Oh, I so didn't want to go to work today. The day before a four-day weekend, not many children have music class on their minds as they leave home for the day. So they forget their instruments. Consequently, a day like this is guaranteed to have low music class attendance. At one of my schools, even on a good day I might have only 10 kids total for an hour of teaching. So my heels were dragging in the last few moments before I headed out to work. I kept thinking that if I cancelled the day, no one would really care, and some of the teachers might actually be grateful for one less disruption in an already irregular day. I even have lots of sick leave accrued. My shoulder and elbow have both been bothersome lately, and I thought I could actually give them a rest today, and NOT carry my 20 pounds of gear around. But, after dithering and complaining awhile, I went.
When I arrived at the first school, I found the room unlocked. This is a good thing. Sometimes I have to go find the custodian to have him open it, wasting precious setup time. It also means that the children would be able to leave their violins so that I could tune them before they come. This gives us a good half hour of instruction. As I cleaned the white board, and took care of a little paperwork, a small stream of 5th grade violinists wandered through and deposited their cases on the music room floor.
There were 12 students for class, out of a usual 19. Not bad. We worked diligently on a song for the upcoming holiday program. I felt I had given them something solid to work on over the next week, and also that they had a good enough grasp of it to practice on their own. I was starting to feel pretty good about coming to work.
On to the next school. As I had figured I would, I had a total of 5, only about half of the enrolled students. Several have dropped already this year, citing their failing math scores as the reason they have to quit. I'm not going to get into the reason so many kids seem to be having trouble with math at this school, but I will say that the students who now come to music have begun to show some real affinity for their instruments and music, and have become really fun to work with. The first two were violin players and it was only yesterday that one of them had put the bow on the string to play for the first time. She was so happy! The other boy had been in my class last year, but hadn't really "gotten it" at that time. But this year, maybe only because he's a year older, he is doing really well. Today we cruised through the songs, using their bows, that they had been playing only pizzicato up till now. I accompanied them on the piano, and it was real music. The day was improving.
Then 3 of the 4 beginning wind players came in. Two clarinets and a trumpet. The trumpet boy had started half way through last year and has been champing to play harder music, since the other kids are all beginners. So today I had brought for him the three songs for the all-district festival coming in February. This is a concert featuring a giant band made of all the second year players in the district. I wasn't sure how we would schedule time to work on this music. But as the two first year clarinets (who, by the way, have named their clarinets) sailed through the songs on the pages I had assigned yesterday, I started to think maybe they could also handle the festival music. I brought out the part for the easiest of the three songs. They were amazed that the whole page was ONE song! We did a quick introduction to eighth notes and slurs (they have only just learned how to TONGUE and were thrilled to get to NOT tongue on the slurs!) and they were off. We got through the whole piece, noting the places where bits of tune were repeated. They were very eager to go off and practice.
This was my reward for getting my butt out the door this morning. And it's stuff like this that gets me going every day. I am very thankful for this wonderful work.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Harnessing the Fear
Last Sunday we had recital of my private students. Haven't done one of these in a while, because I was down to about 4 students, and that doesn't make much of a recital. But now I have 9 altogether, and 7 of them performed. The youngest was a third grader who has been taking piano lessons for about a year and a half and the eldest was a retired Art teacher who has been playing since August. The recital was held in the living room of one student's family, and was, by all accounts, a huge success.
Even though I spend my work day teaching music to children in school, and coming home to teach yet some more music seems like something I would not want to do, I enjoy my private students very much. Working with them one-on-one is satisfying in a different way than is working with the groups I see every day in my regular job. It gives me a chance to try things that I end up using in class, and establish really long-term, growing relationships with budding musicians.
One of my students, a cellist who is now a junior in High School, has studied with me since the third grade. He has always liked to play cello, though he is a ballet dancer in his soul of souls and will pursue that as his career. It has been extremely gratifying to watch him grow and change, and see the changes in his playing over the years. This recital was the first he had been in for many years, and I was so proud to show him off as his playing has a maturity and spirit now that just emerged after a summer studying ballet with ABT in Detroit.
