give feedback using the comments below! Thanks for reading, and until next time, take care!

Musically yours,

Mr. Cooper

PS. To go back to the previous blog, click here or use the back button on your browser.

Procedures Maximize Learning

Hello again! With the break underway and my student teaching around the corner, I've been wanting to reflect on the great experiences I gained from this past semester. I observed a great middle school teacher, worked with a small high school concert band, conducted the ASU Wind Ensemble, gave presentations to elementary kids, taught a few lessons, read a great book on teaching for recreation, and took a couple of education classes, one of which was specifically for middle and high school pedagogy and was very in depth (I read the text from cover to cover, which was not easy with the way it was printed and written). I learned quite a bit, and hopefully these reflections will help me to retain much of it, while also sharing it with anyone who might be interested. Great teachers already know the importance of today's topic - procedures.

This is an AMAZING book!

The recreational book I referenced is Mr. and Mrs. Wong's "The First Days of School", a book that transforms veteran teachers who have struggled and sets up rookie teachers for break out success. It covers four major areas of being a professional educator, with the most in-depth chapter covering Classroom Management. In this chapter they stress the importance of procedures: teaching them, rehearsing them, and reinforcing them until they become routines, or habits.

A procedure is basically a specific way of accomplishing a specific task. It is you explaining to the students exactly how you want them to do something. Why is this important?

Procedures are important to everyone. They allow us to get on about our business from day to day in an organized manner. Society has procedures for everything, from how to drive to what to do when people are getting on and off an elevator (wait for people to step out before entering, for example). If you don't tell the students how something should be done, you're creating a void which they will fill on their own. After all, you can't get upset when students do something you don't like if you didn't tell them how it should be done before hand. Why would a student remove their hat or iPod headphones if you didn't tell them that was your expectation? Do you see my point?

(Procedures are a simple concept. You can probably list
several procedures used by ensembles, conductors, and
audience members during public concerts. Remember how
we learned them? They were taught, rehearsed, and reinforced.)

Also important to note is that procedures are different from rules. Violating rules requires punishment. They tell you generally what is and is not acceptable behavior. Procedures are not punishable, only correctable. They explain how you do something. For example, how do you enter the room? How do you leave the room? How is attendance taken? Who dismisses the class (the bell or the teacher)? How do you fix certain problems in the music? What should students do when they're not playing? These are not classroom rules, but rather procedures that must be taught. If they are taught, rehearsed, and reinforced, then over time they become student habits. Teachers who are meticulous about establishing procedures for everything build classes that can eventually run themselves and maximize learning in the time you have, even in the event that you have a substitute teacher.

What I've noticed in my observations as well as in my reading and reflection of my own experiences is that there are two categories of procedures for band/music rehearsals: classroom procedures, and rehearsal procedures.

"The First Days of School" is a tremendous resource for Classroom Procedures. Classroom Procedures deal with how the class operates. How you enter and leave the room, how you transition from one activity to another, take attendance, pass in assignments (in core classes). In music there are specific things to consider, like what students should do when they're not playing, practicing raising the instruments when you raise the baton, how you get their attention, or get them to stop playing, and so on.

Rehearsal Procedures in some cases are very similar, but I like to think of them a little differently. I consider these the procedures we use regularly to fix problems. Many of these we wouldn't think about because we've done them so many times, but beginning band students must be taught how to do them, and then the procedures can be reinforced through repetition until graduation. For example, if they're playing wrong notes, you can have them "Note name and finger" rather than play. If it's a rhythm problem, we have them, "Count" or "Count and finger". Teachers calls these their "bag of tricks", but in most cases, we could call them procedures. And if you use them often and consistently, fixing problems can become an automatic response rather than something that requires a great deal of thought and explanation.

How does this maximize learning? Simple - it maximizes your time. It does require some up front investment to teach the procedures, but this always pays off. I'll go into more detail in parts two and three, but here is one example.

Most of us have been in bands that were great and bands that were what we would consider undisciplined. One of our biggest pet peeves (and surely for our teachers as well) is that when they asked for our attention, the people around us wasted so much time getting quiet. How long does it take for a teacher to get a group's attention when they're off task or even helping each other with the music and thus not focusing on the teacher? As much as thirty seconds? Perhaps more? What about when the band is playing and the conductor gives a cut off or raps the baton on their stand to get us to stop. How long does it take for the band to stop? In good groups, it is an immediate response. The conductor has conditioned the ensemble to stop immediately and focus on them. In mediocre and bad groups, this reaction (whether it's to stop talking or stop playing) can take 5-30 seconds. Multiply that by the number of times a conductor must get the group's attention in a 45-55 minute rehearsal, and suddenly it's not a stretch to think that the group has lost several minutes of rehearsal time that they will ultimately never get back. How many problems could have been fixed? How much more could you have taught them?

And isn't that a depressing waste of time?

Yet many teachers out there have not learned how to do this. They probably were never trained in how to do it correctly, and perhaps have not looked in the right places to get the information. Or perhaps they're one of those teachers who has read the material, but thinks they can modify and leave out certain steps and still get it to work, then get frustrated when it doesn't work and toss out the process all together, blaming the kids for not caring about learning.

Everyone suffers. The students miss out on a great or even good education and the teacher lives with daily anxiety and a general sense of failure, perhaps eventually leaving the profession they worked so hard to enter, and that promised to be so rewarding. I've already met several such folks in my time in college, who were excited to teach music and ultimately discovered "it was not for them".

This is why procedures are so important, and why having a procedure for everything is so important. The more procedures you create for anticipated needs, the more efficiently you can use the precious little time available to you, and thus maximize learning for the students, resulting in amazing ensembles with passionate and musical performances. Procedures also offer some routine and consistency for those who need it most, the children whose home lives are chaotic and unstable on a day to day basis. It doesn't just maximize your learning time, it contributes to a person's positive personal and emotional growth. Amazing, isn't it?

I'm obviously sold on procedures, and I think any master teacher is as well. I hope anyone else reading this who isn't saying, "Well, duh Chris" is now convinced as well. Please tune in next time for my second entry where I'll reflect on Classroom Procedures. It may seem more boring than the rehearsal procedures I mentioned, but classroom procedures are critical for reducing the amount of time wasted on things that have nothing to do with getting better. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty enticing to me. Plus, I'll share the procedures that I've observed, experienced, or considered, and otherwise plan to use so that you have specific examples to work with.

Thanks for reading, and until next time, take care!

Musically yours,
Mr. Cooper

PS. Interested in reading "The First Days of School"? You can find that and many other great products by Harry and Marry Wong at EffectiveTeaching.com. But don't just read it... apply it!

Continue to Part II (Classroom Procedures)