For this practicum experience I worked with two orchestra classes at two different local middle schools. Both schools have a small string ensemble program. For two weeks I alternated working at both schools. The string program at school one consisted of about 10 students. A few on violin, one viola, two cellos, and one electric bass. School two had a larger program with about 20 students and there was one acoustic, upright bass.

While both programs were working on the same material, there were different things that needed to be addressed as far as technique and ensemble playing in both schools. Both programs were preparing for junior regional auditions and were working on the same pieces for the winter concert. The teacher had me work with a few individual students on the audition excerpts in a separate practice room while she worked on the repertoire with the rest of the ensemble. With the violin students at school one, the students needed more help with rhythm and fingerings. We were only able to successfully play through the first few measures of one of the excerpts. One of the students, who also was taking private lessons, was able to help lead the rest of the group and didn't struggle as much. However, at school two, more students were taking private lessons, and by the end of the class period we were able to work through the whole excerpt. The teacher also had me work on vibrato with the students at Skyline. 

The varying levels of technical ability between both schools determined my instruction even though they were all working on the same pieces. With the students at school one, I had to wind back my instruction and go back to the basics. I had the students play a scale in the key signature of the piece to learn the fingerings for the notes. Then, I had them sing the rhythm without the instruments. After that I had them put everything together and work on one measure at a time. I tried to have the students focus on one goal at a time so it wasn't overwhelming. 

I learned a lot about being flexible with instruction and individualizing it to meet the needs of the students in the class. From doing this experience I feel more prepared to student teach.  

I presented at the poster session with the research project I collaborated on titles "Pearls of Pedagogy: An Analysis of the Content of Dr. Marianne Murray Perkins String Pedagogy Collection" 

During the observations I was able to see first hand in the classroom what it takes to be inclusive and adapt to each students specific needs. I was able to observe how all of the student's teachers had to work together to provide accommodations to assist learning for the music classroom and homeroom. One of the things I noticed was that the teacher highly encouraged all of the students to reach out and be accepting and inclusive of special needs students. In preparation for the event for the presentation of the adaptive instruments, me my classmate that worked with the same student took into consideration our students musical interests and physical limitations and needs. During the event, things went differently than planned and we had to adapt to the situations. Overall, we tried to make the experience centered towards engagement in music making and making it personally meaningful. It turned out to be a very rewarding experience seeing students participate in music making where they otherwise wouldn't have the same opportunity. 

This is an interview I conducted with a fellow JMU student. She participated in music in elementary in middle school but chose to focus on sports in high school. This is her story of her experience with music education. 

In this interview, Meghan gave a brief overview of her high school experience. She discussed how she interacted with music with her friends and family and shared some experiences that had special meaning to her. Meghan's sister was in choir throughout grade school and college. She related how her sister's concerts impacted her and how she liked the programmed music. Meghan had very different experiences with different ensembles in elementary and middle school. Her orchestra teacher had a more structured, strict class environment and her band and choir teachers were more laid back. 

I got the background music from a free download link on Soundcloud by audiojungle. I also added a audio clip I got from youtube of Bach violin solos performed by Bella Hristova and clarinet solos performed by Martin Fröst since Meghan played both of those instruments in middle and elementary school. 

Meghan had many interesting things to say about how she reacted to different teaching styles. She felt that she was more engaged with a laid back style, but sometimes it was easier to get distracted and not stay on task. With her orchestra teacher she was able to learn the instrument, but wasn't able to approach her teacher as easily because of the more strict classroom environment. I think that I as a teacher need to be able to find a balance between having structure in the classroom, but also be able to let my students know they can approach me with any questions or concerns. Meghan also made comments about integrating popular music with classical music. She mentioned that her sister's choir concerts had a lot of variety in their programs. I think it is important to be able to incorporate many genres of music so students have a more well-rounded music education. She also mentioned she never had the opportunity to be musically creative on her own in school ensembles. I think it would help students be engaged in music if they could exercise their own creativity and help students to continue in music throughout high school and for the rest of their lives. 

I had the opportunity this semester to visit a chorus class at a middle school. For the class I was able to observe, they were working on their production of "The Lion King" for the school concert. The class time was slightly longer compared to other classes I had been to. The rehearsal time for this middle school chorus was over an hour. After the class I was able to talk to the teacher and some days they do tech rehearsals on the stage with the drama teacher. For this class; however, they were rehearsing in the choir room. For the first 20 minutes of the class, there was a focus on breathing and posture exercises.

I noticed that the teacher used a lot of analogies to help the students get more of a visual idea of the concept and technique trying to be taught. The teacher also used non examples. For one of the breathing exercises he had the students do the opposite of the proper technique so they could physically feel the difference between what not to do and what the right technique is. I think both of these processes helped appeal to visual and kinesthetic learners. The students responded well and were able to improve in sound quality from the exercises done at the beginning of class.

​After this, they started to run through the program in concert order. Sometimes the teacher would stop and go over certain spots and work on having the students improve their diction and word clarity and pronunciation. The rest of the class time was primarily spent refining each of the songs. One of the things I noticed most from this observation experience was that the teacher had really good classroom management techniques. Never once during the class did he have to raise his voice to get the students to stay on task. It was apparent that the teacher had established a lot of mutual respect between himself and the students. Sometimes talking and chatting amongst the students would be an issue, but the teacher only had to ask once and the students responded immediately. 

