Alexandra Payton

Summer Graduate Band Reflection

Dr. Elizabeth Peterson

My graduate band experience (summer 2015) has been very influential for my

perception of teaching. Dr. Peterson introduced many new ideas, and also allowed graduate

students and teachers from the community to share warm-up ideas with the rest of the

ensemble. This was very helpful because I learned a lot of new ideas for warm-ups and

creative teaching techniques.

The warm-up that I found to be the most significant is Robert Oldroyds Going

Beyond Repertoire as a Curriculum: Part 1- Rote Teaching. This teaching method connects to

the theme of learning-by-ear and improvisation that has been so prevalent in my classes

this year (Gordon), and has further influenced me to explore the idea of aural skills as a

part of music literacy. Developing Vernacular Musicianship, taught by Professor Isbell, is

based off of informal learning and improvisation (Green). Dr. Averys Choral Rehearsal and

Vocal Techniques class also included discussions about vocal improvisation and scat

singing. Oldroyds warm-up involves the teacher picking a simple folk song, playing a

phrase for the students, and having the students learn it by ear. He suggests using solfege

(Curwen, Kodaly) to guide the learning process.

In combination with my other classes, this warm-up idea has inspired me to start

implementing more rote teaching into my own teaching practice. I have been teaching a

couple of students private trumpet lessons this summer, so I decided to apply some rote

teaching to my lessons. I used a simple tune from a Spiritual to tie it in with the topic that

we were currently discussing. First, I played the entire melody for my students, and then I

broke it up into small parts so that they could figure it out by ear (Gordon, Suzuki). They
did very well for their first time attempting this type of playing! I think that playing the

entire song for them, and then breaking it into small parts was helpful for them because

they were able to relate the short sections to the overall context of the song (Ausubel). I

also suggested that they could practice it together (they are brothers) by improvising their

own short melodies and playing each melody for the each other in short 3 or 4 note

segments. This will allow them to collaborate and help each other in the learning process

(Vygotsky, Dewey). They seemed to be interested in trying this! Unfortunately, it was my

last lesson with them for this year because they are traveling, but I am excited to hear how

it is going next year!

I taught these two boys again for both of the following summers (2017 & 2017). I

noticed a significant improvement in their abilities to learn by ear. We continued to do these

types of activities, but I started playing longer phrases for them to echo in order to stretch

them even further (Vygotsky- ZPD).

Dr. Peterson also shared a creative tuning exercises that require ensemble members

to listen very closely to pitch. She instructed us to pass the tuning note between sections of

the band. For example, the tubas and euphoniums started by playing and holding a concert

F until it was in tune, and then the trombones added in. Once the Trombones started

playing, the tubas and euphoniums dropped out. Then, when the trombone pitch was

centered and in tune, the horns would take over. This continued up to the highest

instruments (flute and piccolo), and then the tuba played the final pitch to see how

accurate the pitch center was. The first few times that we did this exercise it was very

different, but after training our ears and adjusting our focus, we were able to successfully

match our pitch throughout the entire ensemble. I would love to implement this tuning
activity into my own teaching! I would give it a fun name, Tuning telephone (since it is

sort of similar to the telephone game), and make it into a fun challenge (Da Feltre). This is

a great way to make tuning interesting and keep all students engaged and feeling as if they

are contributing to the tuning process.

I introduced a similar exercise (based on this idea) to work on blending and matching

style/tone in my high school mens chorus rehearsals (2016-2017 school year). My students

loved this exercise because it demanded their full attention, and they were able to hear

improvements in their abilities to match various styles and blend with each other (Dweck). I

asked them several questions so that they could discuss and learn from each other (dialectic),

which also helped build trust and established a supportive environment (Maslow).

Additionally, Dr. Peterson allowed the band members to give input for deciding

which pieces we wanted to perform at the concert. I realized that this activity helps give

ownership to the ensemble members, which can encourage motivation (student-

centered). I want to allow my students to have some input about determining the concert

program, but I will probably limit this to choosing between two pieces to provide a little

more structure for younger students.

In addition to the new warm-up ideas, Dr. Peterson also exposed me to a new idea of

rehearsing a large ensemble as if it were a chamber ensemble. For example, our band

rehearsed Amazing Grace by Frank Ticheli without her conducting or rehearsing us. This

approach was based from the Orpheus Project from Ohio State University. It was up to the

members of the ensemble to stop the group, explain what they would like to work on, and

then decide how to address the issues and where to start. This was a bit uncomfortable at

first because people were nervous to take on leadership roles, however as we continued
working on the piece, we became much more comfortable with this process. I think that it

was a very valuable rehearsal process because it gave us more ownership of our individual

performance as well as the overall sound of the ensemble. It allowed us to give rehearsal

suggestions and promoted critical and evaluative thinking skills. This experience helped me

learn the value of incorporating opportunities for students to collaborate in ways that

translate to out-of-school situations. We learned how to be independent from the

conductor, and we were able to make musical decisions ourselves (Dewey). This would be

a great exercise to do in my teaching at some point, however I think I would need to include

a little more structure (especially in the beginning stages) when working with younger

students (Bruner). This type of activity will give them the ability to learn how to set

appropriate goals for their own practicing (Dweck), and will help them develop

communication and teamwork skills. I think that this was a very helpful exercise, and I am

excited to implement it into my own teaching!