Standard 5: The teacher of PK-12 music has skills in selecting, analyzing, interpreting,

presenting, and evaluating music and music performance within the context of music education.
As music teachers, the music we select is our curriculum. With that in mind, it is imperative that
a music teacher have skills in selecting, analyzing, and interpreting music. After careful
selection, a teacher must then be able to effectively present the music to his or her class and
evaluate the music and how it is performed in order to provide insightful feedback and adjust his
or her approach to best teach the music in accordance with the students’ needs. Each of these
skills have the same focus. That focus is on the students.
Through my studies at K-State, I have developed each of these skills. For instance, in my
conducting classes I have practiced selecting literature for an entire school year. As I considered
possible repertoire, I constantly kept my future students in mind. Some of the questions I asked
myself were: Would my students enjoy playing this piece? Do I have a variety of genres/styles?
What potential lessons could I teach using this piece? Would this challenge my students? What
aspects of my students’ playing could this piece help improve? Would this be too easy for my
students? Etc. This skill benefits my students’ learning because it provides them with music that
they will enjoy playing and challenge that evokes musical growth. Another set of skills that I
have developed through my courses at K-State are analyzing and interpreting. In my conducting
class and while serving as a conductor in University Band, I would practice studying or
analyzing various scores. In this process I would choose different characteristics about the piece
that gave me a better understanding of the piece as a whole. During the analyzing process I
would also identify potential problem spots for my students and how I might be able to address
those. I also developed a general guideline for how I would teach the piece and what concepts I
might work on while teaching the piece. In addition to analyzing the piece/score, I would also
interpret what the composer/arranger was going for. I might interpret my own descriptors for the
mood in a certain section, or perhaps I will make my own interpretation of how to conduct/show
a marking such as a ritardando or fermata. These two skills benefit my ability to effectively
present the piece to the class. I have practiced the skill of presenting music as a conductor of
University Band. Through that experience, I gained knowledge in writing lesson plans which
helped me effectively present the music to the ensemble. This skill benefits my students’
learning by providing them with creative ways to learn the piece. Finally, I have achieved skills
in evaluating music and music performance by doing this in my conducting courses and as a
University Band conductor. In my conducting classes, I would evaluate a piece of music and
how effective it might be for my ensemble. Its effectiveness was based upon whether or not it
might be enjoyed by my ensemble and the music’s ability to provide musical learning/growth.
As a University Band conductor, I was trained to evaluate musical performance while on the
podium. These skills increase my students’ learning by providing them with an accurate
assessment of where they are at within the music and how they can continue to improve.
I feel that I am equipped with these skills which are necessary to benefit my students’ learning. I
will continue to develop these skills and my ability to apply them in my classroom because of the
influence it has on the way in which my students receive the literature presented before them.