InTASC Artifact 9

Observation Reflection 1 - Evan Parent

On March 9th, 2022, during my spring break, I had the opportunity to go observe

a music classroom that is very important to me. As a music education major I have had

tons of people explain to me the importance of professional development and knowing

people in the music education industry. Because of this I’ve tried to maintain contact

with as many music teachers and music professionals as possible. It was due to this

that I was able to go visit my former school from grades K through 8th, St. Mary’s

Private Catholic Community School in Crown Point, Indiana. This was my first music

classroom and it was a part of my life for nine years. The last seven of those years was

with Mr. Anthony Rossi. A music education graduate of St. Joseph's College, and not

only my music teacher for seven years, but my private lesson teacher on guitar and

bass guitar for four of those years. St. Marys and Mr. Rossi have recently fascinated me

after learning more about teaching general music, so I was very lucky to go observe

four forty-minute class periods of general music at different grade levels. This will be a

longer paper as I’m writing about all four grades that were taught.

We started our day before classes began talking about how he runs his music

program for such a large variety of grade levels. He explained to me that private schools

are not required to adhere to state or national standards. He explained that he uses

state standards as guidelines, but he teaches based on his own curriculum.

The first class of the day was 7th grade. They were working on arrangements

they were making on their chromebooks using a program called BandLab. He began the

class with a review over some previous lessons on the blues and the 12-bar blues form.

Then he reviewed how they had already begun making backing tracks with BandLab.
 InTASC Artifact 9

They already had a I I IV IV progression and he showed them how to expand that to

include the V chord and complete the 12 bars. This included drums, bass, and a chordal

instrument of their choice. This program provides access to thousands of samples of

different instruments, and he provided instruction on how to adjust the tempo and key of

these samples. He then had them add a lead instrument playing whatever blues lick the

sample provided, and some auxiliary percussion of their choice, providing instruction

and help along the way to ensure that every student was keeping up. He listened to a

couple examples from the students, and in the last few minutes of class assigned

homework. Write lyrics to accompany your arrangement. He played two examples of

blues tunes with lyrics, broke them down a little and explained their relevance to blues

music, and answered some questions.

This class went well, they worked on an assignment they had started, and got

more elements to add in the future. The relevance of this lesson is based around music

appreciation, understanding blues music and chord progressions, and some

introductory technical knowhow on working with sound tracking technologies. This

lesson might be an introduction to this technology for some students who might go on to

work with Pro Tools or Ableton Live.

Next class was 2nd grade, very different. We had a short prep period so we reset

the room and removed the chairs, leaving the risers, and brought out boomwhackers

and orff instruments. They began with a few vocal warmups including an echo activity

where he played a slide whistle and the students mimicked the sound with their voices

and “traced the sound” with their fingers. This was a great warmup to work on different

ranges and articulations, as well as moving between their head and chest voice. He
 InTASC Artifact 9

then reintroduced a song they had learned in a previous lesson. He quickly reviewed it

by rote, using whole part whole. He modeled the entire song, had the students echo the

song in four chunks, then two chunks, then they sang the whole thing together. Then he

reintroduced the concept of steady beat that they had learned in a previous lesson and

had them sing the song and keep a beat. He reviewed steady beat compared to rhythm

and then used me to assist modeling the next concept. I happen to be certified to work

with children in this district for other reasons so he had warned me earlier that he was

eager to have me help. The tune was a simple I to V tune, so I modeled keeping the

beat with two different boomwhackers pitched A and E and had them follow along

slapping their hands on their knees for when to switch hands. Then we modeled the

same activity with orff instruments with all except the A and E keys removed. They had

some previous knowledge on playing orff instruments and holding mallets so that was

easy to teach. Then we cycled through singing the song with the instruments so

everyone got to play the boomwhackers and the orff instruments, while they all sang

and Mr. Rossi accompanied on guitar. We fixed a few small technique things on the

mallets between singing and rotating and then ended class.

The relevance of this lesson was to work on singing with accompaniment, singing

while playing instruments, keeping a steady beat, watching to know when to come in or

when to switch notes, and expanding on their skills with mallet instruments. Some future

lessons might include playing more notes, perhaps arpeggios, or expanding to more

complex tunes with more chords, or using more complex rhythms.

Next class was 4th grade, the dreaded recorder year. They don’t only work on

recorders, but it is their primary focus for the second semester approaching their spring
 InTASC Artifact 9

concert. They started class with a “5 minute challenge” which was actually only about 2

minutes. The idea is basically sight reading from a huge book or simple recorder tunes.

They are given a tune and they have five minutes to write in all the note names on the

sheet music while it plays in the background. Today's tune was C Jam Blues. They

wrote in the notes names really quickly and began by singing the tune on a neutral

syllable. They then played it a few times, stopping to fix things and review fingerings

and such. All the while Mr. Rossi was reinforcing their previous lessons on posture and

good air control and articulation saying things like “sit like good musicians” which is their

little code word for checking their playing posture. Then they began working on a

special tune that is played every year at this concert called “The Kickoff” which ironically

is usually the last tune performed at the concert. It’s a simple sixteen bar tune using

only four notes, but it teaches a lot of important concepts, such as ties in the bar and

over the barline, long and short articulations, and an introduction to improvisation. After

a chorus the students are given time to improvise using the four notes of the tune and

any rhythms that they can make up. They eventually spend lots of class time on improv,

how to count and play, how to develop a simple motif, when to incorporate rests, how

you can start on any note, how to move between the notes, and lots more. But today

was mostly just rehearsing the music, breaking it down into chunks, reviewing note

names and fingerings as needed, reviewing articulations, and playing sections of the

tune together. Lots of spot checking as they went on, and they used a drum machine to

keep tempo. The class concluded with a quick review on good practice techniques, how

and how much they should be practicing, and a reminder on how to access the play

along resources on their school website.

 InTASC Artifact 9

The relevance of this lesson was that it was very similar to an instrumental

ensemble rehearsal and would prepare them for that. As well as review many concepts

such as posture and techniques, note names, and much more. Future lessons would

likely include more rehearsal time, and on more tunes, expanded use of techniques

covered today.

Last class of the day, 8th grade. The 8th graders write and design their own

musical to be performed at the end of the year. This combines many different concepts

that they would have learned over their years at St. Mary’s including the use of ukuleles

and orff instruments, as well as other instruments that they have learned on their own,

singing as soloists and in ensemble with parts, dancing, writing a story, writing lyrics,

arranging choreography, and using programs they become familiar with such as the

previously mentioned BandLab, as well as much more. They also learn about new

concepts such as set design and many aspects of technical theatre, as well as acting

and memorizing lines, and plenty of more theatre related concepts. Most students go to

high school at the public school in the same city, or the private school nearby, both of

which have large and highly accomplished theatre programs and, speaking from first

hand experience, this whole production is a great introduction the the world of theatre

and has sent many students, including myself, onto highly successful high school

careers including theatre on and behind the stage. This class period was breakout

groups to work on different previously assigned tasks, not much music education

instruction to speak of, but still a very successful use of class time.
 InTASC Artifact 9

I was incredibly lucky to go and experience this day and learn all about how the

different grade levels are taught at this school. I learned a lot and hope to incorporate

some things I observed into my future teaching strategies.