This was my first exposure to a high school orchestra. Mike Certalic seemed pretty laid back, but he definitely managed his class room well. From what I observed, he seemed well-liked.
He had a great book of classical warm-ups. I liked how he varied each warm-up from the way it was presented in the book. He would have the students play with many different bowing techniques as well as having them change the direction of their bowing in patterns (2, 3, 4, 6). This was a great way for them to practice technique while also learning to be musical. It was definitely 'killing a couple of birds' with one warm-up.
One thing that I noticed was there were a lot of students (especially in the back) that were not playing with any enthusiasm and had incredibly poor posture. Some students weren't even playing at all for minutes at a time. I never noticed that he addressed this issue at all, but maybe he is fully aware and just has to pick his battles. Overall, I enjoyed the orchestra and would be excited to teach one of my own in the future!
Thursday, March 29, 2012
High School Band Observation (Mar. 8th @ 1:45)
This was a fun one! We basically had the entire period to ourselves for warm-ups. There were three of us. Me, Jeph, and Shanna-Lee. I started with a Bb scale, but I wanted to try something a little bit more outside the box. We talked about the 'sound pyramid' and discussed issues that we might have with balance.
I had three 4-note parts written on the board for everyone to see. I divided the class up by where they fit in the sound pyramid; bass, alto/tenor, and suprano. When the groups played their parts separately it was quite simple sounding and boring to play. I had them all play together and try to think about how their part should be balanced with the other parts. As they all played together with this common goal it sounded wonderful! I, IV, V, I...I really think that it was effective and hope that the kids enjoyed it!
I had three 4-note parts written on the board for everyone to see. I divided the class up by where they fit in the sound pyramid; bass, alto/tenor, and suprano. When the groups played their parts separately it was quite simple sounding and boring to play. I had them all play together and try to think about how their part should be balanced with the other parts. As they all played together with this common goal it sounded wonderful! I, IV, V, I...I really think that it was effective and hope that the kids enjoyed it!
Monday, March 5, 2012
High School Band Observation (Mar. 1st @ 1:45)
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!
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!
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