During this lesson I was working with the 4 th Block high school band class, and we were

reviewing the first 5 notes of the concert Bb scale, learning to read without note names, and playing
with correct time and articulations. We began the lesson with a breathing exercise that I had done with
them previously; first, the students mimicked yawning to replicate an open mouth and throat for
breathing in. They did this at their own pace for about 30 seconds, and then I had them put their hands
on their sides to feel the movement at the bottom of their lungs as opposed to up in their shoulders and
upper chest. Then, I had them breathe together by guiding them with my arms. I made sure to tell them
that my arms moving upward represented breathing in and arms moving down represented breathing
out. We did this untimed five times, and then I started counting and guiding with my arms. At first, we
did in for 4 counts and out for 4 counts, and I made sure to count aloud as well as represent it with my
arms. We then moved to in for 2 counts and out for 4 counts; for this I made sure to show the same
distance with my arm in 2 counts as I did in 4. After we did this twice and I noticed students weren’t
breathing in as much in 2 counts as they did in 4, I made sure to point this out and demonstrate for
them, both with my arms and my own breathing. We did this again with breathing in for 1 count and out
for 4 counts, and we ran into the same issue that I addressed in the same way. We did this same
breathing exercise through instruments with no sound so students could feel the air moving through
their instruments. Then, I had students find their tuning note (concert F) on their own for a few seconds
to get adjusted to it. After about 10 seconds, we ran through the warm-up we had been working on that
week consisting of a measure of a whole note followed by a measure of 4 quarter notes on one note,
then continuing that pattern descending down and then back up the scale. We then began to read out of
the Essential Elements method book, reviewing the first 5 notes of the concert Bb scale and playing it in
context. At this point, the students have just learned the first 5 notes of the scale and put them into
context with the help of note names, so this class we were focusing on reading without that extra
support while continuing to create expressive and technically correct music. We started going over this
by clapping and counting through the rhythm together, making sure that everyone was keeping the
same tempo and understood the rhythm. Once that was secure, I had students take 2 minutes to silently
finger and air pattern through the exercise on their own. During this time, I floated around the class to
address any problems I spotted or answer any questions students had. After 2 minutes were up, I asked
if there were any final questions, comments, or concerns before we started. After everyone was on the
same page, I reminded students to keep their air moving just as they had in the breathing exercise and
air patterning and to play the full value of the note lengths. After playing through once, I asked the
students to think about what mistakes they made, what they could do better next time, and if there was
anything happening that they didn’t understand. Many students were not playing the notes at full value,
so I sang through the exercise and demonstrated the connected sound I was looking for with my voice
and through my arms by keeping my hand moving one way at a steady pace while singing through the
line. I also addressed a tempo issue and reminded students to watch my tempo, listen to each other for
tempo, and to keep the tempo by counting, tapping feet, or both. After letting students think about
what to fix for the next run, we ran it again and there was significant improvement. There were some
issues with articulation, so we spent some time articulating together on air patterns, then on the first
note of the exercise, and then in the context of the exercise. The third run was much better, and the
students’ pitches, articulations, and note lengths were much clearer and confident sounding.

In this lesson, I made sure to check in several times with every student throughout class. By
approaching the students and asking them directly if they had any questions, I learned that more often
than not they will and just don’t feel comfortable asking in front of the entire class. I also made sure to
offer just as much positive reassurance on things students were doing correctly as I did with constructive
criticism. I notice that I use a lot of “compliment sandwiches” when addressing errors (i.e. “Your pitches
for this were correct, but make sure you’re keeping a steady tempo. Very nice tone by the way!”). I need
to make sure that I am addressing issues as soon as I notice them instead of assuming students will
correct themselves right away, especially with these beginner students. I should also have them move
and sing along with me as I demonstrate musical ideas for them to further differentiate their learning.
This way they would be more engaged with the lesson rather than just watching or listening to me
explain. I also need to work more with the percussion section to make sure that they are engaged and
are continuing to learn. I only addressed them a few times, once at the beginning of class to teach buzz
strokes, then another time to play along with the band to help with tempo. In the future I will be sure to
include them and push their skills more. I also need to work on my classroom management skills,
specifically having students not play and talk while I’m talking to someone individually.

If I had he chance to teach this class again, I would start by combining the breathing exercises so
that they went straight from mimicking yawning to breathing through their instruments to keep the
class moving along, and I would explain what we were doing in less words since we had already done
this together. I would also spend more time warming up on instruments and use more and varied types
of warm-up repertoire, such as lip slurs and tempo changes. I would also let students listen for mistakes
more instead of pointing them out for them every time so they could develop more metacognition skills
and set up the habit to listen for and correct mistakes on their own.