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February 2, 2015

Today I spoke with Miss Gomez about possible options for my project. Miss Gomez
suggested I go to the junior high and assist the students there to learn their music. She said it
would be beneficial to them if we would work on music they already needed to know. This way
they would not be over whelmed with learning new music I would assign on top of their regular
load. She also informed me of the days the junior high practiced after school so I may go and ask
Mr. Ocampo, the junior high band teacher if he was okay with me working with his students. I
thanked her and began to plan a visit over to the junior high.
Time 45 minutes
February 4, 2015
Today is Wednesday its one of the days I was informed the junior high school band has
after school rehearsals. So after school I went to the junior high school set out to find Mr.
Ocampo. I found his band was rehearsing at the moment so I stood and watched to avoid
interrupting rehearsal. When they took a small break I introduced myself to the teacher and
explained that my intentions and how I was looking to assist his students with their music. He
agreed and so I left soon after thanking him.
Time 15 minutes
February 11, 2015
Today I met with the entire junior high intermediate band for the first time. This is the
first time I have ever heard and paid attention to the group, this group consists of many young
musicians. This group is barely starting to understand to basics of creating music as an ensemble.
There I began to pick up on the strengths and weaknesses of the ensemble.
There I was informed which sections need the most assistance. I listened and began to
understand the details I could work on. Many of the issues they have are basic issues that I feel
could be easily fixed if the bad habits are broken. They have bad posture which could restrict the
flow of warm air, I feel that if this simple habit was broken it would improve the tone quality and
make the ensemble more visually appealing. Observing this band gave me insight into what I
could help them improve on as individuals and as an ensemble.
Time 1 hour 30 minutes
February 18, 2015
Today is the first official day where I officially had a job to do. I was assigned to the
woodwinds while they were outside. I asked around to see where everyone was struggling in the
music. I found that a lot of the woodwinds had difficulty with note accuracy. They were not
accustomed to different key signatures. Key signatures are combinations of sharps or flats that
set the key the music is in. I noticed that the newer the musicians the more they struggle actually
looking at the key signature and adapting to make sure they are actually playing the right notes.
At this point I did not have any copies of the songs so I had to look of the stands of the students
in order to help them out. I was also working with all of the woodwinds, which are flutes,

clarinets and saxophones; I do not play all of these instruments so the fingerings of notes on
instruments other than saxophones seemed pretty foreign to me. However I brought along my
fingering charts that explain which keys need to be held down in order to play different notes.
This allowed me to still be able to assist students that had note confusion. I did my best at
helping them I also tried my best to help them keep a steady tempo by clapping it and listening to
a metronome to make sure I did not speed up myself either. I started this off with the easier
points to fix and will later work on other issues.
Time 1 hour 30 minutes
February 25, 2015
Today I received copies and originals of the sheet music the students are actually trying to
prepare for SCSBOA Festival. SCSBOA festival is an abbreviation of Southern California
School Band and Orchestra Association Festival, this a system where school musicians in the
Southern California area learn and play music to meet the standards they set and be scored on
how well they perform music based off of these standards. So I looked at their music in more
detail the song Island Empire March by William Himes. This song is a march so it has three
different dynamics the beginning it should be at a forte, which is loud but still controlled. In the
middle the trio, it should be softer at a mezzo forte and this is where the woodwinds usually have
a more beautiful and more important part that the other sections in the music. At the end of a
march it is at a loud dynamic again but now it is at a fortissimo which is even louder and should
sound more dark and rich than the beginning.
To work on these dynamic changes I asked the children to focus on their flow of air
through the instrument. In order to receive a more beautiful tone while playing their music they
need to sit up straight and push a consistent stream of warm air through their instruments. By
using more warm air they will achieve a richer tone that is less shrill and more pleasing to the
ear. For different dynamics I asked if they could focus on the amount of they were pushing out
through their instruments for piano they would need to push out less air but it still needs to
controlled enough so it doesnt sound airy. For forte the students would need to push out the air
faster but control it so it doesnt sound only like a blast sound it still needs to be pleasing to the
ear.
Time 1 hour 30 minute
March 4, 2015
Today I met with the clarinet section for some last minute corrections before next weeks
SCSBOA Festival performances. We worked specifically on the piece Afterburn by Randall D.
Standridge. There were a few measures that specifically needed more help. For example,
measure 52 the students were having problems getting all of the accidentals correct. It was not in
the usual key of B flat and that is usually complicated for younger musicians. I worked with the
students at a slower tempo than the music is normally performed. This was meant to help
improve note accuracy, it is easier to focus and get things right when they are played slower.
Once the students began to get a better grasp of the notes I would pick up the tempo and see if

