EtiquetteandRhythmIssuesBeginningOrchestra

This lesson was designed to further prepare students for their concert. The concert is only 5 rehearsals away. Students meet for orchestra once per week where the skills learned from their method books are applied. The ensemble relies heavily on individual practice at home to be sucessful. This lesson emphasizes playing posture and position for proper concert etiuqette, and supplies students with more exposure to a rhythm they continue to struggle with due to syncopation.

Instructor: Amy Riede Date: 2/27/2009 Subject/Grade: 5th Grade Orchestra/Strings Focus Concepts/Skills: Rhythmic Accuracy, concert etiquette National Standards: Play; Read/Notate; Listen; Evaluate Learning Objectives: Students will be able to play pieces without regrouping more than once as an ensemble, after completing some sectional work on specified places.

Sequence of Activities:

A. Warm-up a. Scales-Select from G D A C Bb F. b. On last scale (G or D) use syncopated rhythm found in Aeolis @ meas. 33 in violin 1. Prepare ahead of time by writing on board. Reference later (if a student doesn’t notice first) how it looks. Teach by rote if necessary. i. Syncopated Rhythm in 4/4 time:  B. Repertoire

a. Practice Etiquette the whole time the conductor is on the stage. If students don’t succeed the first time, repeat or wait until students are ready.: i. Conductor to side of podium, rest position. ii. Conductor on podium, instruments ready. iii. Conductor w/raised baton, proper playing position and posture.

b. Celtic Dance (This is a piece the students can play successfully and they enjoy) i. Play through piece without stopping ii. Students tend to rush, emphasize beat 2 (2/3 meter) in pattern to strengthen tempo as needed.

c. Rolling Along-Take apart measures 41 to end. When students are not playing, they should air-bow and finger along, while listening to how their part works with that being played aloud. i. Violin 1 and 2: Play together from 41 to the end. 1. Ask leading questions to make students notice the union playing of rhythms and notes. ii. Viola-Play from 41-end. Solid quarter notes until last 2 measures 1. Ask leading questions to make students notice the last 2 meas. are identical to violins last 2 meas. iii. Cello/Bass: Play together from 41 to the end. 1. Ask leading questions to make students notice that Bass & Cello have same part, and last 2 meas. are the same as violin and viola last 2 meas. iv. All sections have the same thing for the last 2 measures of the piece. v. Play from 41 to the end with all parts combined. Repeat until students play last 2 measures cleanly. vi. Run piece beginning to end,, recollecting no more than 2 times.

d. Aeolis-Sectional work on problematic spots. When students are not playing, they should pizz. their part quietly, while the other section plays arco. i. Cello: Meas. 36-41. Play very slowly. 1. Look ahead, students should notice in meas. 41-48 that the pattern is repeated but varies slightly. 2. Vln/Vlas-Find the rhythm from the board in your music. Raise your hand when you have found it (allow students to share.) a. Assign the following measures to each section to play. They will play as a group for 4 meas.: b. Violin 1: Meas. 33 c. Violin 2: Meas. 45 d. Viola: Meas. 50 e. Ask students leading questions that determine all the sections play the exact same thing! f. Run piece with all parts together allowing for regrouping no more than 2 times.

Amy, That's a great lesson! You can definitely tell that it is very thought out and it is so detailed! There are just a few things I would like to suggest to you. The first one is your objective. I think that it should be a little more detailed on what exactly you will be teaching the students. What sectional work with you will doing? You mentioned in your focus concepts that it is concert etiquette and rhythm, but you didn't mention this in the objective. This is needed otherwise it won't be understood that that' s exactly what you're working on until you have read through the lesson. These are tiny mistakes but make sure you fix the spelling of success in your first paragraph (it has two c's) and put down what notation you use for your scales (whole note, half note?). Also, maybe playing scales that are the same key signatures for your repertoire that day would be great, too! I love that you are teaching students how to behave on-stage before the concert. Many teachers don't realize they need to reiterate that they can not talk, etc. on stage! I LOVE the fact that you are tying in the rhythm in one of your songs into your warm-up. This is such an easy way for students to learn that rhythm once you incorporate it into their warm-up. Make sure you label your assessment, just to be sure that it is in fact an assessment. The last thing that I would change on your lesson is the organization. Chronologically, it's perfect, but it seems a little jumbled. It's hard to tell what number comes next. It's hard because you have a lot of sub texts, so maybe you want to tab those inward or even bold the letters. This way you'll be able to tell the different between the instruction and the order. Great lesson, Amy. You'll be a great strings instructor!!! :) Amanda Coon

//Amy, I like this lesson and feel there are definitely good concepts in it. I agree with many of the things Amanda mentioned above. However, I don't feel that rehearsal necessarily needs to be part of the lesson plan. I feel that if you're going to insist on using rest, attention, and playing positions that should be reiterated every rehearsal and not necessarily included in a specific lesson. I recommend starting off with rehearsal etiquette before you even dive into the actual material you are rehearsing. I like how you use specific rhythms from your concer//t //rep in your warm-ups and scales. One warm-up I recommend and like to do is to take part of the music that is relatively tonal and slow it down to the speed of a chorale and use that help with their tuning and intonation. As far as how things are written i your lesson plan, I have a few suggestions. I recommend getting rid of phrases such as "take apart" when referring to a section of music. I recommend simply stating the measure numbers or rehearsal markings. Perhaps also include playing after you've asked the questions to the group so they can apply feedback into their playing immediately. I like how you are asking students about what they hear in the music. Maybe you could ask questions that are a little bit more leading ie What do you notice about the rhythm in this section? vs. What do you notice? Overall, I think it's a good lesson, just make a few changes to the format because it is jumbled and hard to read. Jamie Tucker//