Critical Thinking in Lesson Planning

Is your pitch higher (sharp) or lower (flat) than the drone pitch? (ANALYZE, 4.1)
● We are doing the “Pass the F” warm-up and I have a drone and metronome playing.
Each student holds a concert F for 4 beats, and then passes the note to the person
sitting next to them. We get to one student who is having a particularly difficult time
playing their concert F in tune. I have them sustain the note and then ask them this
question. I foresee this critical thinking question benefitting the ensemble by training the
musicians to be able to listen and differentiate. They will become much quicker in their
ability to fix their pitch if they develop the skills necessary to figure out which way they
need to adjust.

What makes this professional saxophonist’s tone sound professional? (ANALYZE, 4.3)
● I am doing a mini-workshop with the saxophonists at a middle school and I begin the
lesson by having them listen to a recording of a well-known professional saxophonist.
When we are done listening, I ask them this question. I foresee this critical thinking
question benefitting the ensemble by training the musicians to be able to deconstruct
what they are listening to and pinpoint/explain specific aspects of it. The students will be
able to listen to music for phrasing, style, and nuance in a much more advanced way if
they are able to deconstruct the different layers of what they are listening to.

What makes your tone different than a professional’s tone? (ANALYZE, 4.3)
● I am doing a mini-workshop with the saxophonists at a middle school and after we have
listened and discussed what makes a professional saxophonist sound professional, I
end the lesson by asking them this critical thinking question. I foresee this critical
thinking question benefitting the ensemble by making a transfer for the students, when
paired with the previous question in the same lesson, that allows them to think back on
the professional saxophonists tone and analyze their own in comparison to it. This
teaches the students how to compare and contrast their tone with a professional by
deconstructing the different parts of their tone.

Did the trombones play the melody of the march in the correct style? (EVALUATE, 5.2)
● We are rehearsing the march and the brass get featured with the melody. The trumpets
and horns are playing the melody in the correct style, but the trombones are playing
much too long. I turn to the flutes and ask them this question. I foresee this critical
thinking question benefitting the ensemble by training them to be able to critique what
they are listening to based on their prior knowledge. They are required to analyze what
they heard and compare it to what they think it should sound like based on their
knowledge of march style

What kind of practice exercise can you create to help you practice scales and articulation at the
same time? (CREATE, 6.3)
● We are having a discussion in class about practice techniques, habits, and exercises.
One student says that her two weaknesses are scales and articulation, and that she
 feels like she only ever has time to practice one or the other. So I turn to the rest of the
students and ask them to raise their hand and answer this question. I foresee this critical
thinking question benefitting the ensemble by opening up their mind to being creative
when it comes to practicing. This critical thinking question invites them to think back to
how they practice to improve both scales and articulation individually, and then think
about how they could create a beneficial exercise that combines both.

Lesson Plan from 2/11/22 with critical thinking questions:

Name: Holly Trudell Date: 2/11/22 Period: Band 1

Ensemble or Class: Ms. Davidsons Band 3 saxophonists. Lesson Topic: Characteristic tone production on
saxophone
Standards: MU.68.S.3.2

Long Term Goal: Students will develop a more mature and characteristic saxophone tone in all registers of the instrument.

Instructional objectives(s): Students will be able to explain the importance of working on their tone. Students will be able
to identify and describe a characteristic saxophone tone. Students will perform the tone exercises at 95% accuracy.
Key Vocabulary Tone, Embouchure, Characteristic Tone Instructional Materials/Resources/Technology:
Paper, phone with music software to play a saxophone
recording.
Critical Thinking: Lesson Structure:
What makes this professional saxophonists tone sound Introduction to tone (recording), explanation of how to
professional? (Answers should include clarity of tone, improve tone, instruction, application of exercises.
intonation, dynamics, etc.)
How does your individual saxophone sound compare to
theirs? (answers should include detailed descriptions that
signify students are analyzing and comparing)
ESE Modifications CPLAMS Access Points http://www.cpalms.org/Standards/AccesspointSearch.aspx
(identify access point, if needed)
Independent: MU.68.S.3.In.b

