Fetterman

MUS154

Dr. Cordle

19 November 2021

6th Grade Middle School Orchestra Observation

Something I noticed about this room was that it was very spacious with lots of room for

everybody. It did not feel cramped at all. This rehearsal takes place during the very beginning of

school. The benefit of this is that students can come into the orchestra room right after they

check in to homeroom. This is great because students who are not able to practice outside of

school can take the opportunity to practice right before rehearsal. Still, the amount of time before

rehearsal is not enough time to make up for a week’s worth of practicing, but it is better than

nothing. Although this time before rehearsal is the students’ time, I observed that all the students

spent this time on unpacking, tuning, and practicing. This also enables the orchestra to start

playing right when the rehearsal starts. The teacher also takes this time to tune everyone’s

instrument. When class started, the teacher announced the concert that was coming up. I am sure

that this sparked some excitement in some of the students. Although the teacher already tuned

each instrument individually, they began playing with a simple tuning sequence, tuning string by

string, just to make sure no one was very out of tune. The first piece they worked on was

“Christmas Reflections.” Something that the students struggle with is playing in time. Something

that the teacher did to help this issue was to have one half play and the other half tap to the beat.

This helped the section that was playing to stay to the beat, and it helped the non-playing half to

be conscious of how to keep a steady beat. They had trouble tapping in time but the teacher

helped them my demonstrating and they slowly but surely caught on. The next piece that they
did was “Conquest.” Some things they focused on were dynamics and tempo. It was clear that

the work they did previously in “Christmas Reflections” carried through in this piece. The

students were quick to improve their tempo. To help with dynamics, they discussed which group

has the melody and when. When the students were able to identify which part was melody and

which part was the accompaniment, it helped a lot with the balance of the dynamics. The last

piece they rehearsed was “Hannukah Song.” They worked on dynamics with this piece as well.

There were many things positive about this rehearsal, but something that really stood out to me

was how clear and focused the objectives of the rehearsal were. Since they are so close to their

holiday concert, it important that they use their time not just to run through the repertoire. This

can get boring and pointless. All the techniques that the teacher used to improve some ensemble

issues were very effective, and they are techniques that I will be able to take forward into my

teaching.

Honor Code: I affirm that I have upheld the highest principles of honesty and integrity and I

have not witnessed a violation of the Gettysburg Honor Code. -Sally Fetterman