The retired Art teacher was very nervous about playing in a recital. But she positively glowed with joy after playing her two songs. For all but the one cellist, this was the first recital ever, and each of them came away with new self-confidence and a new level of ability, gained from intensive practice stemming from, among other things, fear of failure.
I am taking acting classes myself right now-something I have always wanted to do. Last Saturday, the day before the recital, our acting class had a showcase of the scenes we had worked on with partners for the last six weeks. It was the first time I have ever been on stage as an actor and, though it was a short scene, I felt my own jitters about doing this new thing. I had learned my lines completely and my partner and I had gone through the scene dozens if not scores of times. But it wasn't till we were on the stage, in the lights, speaking to each other as our characters that the real emotions of the scene emerged. It was a rush, no two ways about it, and all week I have been thinking about the connections between that kind of performance and music performance, and about how my own students felt in their premiers compared to how I felt in mine.
I know I have just begun to scratch the surface of the self discovery that acting can uncover. And I also know that my own students have now had a taste of the joy of playing music you love for a live, listening audience. My acting teacher, Hal, talks about the wringing fear of screwing up that motivates people to study and prepare, and it is this that I count on when scheduling a recital and preparing my students for it. I know that the performers will put in extra time on their instruments that they wouldn't do if the spectre of live performance did not loom before them.
But as a teacher I have to be careful not to put the pressure on too hard, because as much as that fear can motivate, it can also paralyze. Controlling the fear, and putting it to use, as the classmate who played Clarise from "The Silence of the Lambs" in class did (who is NOT afraid of coming face to face with Hannibal Lecter?) can result in wonderful performances from both musicians and actors. It also assures thorough preparation. I'm not sure I know the mechanics of harnessing fear for good. I do know that I try to let my students know that the most important thing is to preserve the integrity of their performance by keeping going. "The audience will not know that you made a mistake if you just keep going" is the mantra that beginning musicians must meditate upon in the final practices. I suppose it's that way in acting too. The other thing is to remind them (and myself!) that when they do make a mistake, they must remember that the mistake is only one tiny part of the whole performance and NOT the whole performance. The performance is not the "notes" but the music.
After the recital, and after this acting showcase, each of us, musician and actor, comes back to the study from a new plane of skill and experience. We are all ready to take on a new challenge, we have new insights and have LIVED through this trial by fire. Tempered with new resiliance, we move forward.
Even though I spend my work day teaching music to children in school, and coming home to teach yet some more music seems like something I would not want to do, I enjoy my private students very much. Working with them one-on-one is satisfying in a different way than is working with the groups I see every day in my regular job. It gives me a chance to try things that I end up using in class, and establish really long-term, growing relationships with budding musicians.
One of my students, a cellist who is now a junior in High School, has studied with me since the third grade. He has always liked to play cello, though he is a ballet dancer in his soul of souls and will pursue that as his career. It has been extremely gratifying to watch him grow and change, and see the changes in his playing over the years. This recital was the first he had been in for many years, and I was so proud to show him off as his playing has a maturity and spirit now that just emerged after a summer studying ballet with ABT in Detroit.
The retired Art teacher was very nervous about playing in a recital. But she positively glowed with joy after playing her two songs. For all but the one cellist, this was the first recital ever, and each of them came away with new self-confidence and a new level of ability, gained from intensive practice stemming from, among other things, fear of failure.
I am taking acting classes myself right now-something I have always wanted to do. Last Saturday, the day before the recital, our acting class had a showcase of the scenes we had worked on with partners for the last six weeks. It was the first time I have ever been on stage as an actor and, though it was a short scene, I felt my own jitters about doing this new thing. I had learned my lines completely and my partner and I had gone through the scene dozens if not scores of times. But it wasn't till we were on the stage, in the lights, speaking to each other as our characters that the real emotions of the scene emerged. It was a rush, no two ways about it, and all week I have been thinking about the connections between that kind of performance and music performance, and about how my own students felt in their premiers compared to how I felt in mine.
