Benjamin McCarley

Talbot
Music Observations Pt.3
Maynard H Jackson High School Concert Choir Conducting Rehearsal: 3/10/19

The session begins with the teacher having the students stand to start warmups. The teacher then

sits at the piano telling them the warmups. They then shift gears to stretching and loosening up

the body. The teacher is playing while the students massaging one another to music to warm up

the body. After doing that, the teacher has the choir sizzle, focusing on breathing and giving

them feedback and visuals on what to improve upon. The breathing exercise helps the females

with a specific problem in one of their songs to help them out. Warmups are done, with the

director then moving to solfege patterns in vocal parts leading in at different times. This helps

the students become more confident in singing without accompaniment along with different

moving parts within a choir. After warmups, the director leads the choir into their first song. He

has each part sing their part at different parts for reinforcement, going over words. He goes over

focusing on the sound, having them feel good about themselves. The director is very hands on

with his students, clapping out rhythms and singing their parts with them, always providing

critique in a positive manner. He also pushes them forward.

I like how the director is both able to teach and guide the students in a serious manner, but also

be playful and witty in remarks. He is able to have the students work hard and at their best

potential. The director then has the ensemble start at a specific section before stopping them

shortly in order to clear up some minor issues.

 Niu Valley Percussion Ensemble: 3/6/14

The ensemble starts with the director already conducting a piece to the ensemble. The musicians

playing the different percussion instruments focus on their instruments and music while the

director outlines the tempo with his conducting. The ensemble plays through the entire piece.

The director outlines the need for more dynamics within the piece to highlight certain

components within the music, focusing on exaggeration at specific moments to make the piece

sound more musical. The director tells them to pay a little more attention to the dynamics,

focusing in on starting together on the same dynamic and moving together. He then tells them to

keep the sound they had produced in their heads moving forward as a baseline to how they

should be playing. He then tells the ensemble about the role of the conductor, and what they are

really doing with an ensemble, making an analogy to a painter painting a canvas with music,

stirring emotion to the listener. He then praises the band a little bit and advices them to follow

the music and make meaningful music. The ensemble then shifts the room a bit, taking a few

minutes to move into the next piece. The environment during this transition comes into play,

with different instruments being moved around between instruments too close together in this

setting. Students are weaving in and out of the expensive marimbas and other percussion

instruments, moving to get music, move instruments around and getting ready for the next piece

of music. Once everything has been set for the next piece, the ensemble moves straight into the

piece without much hesitation, showing a level of understanding of good performance etiquette

and willingness to play in the ensemble. Again, the director tells them the only real thing to work

on is dynamics, sharing certain instances where it can detract from the music because the fun

feeling can take away from the musicality. Listening to where the melody is gives the ensemble a

goal to work towards when performing this piece. He then has them start again before stopping
them to highlight a problem in balance. The rehearsal ends with the director giving them positive

feedback of them being exemplary musicians and understanding what they are doing with the

instruments.

I like how the director is able to concisely help the ensemble move forward towards their

performance date coming up. While I think the director could have been a little bit more hands

on with explaining some of his thoughts, the ensemble seemed to take the director’s thoughts

into mind when practicing again.

 Out in the Field with MLT: 6th Grade general music: 2/18/18

The class starts with a review of tonality with the students singing different harmonics in

different groups with the teacher moving from different examples. The beat in the back helps to

keep the students within the key and provides a stable beat for the students to move between the

different groups. The teacher then examples the pitches in a call and response pattern that has the

teacher singing the patterns to the students with the students repeating them back. He then moves

onto Jericho, where he demonstrates the song while playing on guitar, highlighting the chords

within the piece being V and I shifting at different points. He then has them learning the pitch on

a neutral syllable, having them first divided by boys/girls, then having volunteers to go by

themselves. A transition is then made to keyboard. He shows the class slides as a sort of review

of previous classes with visuals. He coins a term in musicing, focusing on melody, harmony,

rhythm and bass, using them to form music performance within the classroom. The students then

pull out their instruments to highlight different aspects of the 4 frameworks providing for making

performance in the musical elements. The teacher then conducts the musical instruments into

playing the song they were learning to highlight the minor chord progressions. He then moves

over to the keyboard players telling them about what chords to play. He highlights the fingering

from a distance showing the different chords. After playing it a few times, the new component of

singing the melody is added. The class ends with bloopers.

I think the teacher did a good job using the student’s strong points to highlight the taught concept

in class; however, I think he could have been more hands on in certain points. For instance,

towards the end, I observed some of the students having trouble with the keyboard. The teacher

just shows the chords with his fingers, not really helping or addressing the student’s needs at that

moment.
 Chamber Rehearsal West Salem HS: 5/8/13

The rehearsal begins in a string ensemble environment, with string instruments sitting in their

chairs with music beginning to tune their instruments. The student stands in front trying to tune

the rest of the ensemble, with the teacher having them stand and sit to practice concert etiquette

and proper professional warming up the instruments. The director after tuning the instruments,

have them move up and down the scale with different emphasis on dynamics and tempo on

different notes, demonstrating a need to watch the conductor and play with different styles within

music, even in warmups. The director then highlights certain aspects of their upcoming

performance in a different environment then they are used to playing in, reminding the ensemble

that many of the concepts are same, and that the only differences are a different day in a different

place, not much else is changed. The ensemble then moves into their first piece, with the director

conducting patterns showing much emotion and emphasis within the music. The teacher is able

to provide feedback without being too negative, highlighting both positive and somewhat

negative points within the piece, helping to boost confidence while going over problem spots to

make the piece sound better. When moving to the next piece, the teacher points out some small

fixes to some of the problems. When intonation becomes a problem, the teacher demonstrates

what the students are doing and what could be fixed, leading into the section again, having the

students develop the skill better. The rehearsal ends with the director providing musical solutions

to common ideas with positive reinforcement of being they know the music and fingerings and

not to overthink it, as they have been practicing it and are ready for this big performance coming

up.

