Elizabeth Anderson

Secondary Methods
April 18, 2015
Observation Reflection
One of the most important jobs of any teacher is to ensure that his or
her students are leaving the classroom at the end of their time together with
the ability to create something on their own that uses the skills they have
acquired.

There are a variety of approaches to guiding students towards

autonomy, and in this semesters observations I have seen approaches that

run the gamut from hands-off to overbearing involvement.

From my

observations, I have gained an understanding of what works best with

students of varying ages and ability levels and how best to encourage
autonomous understanding and creativity in the music classroom.
My

first

observation

took

place

at

Melican

Middle

School

in

Northborough, MA with Kate Getchell, with whom I observed a before-school

girls choir rehearsal, three sixth-grade classes, two seventh-grade classes,
and one eighth-grade class. The sixth-grade classes were introduced to five
major forms, binary, ternary, rondo, theme and variations, and rock n roll.
After hearing examples of all of the types of forms and filling in a worksheet
that summarized this information, students were given an assignment that
required that they pick a form from their list and write a composition on they
keyboard of at least 30 seconds in duration and five total parts in length.
The

students

were

given

two

total

class

periods

to

prepare

their

compositions and I saw all three classes at varying stages of their

compositional process. The first class that I saw was already finishing their
compositions and I was able to see their presentations.
compositions

did not fulfill the requirements

Many student

of the assignment or

demonstrate musical thinking, and I was curious to see why. Some of the
most bare-bones compositions lasted about five seconds and consisted of
alternating between two notes for a few seconds, then switching to two
different notes, which the child presenting would define as binary form. After
lunch, I was able to see two more classes that were in the middle of the
composition process. The first class was on its first day of composition. The
teacher began be reviewing the fill-in worksheet on types of form. She then
read through the requirements for the composition project and gave the
students the remainder of the class to begin.

While the students were

working, the teacher did a good job of going around to every student and
making sure that they were on task and addressing any questions they had.
However, since every student was working individually, she did not have
time to come around to every student. Most of the questions that she was
getting were confusion about the assignment, not knowing how to begin, or
about how to write a particular thing they had written. Many students were
particularly concerned about remembering their compositions after the
upcoming break.

The last sixth grade class was less far along and spent

most of the class and spent most of the time learning about the forms on the
worksheet and listening to examples of each.
through the assignment.

They got as far as to read

I observed two seventh-grade classes that covered most of the same

material. After a short listen to the song of the week, which was Stay
With Me in honor of the recent Grammy awards, the class began a
discussion of Classical versus abstract music. They worked out of the book
The Music Connection by Silver Burdett Ginn and looked at William Billings
hymn Chester as an example of music composed during the Classical
period and a piece based on it, NonChester, an example of abstract music
by Mary E. Hoffman. The class was asked to sing each after listening to a
recording, which was only mildly successful, since the music was not
especially easy to read in either case and the students were not particularly
excellent at reading. For the last ten minutes of class, both seventh grade
classes were given the open-ended task of creating an abstract piece and
given time to come up with groups and themes.

Neither class got to

composing in the few minutes provided.

The single eighth grade class I saw also began with listening to and
discussing the Song of the Week. The remainder of class was set aside for
students to finish a group composition project. In groups of two or three,
students had been working for the past two class periods on a chordal
composition on the keyboard, with one student playing the bass part and one
or two playing treble parts. As was the case in the sixth grade composition,
the teacher had trouble attending to all the needs of the students and as a
result many groups lost focus when they had a question that took too long to
have answered. Students were meant to be putting the finishing touches on

their compositions, but there were are few groups who had either not
adequately notated the previous classes work or had been wasting time
instead of working who needed to start again practically from the beginning.
By the end of class, there was not enough time for presentations but most
groups were either done or bored, so the last ten minutes was effectively
wasted by off-task conversations.
In stark contrast, the classes I observed at Gibbons Middle School in
Westborough with Joseph Stillitano were marked by high student focus and
success. General music is only offered in the seventh grade at that school,
so I watched multiple seventh grade classes in addition to one choral
rehearsal. Different classes were at different stages, but all were working
towards the ultimate goal of creating and performing a rondo using body
percussion in groups of about eight students.