I know I have just begun to scratch the surface of the self discovery that acting can uncover. And I also know that my own students have now had a taste of the joy of playing music you love for a live, listening audience. My acting teacher, Hal, talks about the wringing fear of screwing up that motivates people to study and prepare, and it is this that I count on when scheduling a recital and preparing my students for it. I know that the performers will put in extra time on their instruments that they wouldn't do if the spectre of live performance did not loom before them.
But as a teacher I have to be careful not to put the pressure on too hard, because as much as that fear can motivate, it can also paralyze. Controlling the fear, and putting it to use, as the classmate who played Clarise from "The Silence of the Lambs" in class did (who is NOT afraid of coming face to face with Hannibal Lecter?) can result in wonderful performances from both musicians and actors. It also assures thorough preparation. I'm not sure I know the mechanics of harnessing fear for good. I do know that I try to let my students know that the most important thing is to preserve the integrity of their performance by keeping going. "The audience will not know that you made a mistake if you just keep going" is the mantra that beginning musicians must meditate upon in the final practices. I suppose it's that way in acting too. The other thing is to remind them (and myself!) that when they do make a mistake, they must remember that the mistake is only one tiny part of the whole performance and NOT the whole performance. The performance is not the "notes" but the music.
After the recital, and after this acting showcase, each of us, musician and actor, comes back to the study from a new plane of skill and experience. We are all ready to take on a new challenge, we have new insights and have LIVED through this trial by fire. Tempered with new resiliance, we move forward.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
You Mean You Can Even Play Saxophone?
So yesterday, in PAK Orchestra (which name I am thinking of changing to the SiMa Hot Box Orchestra...waddya think?) P- asked me if he could switch from bass drum to saxophone. He asked a few weeks ago if he could play tuba. I told him then, and told him again yesterday that if he can come up with an instrument, I will teach him how to play it. I don't HAVE any more instruments to hand out this year, but if he can find a sax, I'll let him play it. He's a pretty sharp kid, and understands music pretty well, so it would just be a matter of showing him how to blow the thing and where his fingers should go.
But here's the funny part: My comment started the whole room buzzing with this question- can you really play that? Meaning saxophone, meaning ME. Can Mrs. McLean play saxophone? I said, "Of course I can; I can play every instrument in this room". "Even trombone?" "Yes, even trombone".
Where have these kids been? I have been the only instrumental music teacher most of them have had at school since the third grade. Don't they remember? I found myself scratching my head over this all afternoon yesterday, and I'm still wondering about it now. Is it because I was Ms. Crocker then, and am Mrs. McLean now? Or is it like learning to walk, or talk? We, none of us, remember that. So maybe their music learning has been so organic, they don't remember how they got where they are now. I'd like to think that is the case. Or maybe they were playing with me. They are not above doing that. And I am not above falling for it. But it felt like a genuine question. I am asked frequently by my students how many instruments I play when it occurs to them that the same person who just taught their violin class is about to teach the clarinet class. My standard answer is "I play a lot of instruments, none of them very well, but I can play 'Hot Cross Buns' on any instrument, except bagpipes".
Maybe I will need to refresh their memory. True, in this class I don't play any instrument much, except piano, and this year not even that very much. Occasionally I demonstrate something on a violin. Maybe I need to take my saxophone to school and play. Or maybe a tuba.
But here's the funny part: My comment started the whole room buzzing with this question- can you really play that? Meaning saxophone, meaning ME. Can Mrs. McLean play saxophone? I said, "Of course I can; I can play every instrument in this room". "Even trombone?" "Yes, even trombone".
Where have these kids been? I have been the only instrumental music teacher most of them have had at school since the third grade. Don't they remember? I found myself scratching my head over this all afternoon yesterday, and I'm still wondering about it now. Is it because I was Ms. Crocker then, and am Mrs. McLean now? Or is it like learning to walk, or talk? We, none of us, remember that. So maybe their music learning has been so organic, they don't remember how they got where they are now. I'd like to think that is the case. Or maybe they were playing with me. They are not above doing that. And I am not above falling for it. But it felt like a genuine question. I am asked frequently by my students how many instruments I play when it occurs to them that the same person who just taught their violin class is about to teach the clarinet class. My standard answer is "I play a lot of instruments, none of them very well, but I can play 'Hot Cross Buns' on any instrument, except bagpipes".
