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.

Things Are Getting Better...

Greetings!

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...

Musicality for Beginners: Basic Phrase Shaping

Hello again!

On the last post in this series I talked about teaching students about implied note emphasis. That is a good first step that is easy for them to grasp and gets them making musical decisions. Once they get the hang of that, the next step is to teach them about basic phrase shaping. Keep in mind with what you're about to read, that the key indicator is basic. This is meant to be understood by beginning band students who are in the last leg of their end of the year concert preparation.

To be successful in this new skill, students will need to understand how to identify phrases (or at least know where all of the phrases in the music happen), and they'll need to be proficient in crescendos and decrescendos.