Supported: MU.68.S.3.Su.b

Participatory: MU.68.S.3.Pa.b

Lesson/Rehearsal Procedures:
Pacing:
Highlight Differentiated Instruction in Yellow
5 mins Introduction to Tone:
- First, I will begin the lesson with asking the students to
tell me what they know about the word “Tone” as it
relates to playing an instrument, primarily saxophone.
- After we discuss what they know, we will synthesize
what we know and then listen with intent to a short
recording of a professional saxophonist.
- I will then ask the students a CT question: What makes
this professional saxophonist’s tone sound professional?
Assessment:
I will assess the students by listening to
their responses and providing guidance
towards the correct answers. I will also
be putting in some input to get the
conversation started. I will assess their
answers to the CT question to ensure
they understand what a characteristic
saxophone tone sounds like.
 - I will take answers and then we will discuss what a
characteristic saxophone tone is.
o Here, I will ask the students to take a few notes
on things they should be trying to achieve
every time they play saxophone such as: a pure
tone with no buzz or spit, no splitting of
octaves, and accurate intonation so that the
instrument can resonate purely)
5 mins
Next, we will move into the explanation of how to improve your
tone on saxophone:
- I will show the students two different ways that they can I will assess the students by listening to
improve their tone on saxophone: one will be their performance on the mouthpiece
mouthpiece squawking, and the other will be a dynamic squawking exercise and providing
long tone exercise. feedback as to what they can do to
- Mouthpiece Squawking: I will explain to the students the improve, and what they are doing very
importance of producing a pure tone on just the well. I will also be looking for if the
mouthpiece and reed set up because the saxophone just students are using the correct
amplifies any sound that you produce on the embouchure placement to bend the
mouthpiece. notes.
o I will use my phone to play a drone on C and
have the students try to achieve a pure pitch on
that note. When the students are able to do
that, I am going to show them the tricky part,
which is bending downwards by half-steps until
you reach C again.
o We will do this exercise until the students reach
their bottom note they can hit. I will then ask
them to take note of this and try to achieve a
5 mins. half step lower every day.
- For the next exercise I will ask the students to think of
their C major scale, and then we will play it to ensure
they have the scale solidified. We will be using this scale I will assess the students by listening to
on a crescendo-decrescendo long tone exercise. their tone and dynamic contrast. I will
o Next, I will use my phone to play a drone on be providing feedback as to if they can
concert Eb and put a metronome on 80. I will do more dynamic contrast, and
relay this information to the students so that reminders on keeping their corners tight
they are able to replicate this exercise as well. at the loud dynamics. I will also be
o I will then explain to the students that we will reminding the students not to bite
play C and crescendo for 4 beats and then down on the soft dynamics. I will assess
decrescendo for 4 beats. The goal will be to go that the students are understanding the
from piano to forte. exercise if they perform it using the
o Then we will rest for 4 beats and then come in directions I have given.
on the next note (D) and then repeat the same
process upwards until we reach C again.
o I will explain to the students that the goal of
this exercise is to use your corner muscles to
strengthen your embouchure so that you can
3 mins. keep your pure saxophone sound at any
dynamic level.
Wrap-up: I will assess the students by having
them verbally tell me what they
 - We will synthesize what we learned, the two different
tone improvement exercises, and I will ask the students
the second critical thinking question: What makes your
tone different than a professional tone? I will ask the
students to think about this question so that they know
what areas they should be listening for improvement in
as they practice over time.
learned, and by assessing their answers
to the CT question. I will be looking for
them to be on the path of identifying
their weaknesses and understanding
how to fix them using practice methods
like these ones

Post Rehearsal or Lesson Reflections

Content Adjustment: Due to lack of time, I had to cut the second exercise short. I explained the full exercise to them and
its purpose but was only able to play a concert F with them and crescendo and decrescendo. After putting the metronome
on 80 with middle schoolers, I realized it was too fast for the purpose of the exercise, so I adjusted the metronome to 60.
Next time I teach the saxophonists, I am going to begin our lesson with this warm up exercise so that they are able to play it
once all the way through with guidance.