Maybe I will need to refresh their memory. True, in this class I don't play any instrument much, except piano, and this year not even that very much. Occasionally I demonstrate something on a violin. Maybe I need to take my saxophone to school and play. Or maybe a tuba.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Symphony for Mouthpiece and Headjoint
Instruments finally all passed out, the new beginning band sits waiting for the next instruction from me. I ask them to set their cases on the floor in front of them, with the handle toward them. Then they are to open the case and take out ONLY the head joint (for flutes) or the mouthpiece (for the clarinets and trumpets). I show the clarinets how to put on a new reed. It always amazes me that they can get it so wrong if I don't show them close up and personal the right way. Then, cases closed, and stashed under chairs we're ready to go.
The first are the flutes. This is when I am going to see who will love playing flute and stick with it, and who is going to struggle getting this first sound, and maybe give up before they ever really get it. I've gotten better over the years at demonstrating and being able to say and do things that help coax that first sound from a budding flautist, but it still remains somewhat of a mystery, this shaping of the lips just so and the placing of the plate just so, and blowing just the right amount of air. Some kids get it right away. Some get it pretty soon, and some get it later. If they are patient and don't give up, and try it at home a million times, they WILL all get it.
In this group, in this year, we are having great success right off the bat. The flutes blow a head joint note with gusto, and hold it for 4 counts.
Next it's the clarinets' turn. With the reeds all correctly positioned on the mouthpieces, and the ligatures tightened and pulled down enough, teeth against the top of the mouthpiece and lower lip cushioning the reed, they blow their first squawking note. I make a joke about scaring away every goose in town, but they blow and hold for 4 counts.
Finally it's the trumpets' turn. I show them how to buzz their lips, getting a laugh. I guess it's funny seeing a grown up making such a rude noise, and I tell them they can practice that sound any time they want (which they immediately start doing) even if they don't have their trumpet or mouthpiece handy. Then they put their mouthpieces to their lips and get a buzz going. Hold for 4 counts.
So now we are ready for our grand finale of the day, the Symphony of Mouthpieces. Sitting up straight, feet flat on the floor, backs away from the chairs, mouthpieces in place- they will breathe on beat 4 of my count and blow for 4 counts, rest for 4 counts and blow again. We take turns, playing in different combinations,tutti and soli. Much giggling for the silly sounds we are making, but this is where it starts. And this is one of my favorite things to do.
The first are the flutes. This is when I am going to see who will love playing flute and stick with it, and who is going to struggle getting this first sound, and maybe give up before they ever really get it. I've gotten better over the years at demonstrating and being able to say and do things that help coax that first sound from a budding flautist, but it still remains somewhat of a mystery, this shaping of the lips just so and the placing of the plate just so, and blowing just the right amount of air. Some kids get it right away. Some get it pretty soon, and some get it later. If they are patient and don't give up, and try it at home a million times, they WILL all get it.
In this group, in this year, we are having great success right off the bat. The flutes blow a head joint note with gusto, and hold it for 4 counts.
Next it's the clarinets' turn. With the reeds all correctly positioned on the mouthpieces, and the ligatures tightened and pulled down enough, teeth against the top of the mouthpiece and lower lip cushioning the reed, they blow their first squawking note. I make a joke about scaring away every goose in town, but they blow and hold for 4 counts.
Finally it's the trumpets' turn. I show them how to buzz their lips, getting a laugh. I guess it's funny seeing a grown up making such a rude noise, and I tell them they can practice that sound any time they want (which they immediately start doing) even if they don't have their trumpet or mouthpiece handy. Then they put their mouthpieces to their lips and get a buzz going. Hold for 4 counts.
So now we are ready for our grand finale of the day, the Symphony of Mouthpieces. Sitting up straight, feet flat on the floor, backs away from the chairs, mouthpieces in place- they will breathe on beat 4 of my count and blow for 4 counts, rest for 4 counts and blow again. We take turns, playing in different combinations,tutti and soli. Much giggling for the silly sounds we are making, but this is where it starts. And this is one of my favorite things to do.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
What Fall?
