This was Kelly Birdall's most difficult group, and he let us know that before the class started. I was a little surprised that he indulged so much information, but I think he was a bit embarrassed by the group. As I observed the group, they seemed like a typical freshman band. There was a lot of goofing off, talking, and distracting behavior. Sounds like a lot of fun...
Warm-ups were very simple. Bb scale up and down at a slow tempo. He also had them play the same scale on a few different rhythmic patterns. After class, I asked him if I could try some harmony based warm-ups of my own. He said he was fine with whatever we wanted to try and wished us luck.
His sense of humor was perfect for high schoolers. They seemed to like him as a teacher because he was goofy. It also seemed like they respected him. He would not allow them to push him around in any way that lost their respect. I thought that he maintained a great balance between humor and seriousness.
The rep. was very appropriate. He had the whole group get out a piece and had them all set up to play then said, "All right, turn it in!" "It's too easy for us..." I thought that this was an excellent way to scrap a piece of music without making it a big deal or having the kids feel like they weren't good enough. Great idea!
Great observation!!!
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