Spania

This lesson is for a piece I've been rehearsing with the 7th grade band for about six weeks. They've grown very comfortable with it and have started to become lazy with previously discussed concepts, such as articulations and balance. The purpose for the lesson is to get the band listening to each other again by removing the visual stimulus at the front of the room. It is also meant to allow the conductor to listen more closely to the ensemble and perhaps catch errors that have gone unnoticed. This lesson can easily be adapted for any piece in any ensemble.

Teacher Name: Doug Breiter

Subject/Grade: 7th grade band

Concepts/Skills/Values: Internalizing pulse, listening, evaluating

National Standards: Play, Read/Notate, Listen, Evaluate

Behavior Learning Objectives: In a full band rehearsal, students will demonstrate abilites to internalize pulse, listen to each other, and evaluate a performance by playing David Shaffer's "Spania" without a conductor.

Materials: Instruments, music for "Spania," Essential Techniques 2000, book 3

Sequence of Activities and Assessment: 1. Warm up on page 6 of E.T. 2. Explain to students why I'm not conducting (too comfortable, not listening) 3. Give count-off for "Spania" 4. Watch and listen to band as they play 5. When done, ask students if they noticed another part they never heard before 6. Ask students what they noticed was different without a conductor (tempos, dynamics, balance, etc.) 7. Share my observations with students (what went well, what could have been better) 8. Play through Spania, with conductor, focusing on aforementioned concepts

Teacher Effectiveness Reminders: Make sure students have an understanding of the purpose of this exercise before starting so they will take it seriously.

//I think this is an excellent idea and encourage anyone to try it often. Running a section without conducting is a great way of enabling ensemble etiquette by allowing the group to depend upon itself for musical cues (pulse, entrances, breathing, articulations, etc). The conductor might also try this while standing on the podium and providing slight cues that do not involve beating a pattern. Try focusing on different sections and observe how one's actions affect the ensemble's behavior. Remember: HAVE FUN!

-Chris Watson

Doug, I am curious as to how this lesson went for you? Did it end up helping the ensemble get back to where they should be with this piece? You have a lot of really good ideas here! Also, I was wondering if you had them play it more than once your questions # 5 and 6? I think I would have them play it many times using smaller specific sections, or working your way through the piece, (m1-16 focus on **__tempo__**, stop, discuss, m17-32 focus on **__balance__**, stop, discuss, etc.) as 7th graders are still focused quite a bit on the fundamentals of just playing their instrument and need some guidance on when and what to think about. I really like that you are already working on repertoire with them and getting them to think for themselves rather than thinking out of a method book still!

Doug - This is a really good idea! I like that you aren't allowing students to get "comfortable". I think that it very neccessary to take the time to address this and I think this would be a very valuable lesson in a 7th grade classroom. Here is a suggestion to help the students if you feel that they are getting lazy. I remember once that my own band director walked into rehearsal one day and didn't say a word. We all knew something was going on, but he didn't say anything. He ran the entire rehearsal without saying one word. The point of the rehearsal was that we (the students) were not paying as much attention as we should have and were getting really lazy in class. That rehearsal really made us work hard because we HAD to pay attention to know what was happening. I can only imagine how hard it was for my director to give only nonverbal instructions, but as a student, I found this to be effective. If this idea seems too drastic for you, maybe just try to use minimal verbal instruction. I hope you can use this in the future. Good luck! ~Beth Cheyney//