Chandra-Lynn was an incredible teacher, especially for this age group. The students were very disciplined and well behaved. Their posture was nearly perfect! There was virtually no talking or goofing off throughout the entire observation. Not only were they behaving, they were attentive. they seemed to be glued on the teachers every word of instruction. The teacher was able to expertly keep the kids on task while not ever really losing their attention and energy.
The warm-up was a D major scale with an emphasis on tempo. The teacher would slow down and speed up while the students struggled to stay with her. She also used little catch phrases to help teach different rhythms. They had a quite a bit of trouble, but she used this time to teach them the role of the conductor and how important it is to follow them. Her conducting was very simple, clear, and effective for the level that these students were at musically.
The teacher used just the right amount of humor and it worked well for the kids. She was also very good at playing the role of a mother figure. At one point, she completely stopped the class and gave them a mini lecture on how they needed to bring their instruments and music in order for the group to be successful. The students promised to do better and seemed very upset to have let their teacher down. I was very impressed with this class.
Nice--Do you wonder if strings tend to attract the quieter kids than band? I always suspected that those that tend to love noise join band...like from Dr. Seuss
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