Middle School Orchestra Practicum

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.