I like how the director was able to give the students positive but meaningful feedback within the

ensemble setting. I like how they were able to provide a familiar setting to the ensemble before
an unfamiliar concert in an unfamiliar spot. I really appreciate how the director focused on more

than just playing within an ensemble, but also developing individual skills and showing

emphasized patterns in conducting.

 Norah Carney 6th Grade Band: 5/2/17

The rehearsal starts with the director telling the band that it is concert season and that it is time to

get serious. After reminding them a few things to watch out for, scales are then performed by the

ensemble. After focusing on dynamics and talking through announcements in regards to certain

sections and upcoming class times, the first song is prepared with the students in set position.

The teacher reminds them about what the concert will look like, and then mimics the concert

etiquette for the ensemble in order to familiarize them with the somewhat new concept. The

ensemble, while definitely not the best sounding or the best balanced, played the piece the entire

way through. The teacher starts with all of the positives from the performance, including better

dynamics, more changes. She then calls out the lack of watching during the beginning, and issues

a challenge for the best posture by section. While getting ready, the teacher answers student

questions while not taking time out of rehearsal to prepare to start the piece again. In transition to

the next song, the teacher awards good eye contact with candy to students to incentivize better

concert behavior within performance. The next tune is started, with the ensemble playing the

song. The teacher highlights certain issues, bringing into light ending together. The teacher then

asks the ensemble about certain concepts that the ensemble did well or student observations,

listening to what they had to say and taking it into the ensemble’s needs. The rehearsal ends with

the teacher asking the ensemble common concepts to look for in the upcoming piece and gives

them some final words of wisdom.

I like the teacher’s “instructive criticism”, not treating it or demeaning the student’s, but

providing meaningful critique to make the ensemble better. I also like how the teacher is able to

keep students engaged throughout the ensemble, albeit by candy. I think that providing students
incentives to work hard and get better gives the students confidence when they do something

right and helps to foster their growth in the classroom.

PreSchool Music Lesson Musicplay PreK Curriculum: 11/7/14

The class starts with the teacher telling the students about the recording. The environment is that

of an open setting, with everyone sitting in a circle around the teacher. The teacher tells the

students about the instruments, having the students pat their laps while singing the song while

including their names for a sort of familiarity. During the exercise, the teacher quiets everyone,

focusing on dynamics then increasing the speed of the exercises with loud to excite the students

while still singing the exercises. The teacher then leads them into moving around in place while

singing to help them get familiar with music and movement. She then leads them into the

“potato” exercise, focus on tempo changes and handing out the eggs for a hands-on experience

with the pre-schoolers. Using the shakers, the teacher has them singing “Let’s play instruments”,

using the vocals to show start and stop using the instruments. The teacher uses Bum Bum to

acknowledge to the students to return the instruments. She then has the students stand up holding

hands for movement. When something goes awry, the teacher acknowledges the student’s

behavior and shifts the lesson to a sitting down model. She then gives the students another

chance to stand up and move a lot more. The teacher then has student participation in holding the

instruments and helping in the song. The teacher uses familiar and simple language, usually in

synonyms and antonym words to the students, helping them learn the differences between the

two using music. The class ends with the students tossing scarves up and down to highlight the

text of leaves falling up and down. This also engages the students and has them having fun and

moving with music.

I really liked how the teacher is able to keep the preschoolers engaged with movement. She is

able to incorporate movement into shakers, patting their legs and holding hands. The music is

there to highlight what the students are doing, whether doing two different movements patterns

to highlight
 Advanced Band @ Baker HS: 1/22/18
The rehearsal starts with the ensemble playing a song in a chorale style. The director is at

the front, but is also moving around. The director then turns the ensemble’s attention to the

screen where different rhythm patterns are displayed. He has the ensemble first clap out the

rhythm, then has them play on concert Bb. He tells them that playing lighter can help out with

intonation. He moves through each of the rhythms on the board, reminding them short and

detached notes. He does this in transition to the music to help with intonation and articulation of

the short notes in the music. The class then transitions into playing music. The director is very

mobile and has control over the classroom. However, the students still participate and answer

meaningful questions posed by the director. The director moves through the rehearsal and the

music. He takes time to work on specific sections with specific sections, working over to smooth

out the sections. He has them take it slow at first, then slowly increasing the speed. When the full

ensemble is brought back together, he gives meaningful comments that help to give context to

playing together in an ensemble and within each specific section. When the director is helping

out the percussion, he has another director step in to lead the ensemble so the main director can

be right by the percussion and give them instant feedback while playing.

I really like how the director was able to conduct the ensemble. He incorporated

movement through the classroom by not being stationary at the front of the ensemble, instead

moving around the room to help in different sections of the ensemble and provide feedback.