they could still keep up. This exercise helps build muscle memory which in turn would improve
their note accuracy. I was not expecting to be able to make extremely large changes today
because it is the last day I see them before they perform at the SCSBOA Festival. So I was
focusing on the details that are more noticeable, if they are not played accurately. The judges
would not forgive wrong notes because that is one of the most basic things people who are
learning music need to know. The style of the piece is also important like the articulations and
the feel of the music but they understood this for the most part it also just needed to go and look
back to make sure it all being played to its full potential.
Time 1 hour 30 minutes
March 10, 2015
On Tuesday the first day of SCSBOA Festival the Sierra Vista Junior High Advanced
Band performed. This this group where I have been volunteering to help with learning music.
They performed the Island Empire March composed by William Himes and Afterburn by
Randall D. Standridge and in Quiet Times by James Swearingen. For this presentation their
performance on these three pieces is being evaluated by a panel of three judges. The adjudicators
where recording and writing down comments throughout the length of the performance, they do
this so the band could better understand their strengths and weaknesses. Once the performance is
over the judges tally up their score and write the rating they gave the bad. The band could be
rated Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor. The Sierra Vista Junior High Advanced Band
received the rating of Excellent, it is the second highest rating, that indicates that the band was
well prepared, but there is still more they could do musically.
Time Spent: 30 minutes
March 18, 2015
By this time they were finished with SCSBOA Festival so its time to prepare for the
spring concert. They received many new songs at this point such as Happy by Pharrell Williams
arranged by Michael Sweeney, Zacatecas March by G. Codina arranged by Pat Lee, Aladdin by
Michael Sweeney, Let It Be by John Lennon and Paul McCartney arranged by Frank D. Cofield
and The Washington Post March by John Philip Sousa. This music is still really new to them so
there is a lot of everything they need to work on. I started to work with them on the Zacatecas
March because I am familiar with this song it would be easier for me because I know what to
listen for. However they have a different arrangement than the one I performed before so I could
not assume I know every detail of this song.
This song may be sort of difficult to some newer musicians because it has a lot of eighth
note rhythms. However for it being new to them they are not doing badly at all. Again they need
to focus on the key signatures; they need to look at it before they begin to learn a new song to
ensure they are playing all of the right notes. Unfortunately most of them over look this
extremely crucial detail every time. This is a bit frustrating because we have to go back and
relearn the music with the proper notes in the proper key. Another thing I felt was important to
know as they begin to learn the music is to listen for the melody because they do not always have

the moving parts but they need to be aware of who does. This lets them know when to back off
and when to play louder and more confidently. I explained to them that even if they do not have
the melody they still play an important role because all of the whole notes, filler and counter
melody make the moving line sound more beautiful and balanced.
Time 1 hour 30 minutes
March 25, 2015
Today we focused specifically on The Washington Post March by John Phillip Sousa.
This song was extremely difficult for all of us me included because it is in the time signature of
six-eight which is harder to count than the normal four-four which beginning musicians are used
too. Every eighth note gets the beat in this time signature instead of the beat landing on the usual
quarter note. I found that this is the first time the students have actually ever looked at this time
signature and the teacher has never explained it to them before. I did my best to emphasize that
each beat is an eighth note however they were still confused and I did my best to work on it with
them.
I decided to move on to a different song because I did not want to confuse them if they
did not understand the time signature. I started to work on Zacatecas March again I wanted to see
if they have been working on it and have improved since the last time I seen them. If fact they
did improve it was not as bad as I expected it they learned most of the rhythms and they were not
slowing down the tempo as much as I expected. They are really starting to grasp the concepts
learned.
Time 1 hour 30 minutes
March 26, 2015
Today I spoke with Miss Gomez my band director. I wanted to ask her opinion on the
best way to teach young musicians the time signature six-eight. She said we could count it just a
simple one, two, three, four, five, six and conduct it in two-four. She also suggested that we
could think of each beat as a section of a triplet and teach it as two triplets per measure again
conducted in two-four. I thanked her and went off to look at the music in more detail.
Time 30 minutes
April 1, 2015
Today is the last Wednesday I get to see the entire ensemble before they all go off onto
spring break. We worked specifically on the piece Aladdin it is an ensemble arrangement of the
music from the Disney movie Aladdin. The section that needed the most work in this song was
the Friend Like Me part. This part of the song has a swing like feel and is jazzier unlike the
usual square music most concert groups are accustomed to. This puts more stress on the first and
third notes of the measure; its more of a pattern of long short long short.
Another aspect that we worked on is the beginning of the song The Arabian Nights
part. It is different than what the students are usually used to because it is in a more dark key. It is
more of chromatic scale so it has an eerie out of tune feeling, that adds a bit distress to the

