Today I was on my own (with a sub in the room), but it was a pretty light schedule. Two flute players came in before school for some extra help so we did some tutoring, then I knocked three pages off of my paper that's due in five weeks until the sense-comm class came in at ten. I was amazed by how the kids reacted to the music. We sang songs with lots of movements, such as pointing to different body parts and one of the girls was really excited about singing. The thing with this class is that they are non-verbal, special needs kids. When one girl was trying to sing, it would have sounded to anyone walking by the hall like she was just screaming as if she were in pain, but it was so neat to see signs of enjoyment on her face as she tried to participate in the best way she could.
These students are integrated into other music classes during the week as well, and she was actually in one of the sixth grade classes yesterday. I didn't know who she was until partway through the class when Mrs. Stamer explained her style of singing, and I was one of those people who was wondering what the screaming was about at first. Music is just that kind of communication that is for EVERYONE. Another song we did in the sense-comm class was about a silly chicken who laid eggs, but not just any old eggs...Shaky Eggs! The kids all had egg shakers and their one-on-one aids helped them move them first fast, then slow, then around their heads.
After that class, I had another long break until fifth, then sixth grade bands at the end of the day so I got some lesson planning done for next week. I had lunch with some of the other teachers, and I feel like I'm starting to fit in as one of the staff at the school, even when Mrs. Stamer isn't there for my "protection".
The fifth grade band was working on page 15 in the Standards of Excellence book, and we started with what was essentially an arrangement of Twinkle Twinkle. Instead of just hammering through the book and tackling as many songs as possible regardless of performance or depth, we spent some time talking about Mozart. I asked the kids if they recognized the name at the top of the piece, and one trumpet player raised his hand and read it off the top of the page. We got to talking about how Mozart was able to write music before he could write words, and I told them a story about how he was locked in a tower, "Rapunzel-style," for a week with only a pen, paper, and a bed so the people could find out that he really was writing all that music at his early age. The kids LOVED that story and couldn't believe he wrote over 600 pieces in his thirty years of composition.
By the end of class, we were working on Bingo--you know, the song about the farmer's dog. We finally made it through the piece after catching different problems, and then I challenged them to play it leaving out a note each time. They had some troubles remembering, but by the time class ended, we went from B-I-N-G-O to *-I-N-G-O to *-*-N-G-O which was QUITE the accomplishment!
Sixth grade band ran pretty similarly, although they were much more talkative and harder to get under control. We started with their first natural minor and then harmonic minor scales in the second Standards of Excellence book on page eleven. Again, rather than just playing the notes, we talked about what major scale they had already played in the book lined up with that one and what the differences were between the major and minor, then between the two minor scales. Next, we played Marche Slav, talking about Tchaikovsky (another young composer, starting at age four!) and the Russian context. After we finally made it through the piece at a higher level than Tuesday, I told them that it was actually an excerpt from the full piece and how the full piece is divided into three sections: a funeral march, an old Russian national anthem, and a song of victory. We took a vote and they debated why they thought it was from which part until we finally came to the right conclusion as a class.
After that, we moved onto Greensleeves--a piece that every one of them was familiar with. The problem we found though was that since they were familiar with the song, they played it the way they usually heard it rather than the way it was written down in some different rhythmic instances. We got everything straightened out, then I had them listen to the last movement of Holst's Second Suite in F and raise their hands the two times when Greensleeves is heard. We talked after that about how a song can be used as a melody like when we played it in their books, or as a background figure such as in the Holst Suite. After that discussion, it was time to pack up and go home for the day.
One trumpet player asked if he could stay after school for some help and I told him that wasn't supposed to really start until next week, but I caved and we worked for almost half an hour. He passed off different medals in his book, but we were able to talk about each one, such as how the Sousa one was a march and a little history about that. One of the songs he was passing off was titled, "Habanera," and I asked him if he knew that was from an opera. I went over to the piano and played that melody with the bass line and we talked about how it sounded and what he thought might be happening in the opera at that point.
After school, I met up with some friends and we went to sit in the student section at the basketball game. A little after halftime, three little girls came over to us, and I recognized them as some of my sixth graders. They came to say, "Hi, Ms. X!" which everyone I was with got a kick out of. It's weird to be on the other side of the "your teacher is a normal person who you might run into in the grocery store" scenario and it made me realize how much more careful I will need to be now to make sure nothing happens that I could get in trouble for!
Through all my instrumental experiences today (flute duo, fifth and sixth grade band, and the after school trumpet lesson), I really feel like I made a difference. I've observed so many teachers over the years who just drill performance in their classes and hammer through pieces without really making an effort just so they can get through the books, and I was pleased to see that I did things differently than that. I'm starting to realize just how much I am loving this music thing, and am thinking it was definitely the right choice.
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