Besides working with the

varying points in the unit sequence each class was, the teacher was also
keen in identifying how much guidance each class needed and giving groups
only what they needed to get them writing again. In the two classes that
were in the first stage of the project, the students entered to a recording of
March of the Nutcracker, an easily recognizable example of a piece in
rondo form.

The students then went to the keyboards and reviewed the

March of the Nutcracker theme, which had been introduced last class, and
then played it along with a recording whenever the main theme occurred.
Afterwards, the teacher went through the criteria for the composition project
and reviewed a student-generated list of possible body percussion sounds

and how to count the rhythms on a teacher-generated rhythm bank. With

the last twenty minutes of class, the teacher led the class through an
example composition and demonstrated a model for the finished product and
the practice method required to be able to present a polished final product.
In the seventh grade classes that were in the next stage, students
were given the whole class period to write and rehearse their compositions.
The teachers interaction with the class was tailored to the needs of each
class. In the first class of the day, the teacher mainly enforced proper pacing
and encouraging and validating the students creative ideas. In the second
class, the teacher took more of a leading role in groups that were having
trouble keeping up an adequate pace or struggling with the compositional
sequence. Both classes had completed their compositions and notated all of
their rhythms and arrangement ideas by the end of the class period and
seemed confident and prepared for their presentation the following class.
I also spent time at the MMEA conference observing both elementary
and secondary lessons relating variously to classroom and instrumental
music. The two sessions that reinforced my middle school observations the
most strongly were in fact instrumental demonstrations.

The first was a

technique method for late elementary strings players presented by Terry

Shade.

The second was a chamber techniques ensemble geared towards

advanced middle school and high school strings players. The first session
stressed conformity; for example, the presenter advocated a seating
arrangement in which all players sat one to a stand with knees facing

forward to facilitate the teachers access to each student and ability to verify
that the instrument and bow were positioned at the correct angle. In the
second session, a live middle school chamber group demonstrated their
ability to self-rehearse, making constructive and astute comments in an
egalitarian way in order to improve the quality of the group overall. Although
the students were not top players and might have improved more with the
coaching of a teacher, they were mature beyond their ages in the
constructive and positive way they presented feedback and in their ear for
musical nuance.
The common thread between these three days spent observing is the
balance between technique and free creativity. Much of the composition in
the Northborough class was unsuccessful because of the lack of direction,
which led to confusion and chaos. Students lacked the theory necessary to
convey what they wanted to artistically. Like any other discipline, creativity
must have factual and practical knowledge on which to build.

This

foundation was provided in my observation in Westborough where the

teacher solidified understanding of all prerequisite knowledge, such as body
percussion techniques, reading and writing rhythms, and practice sequence.
Because students were familiar with all component parts they were able to
put them together in creative and effective ways and come up with a
finished product they were proud of. Similarly, in the two strings workshops,
although it seemed like the two approaches were opposite, they can exist in
a logical sequence with technique at the beginning and interpretation at the

end. Discipline and creativity are not opposite; in fact, one is a necessary
prerequisite for the other.
By the middle to high school level, it is entirely appropriate that
students should be creating longer compositions but it is critical that they be
equipped to do so.

A logical sequence is that which Mr. Stillitano in the

Westborough Public Schools followed, which involves breaking down a large

composition task into elements that are easy to understand and fit back
together again. Class examples also help students to feel more confident in
their abilities to create a similar but still original work.
Creative work can be extremely fulfilling and gratifying, but only when
the creator is proud of his or her work. As an educator, it will be my job to
ensure that students leave the class with confidence in their creativity and
the joy that comes from making something original.