listener. Everyone needs to make sure that their notes are perfectly balanced to give off the
proper effect; they just need to listen to each other and adjust their sounds accordingly. Before
they go off onto the break I made sure to tell them to continue practicing on their own and to
make sure they do not lose the strength in their embouchure, their mouth muscles.
Time 1 hour 30 minutes
April 6, 2015
Since we are on spring break I cannot go work with the entire ensemble however I could
go work with one student David Muro because he is my best friends younger brother. David
Muro plays the baritone and that is my secondary instrument so I felt this would be a great
opportunity to work one on one with him to improve his skills. So today we decided to work on
the song Happy by Pharrell Williams arranged by Michael Sweeny, he was not at all excited this
not a song he really enjoys. But it needed work and he still had to play for the concert so, he
might as well get it over with. I helped with him by clapping a consistent tempo for him. I also
learned that unlike most brass players David does not read music in bass clef he reads music in
treble clef like the woodwinds do.
We just worked on hitting notes properly with a tuner app on the iPod, it is more difficult
for brass instruments to hit notes, because they could play multiple notes by pressing the same
keys they just need to adjust their embouchure tighter higher notes and drop their jaw for lower
notes. I feel David could really benefit from spending time in front of a tuner this way knows for
sure what worked to hit the right notes in tune.
Time 2 hours
April 7, 2015
Today I went back to work with David Muro personally again. However today we
worked on a different song, we worked on Zacatecas March. We worked on the section where the
baritones have the melody. At in the middle of the song, they play a repeat of the same rhythm
the woodwinds had the beginning. So it is important that it gets played right because it is an
allusion to the beginning of the song. We worked on this for a while and then we moved on to the
other sections because all parts are important even if they are not melody. We just went over
rhythms and notes for a large amount of time; we need to be precise with these little details
because these make the biggest difference in the long run. David is a good musician for his level
experience. He understands musical concepts better than most with his level of experience, he
understands dynamic contrast and the importance of articulation and style.
Time 2 hours
April 10, 2015
Today I went to work with David Muro once more to help learn the other songs we began
to work on Aladdin for this song arrangement the low brass rarely has melody. This means he
doesnt really have moving rhythms and its more like filler and background sounds. So this
should be relatively easy for him as long as he gets his notes in tune and balances out his sound
with a dark, rich tone he should do well. We worked on sustaining air flow with breathing

exercises meant to help him with phrasing so he will not cut off notes. Notes need to be held the
full written value or the song would sound choppy and mediocre, this is a really simple mistake
but one people often struggle with because they cannot sustain their air flow.
I feel he really benefitted from working one on one with me because we covered basics
that may be over looked in a classroom where they have to work with an entire ensemble. I am
really proud of the work and effort David has put in to improve his skills as a musician. He has a
short time until his concert on Monday April 20th so this improvement and motivation is really
great.
Time 2 hours.
April 16, 2015
I am back to my normal routine to working after school every Wednesday with the entire
junior high ensemble. This is the last day I have to work with all of them before my project is
due but I will continue to work with even after because this was a good learning experience even
for me. The best way to know if you mastered a skill is to teach other. We worked on the song
Let It Be by John Lennon and Paul McCartney arranged by Frank D. Cofield. Today I worked
mostly with the clarinet section. They have most of the melody at measures 45 through measures
50.
We worked on getting these rhythms right as they are written on the page. This is harder
with iconic songs because people usually play what they think it sounds like instead of what is
written on the page. This does not always work out even if they think they know the song well.
So we worked on the rhythm accuracy and making it sound in tune, because this is an iconic
song its easier for an audience to recognize when something is not played accurately.
Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total time spent: 20 hours

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