Rehearsal or Lesson Adjustment: If I were going to re-teach todays lesson I would make sure I gave every student a piece
of paper and a pencil to take notes with so that I know for a fact that the students will be able to access the information if
they forget how to do the warm up exercises. I would also make the goal of the mouthpiece squawking exercise be for the
students to sustain a round tone on one note, instead of asking them to bend the pitch on the first time they try the
exercise. Something I would like to implement into this lesson, or perhaps a different lesson on saxophone tone, is to ask
the students to play and analyze their own sound to see what aspects of their playing sounds “professional” and which
ones need improvement. This would be a good way to get students to become self-aware and listening to themselves as
they play.

Reflection on Teaching: I believe that I explained both exercises well to the students, since they were all able to follow my
directions to the best of their abilities the first time. The discussion part of the lesson went extremely well. The students
had a few ideas on what they were hearing from the professional saxophonists recording, they just needed some guidance
to get started. After I told them one example of what I was looking for, they all had great things to say such as “they had
good intonation” and “they were using a lot of air” and “they were not buzzy”. I talked to the students about approaching
the saxophone with intent as they play and practice, this seemed to resonate with them since they began nodding and
imputing into the discussion. Overall, I believe this lesson was beneficial for the students and that they learned a lot about
how to practice and how to identify what things they need to practice relating to saxophone tone.

Critical Thinking in Reflection:

I believe the first CT question, “What makes this professional saxophonist's tone sound professional?”,
was very effective for the students after I gave them guidance as to what kind of answers I was looking
for. The students actively listened to the recording and answered with appropriate responses such as
“they had good intonation”, “they were using a lot of air”, and “they were not buzzy”. I was able to work
with these responses and agree with the students and relate them back to things like “yes he had good
intonation because he was using a proper embouchure!” and “yes he was using a lot of air, which made
him have a very full and rich core to his sound!”. I believe this CT question accomplished what I intended
well because the students were now aware of how to actively listen and deconstruct as they were
listening. They responded appropriately which let me know that they were able to pin-point specific
aspects of tone quality. I was able to seamlessly implement this into the rehearsal since I had planned on
having allotted time for discussion during the lesson. If I were to alter the CT experience next time, I
would ask each of the students to find a recording of a professional saxophonist whose tone they liked
and come prepared with their reason as to why they liked it. This way, it is a less guided CT experience.

I believe that the CT question “What makes your tone different than a professional saxophonist?” was
effective for the students because they were able to transfer the skill we worked on in the previous
question, deconstruction, and apply it to their own playing. The students replied with answers like “my
tone is very airy” and “sometimes when I play, it sounds buzzy”. I believe this CT accomplished what I
intended very well because after the discussion, if a student reverted to biting and playing with a buzzy
sound, I was able to say “Remember when we talked about the professional saxophonist tone? Do you
sound like a professional?” and the students were able to answer with “no, I sound buzzy” and then
were able to fix it when reminded. This tells me that the students made the transfer and were able to
deconstruct their own sound and compare it to the professional. It also tells me that after a few more
times of being reminded, the students will become self aware of their sound and would not need to be
reminded. I was not able to seamlessly implement this into rehearsal because I was running out of time
in my lesson, but I made sure to get to the CT question by cutting one of the other exercises short. I
ended the lesson with this, and it served as a good closing mini-discussion. If I were to alter the CT
experience next time, I would have the students record themselves playing an excerpt, scale, or a short
musical exercise and then analyze their recording for specific things that sound different than a
professional tone.