This semester I had the opportunity to visit an adaptive music class at Spotswood High School taught by Mr. Nathan May. The students in the class were disabled kids from around the county and many of them were confined to wheel chairs. Mr. May was leading the class but there were several other teachers present that were helping with the students. The objective of the class that I observed was preparing Christmas carols for the school assembly.  As soon as I walked into the classroom, I felt an overwhelming sense of care from each of the teachers for the students. I think that this class was a great example of what it means to implement an ethic of care. It was apparent that all of the teachers knew each individual student and their needs. Also, the class was a little less structured, due to the nature of it, and some of the students that were able would walk around the classroom while they were singing the Christmas carols.

At one point one of the students walked up to the piano where Mr. May was playing and he gave the student a high five. Some of the other teachers would also go around and dance with the students while they were singing. I think the purpose of this class was to give the students an opportunity to feel engaged, happy, and included. Not all of the students were able to sing along so the teachers would sing with them to help them out. Because it was difficult to get the students attention and many of them could not sit still or quietly, Mr. May would talk to and instruct the teachers while they were going over the songs and logistics for the program. The students were visibly happy and engaged when they were all singing the songs for the program together. It was really sweet and heart warming to be able to observe. Overall, I learned a lot from this experience.

​Previously, I had never had experience observing or volunteering in a class where there were disabled students. It was really interesting to see the dynamic of how it works between the teacher and students in this situation. I had the chance to speak with Mr.May after the class and he said that on other days he brings in instruments that most of the students would be able to play or engage with. I think one thing I think would be good to incorporate is more music technology in the class. Bringing in instruments is a good way to include most of the students. However, many of those that are confined to wheel chairs would to be able to participate. I think it would be a good idea to find a technology that would allow for those who are more severely immobile to participate. 

Mountain View Observation Reflection Link
Elkton Middle School Observation Reflection Link 
Spotswood High School Observation Reflection Link 

Having the opportunities to observe classes at all levels of k-12 education has given me a better idea of the purposes of music education at the different levels and the dynamics between the teachers and students. Before starting the course work for the music education program at JMU, I thought that I would have a preference towards teaching positions at elementary schools. Since going to different classes with different age groups, I appreciated the different perspectives those experiences have presented. 

The general music class that I observed at Mountain View Elementary seemed to focus less on the technical aspects of music and focused more on fostering the students' creativity. In the beginning of the class the teacher presented an age appropriate video that explained the differences between major and minor keys. Then, the kids were asked to draw a representation of their feelings while listening to famous classical pieces in either a major or minor key. It was also difficult to get a good perspective of this class because the normal teacher was absent and a substitute filled in that day. 

The chorus class at Elkton Middle School I observed mainly focused on preparation of the upcoming concert. There wasn't as much of a student centered creative aspect compared to the elementary school class. Also, dynamics between the teacher and student were drastically different compared to elementary. Students seemed to have more difficulty staying on task and talking over the teacher. Sometimes the teacher, Mr. Todd,  had to take a more authoritative tone. 

The adaptive music class I observed at Spotswood High School  is difficult to compare to the others because of the nature of the class. The majority of the students were confined to wheel chairs. The objective of the class I observed was to prepare for the Christmas performance at the school assembly. However, even though the lesson was focused preparation for the performance, the kids were still able to explore their creativity by either walking or dancing around the classroom, or not necessarily singing along but just enjoying the music. I liked how the class wasn't;t very structured and Mr. May did an excellent job of exemplifying an ethic of care in his classroom. 

Overall, one thing I noticed in all of the observations was that I wasn't able to get the full perspective of what each class was really like from only observing the one class period. In some classes, the teacher had a few minutes afterwords to explain other activities that are done throughout the week. However, I would have been able to get a better understanding of each teacher curriculum by observing multiple time throughout the semester. 

Link to Mountain View Elementary website 
Link to Elkton Middle School website 
Link to Spotswood High School website 

On October 20th I had the opportunity to observe the second grade music class. The teacher for this class was a substitute so the structure and activities were slightly different than usual. When all of the kids came into the classroom they sat in a circle on a rug with the alphabet and each student picked a letter to designate as their spot for that class. Once all of the kids were settled the teacher played a video that described the differences between major and minor keys. After watching this the teacher asked what defines a major key. The students used words like “happy” and “smiley face” to describe what they felt when listening to a piece in a major key. When the teacher asked what described a minor key, the students used descriptors such as “sad” and “thunderstorms”.

After the students were able to share their understanding of what they learned in the video the teacher had them participate in a drawing exercise. The teacher played a well-known piece of classical music and asked the students to draw something that depicted the mood of the piece that was in either a major or minor key. For major keys students drew pictures of spring weather or smiley faces. When the students listened to a piece in a minor key a lot of them drew scenes with rainy weather, or pictures of scary things. The students had a bit of difficulty staying quiet and sitting still for this activity, but they enjoyed sharing their drawings with the class. After the activity the teacher showed the students a small harp and they were asked to come up one at a time and strum different strings to produce either a major or minor chord. After a student played a chord, the class was asked to identify whether it was major or minor. Not all of the students were able to participate in strumming the instrument. Since the activity ended a few minutes before the class period was over, the teacher asked students to share their plans for the weekend. The students really enjoyed sharing and participating in the class.

​Overall, I did like the activity. I think it helped to expand the students creativity by not giving them as many guidelines for what to draw about how they felt about the music they listened to. However, I wish that there was more of a kinesthetic aspect to the activity since a lot of the time the students had to sit still for the activity. This activity would have been good for maybe a slightly older grade, but it wasn’t necessarily age appropriate for second grade.  I think it would have been helpful to give each of the students a small instrument to make a major or minor chord with instead of having a few students play on one instrument for the whole class. I really enjoyed this field experience and I learned a lot about what a general music class in an elementary school should look like.

​