November is supposed to be a time of leaden skies, biting winds and chilly leaf kicking followed by cozy soups and teas. At least that's how I remember it, but we have temperatures licking the mercury just below the 100 mark today, and the heat is going to drive us all mad.
The AC in my room-with-a view is powered by an inadequate cable that can not handle the extra draw on a day like this. I waited till the last minute to flip the switch to "cool". The little mobile given to me by art students last year with cutout shapes of musical instruments and symbols that hangs from the ceiling began to twitch in the tepid air. But as the PAK orchestra came in from PE with red faces and soaked shirts, I knew we were in for it.
The AC WAS supposedly fixed a couple weeks ago, remember?
To cool off today we listened to excerpts from Brahms 1st Symphony, Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Tchaikowsky's Festival Overture to 1812. These pieces are all interwoven with Christmas tunes in a piece called "Santa at the Symphony" which we have, quite frankly, been having a gas learning. The piece is too clever for words, and finishes with a bombastic Common-time version of Silent Night overlaying the triumphant eighth-note fanfares of the 1812 Overture.
Once we had listened to these little snippets, we launched into the work on the piece. I keep wondering if anyone can hear us from anywhere else on the campus. We really are isolated, and there is usually a bulldozer churning around on the construction site during our class. But if they could have heard us today, they would have figured that our brains had finally gotten fried. I'm not sure they would have been wrong!
What fun we had waking the dead with the bass drum, blasting Silent Night like some violin carollers from hell. Saxophones took up the line French Horns would play if we had such beasts, and they did so admirably.The trumpets bravely found the high notes with safety in companionship. The flutes learned how to trill on a high D, and the strings learned how to play a tremolo on their low D. The bass drum found beat 1 and 3- finally- and with 3 minutes left to go in the class no one squawked when I said, "Okay, all the way from the beginning!"
Everyone was a little crazy today, me included. I hope the weather cools down. But something is happening to this group that might be partly BECAUSE OF the crazy heat, tight quarters and middle-aged, hot-flashing teacher. Focus, artistry, technique, and fun. It doesn't get any better. 76 degrees would be better than 86, but the music happens anyway.
The AC in my room-with-a view is powered by an inadequate cable that can not handle the extra draw on a day like this. I waited till the last minute to flip the switch to "cool". The little mobile given to me by art students last year with cutout shapes of musical instruments and symbols that hangs from the ceiling began to twitch in the tepid air. But as the PAK orchestra came in from PE with red faces and soaked shirts, I knew we were in for it.
The AC WAS supposedly fixed a couple weeks ago, remember?
To cool off today we listened to excerpts from Brahms 1st Symphony, Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Tchaikowsky's Festival Overture to 1812. These pieces are all interwoven with Christmas tunes in a piece called "Santa at the Symphony" which we have, quite frankly, been having a gas learning. The piece is too clever for words, and finishes with a bombastic Common-time version of Silent Night overlaying the triumphant eighth-note fanfares of the 1812 Overture.
Once we had listened to these little snippets, we launched into the work on the piece. I keep wondering if anyone can hear us from anywhere else on the campus. We really are isolated, and there is usually a bulldozer churning around on the construction site during our class. But if they could have heard us today, they would have figured that our brains had finally gotten fried. I'm not sure they would have been wrong!
What fun we had waking the dead with the bass drum, blasting Silent Night like some violin carollers from hell. Saxophones took up the line French Horns would play if we had such beasts, and they did so admirably.The trumpets bravely found the high notes with safety in companionship. The flutes learned how to trill on a high D, and the strings learned how to play a tremolo on their low D. The bass drum found beat 1 and 3- finally- and with 3 minutes left to go in the class no one squawked when I said, "Okay, all the way from the beginning!"
Everyone was a little crazy today, me included. I hope the weather cools down. But something is happening to this group that might be partly BECAUSE OF the crazy heat, tight quarters and middle-aged, hot-flashing teacher. Focus, artistry, technique, and fun. It doesn't get any better. 76 degrees would be better than 86, but the music happens anyway.
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