High+School+Dynamics+-+Finding+Control+When+Adjusting+Hertzes



Think back to when you were in high school, and pick two aspects of music that you were most worried about when you were playing in ensembles. Answers may vary, but two of the most popular answers will probably be pitches and rhythms. Those will be the two biggest natural concerns for high school players, and it is not until they are reminded of other aspects when they realize they need to play those too.

We have been rehearsing a piece that can easily be seen as the “fast and furious” all the time staple of a program. The students really enjoy it and it shows. They play it with intensity, but with that comes a very small range of dynamic contrast towards the louder spectrum.

The main idea behind this lesson is to show that you can play dynamics without changing the speed of your air. There are so many times when we tell others to play softer, but they end up breaking their air support by using less air. When it needs to almost be the opposite. Players need to know to keep their air support the same or stronger when playing softer. So a good way to think of this is to think of vehicles of different sizes going the same speed on a highway. This can range from a spaceship at 100 mph to a tricycle at 100 mph. Already that’s a pretty humorous image to think about. It allows mental images to guide musical playing.

The lesson plan I wrote gives some ownership to the teacher. I think what made this lesson plan work so smoothly for me was that I tried to make the vehicles/objects I made my own to make the lesson more fun and personable. When I taught this lesson, I drew a motorcycle for mezzopiano, except I drew it very poorly so I ended up taking the bottom of it and tried to change it into a horse. It didn’t turn out very well. The students loved it. I also tried to draw a tank for fortissimo, but it ended up looking more like a garbage bin. It was so successful for me because they were not only invested in what I was doing, but also the content of what they were doing. It’s a very simple lesson, but what made it my “best” was how well it went. We entered a state of FLOW where I could continue to playfully challenge the ensemble to make them very apt to taking on more and more challenges.