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Instrumental To Success
By John BenzerPublished: September 2010
PDF Version AvailableAfter 22 years of teaching at the public school and college levels, I’m continuously reminded of how critical the teaching of fundamentals is, especially during the first few weeks of beginning classes and full ensemble rehearsals. In doing clinics in public schools on a regular basis, I find there are items that sometimes slip through the cracks of the everyday beginning classes and rehearsal situations (regardless of whether in a middle school or high school setting). Yet, if we are vigilant, it takes only seconds to remind students of the fundamentals.
The teacher’s attention must be focused on constantly moving around the room and monitoring individual performance, both visually and physically. You may find yourself correcting different students each day, or you may be correcting the same one. But if you do not insist on the needed corrections, students will begin to think they are unimportant. As your students become more proficient performers and musicians, whether as individuals or ensemble members, your job becomes more challenging.
What follows are some essentials to keep in mind in your daily rehearsals and in your overall approach to instruction throughout the year. A continued focus on fundamentals will help ensure you are building and sustaining a solid foundation in your students.
Playing Position
As you monitor students in rehearsal, check their physical playing position and work with the following suggestions to help them improve:
• With regard to band and string students, always move an inanimate object rather than a student’s body position.
• Feet and legs must be placed in relation to the design of the chair and in a balanced body position. Students should sit as they stand and their feet should be under their shoulders. The alignment of the core of the body will alleviate the temptation to sit incorrectly.
• There should be a natural balance of the head on the shoulders. When in playing position, students should not change their head position to see their director. The eyes are perfectly capable of moving independently.
• Music stands should be at heights that allow for optimal playing position for each individual—this includes for reading music at the bottom of the page while still seeing the conductor.
Regarding instrument carriage, consider the following:
• Watch for a smooth balance from shoulder to shoulder when facing the director, regardless of whether the students are breathing or creating sound with their instruments.
• Do not twist or shift the upper body out of the breathing position.
• There should always be a unified look among members within any given wind or string section.
• There should also be unified angles within all wind or string sections.
Classroom Atmosphere
Developing a positive classroom atmosphere may seem like an obvious suggestion, but it continues to be a source of either positive or negative behavior for students, so it’s worth reviewing.
• If fitting with your personality, do not allow students to come into the room talking.
• Students respond positively to a clean classroom, void of clutter and disarray.
• With younger students, verbally compliment those who are exhibiting correct procedures. This will hopefully motivate other students to model those behaviors.
• Choose a specific, consistent time to mark the start of class—such as at the bell, a specific time after the bell, or when you step onto the podium or start the metronome—and follow through with consequences for students who are not ready to play.
Classroom Setup
An effective classroom setup can help you achieve a positive classroom atmosphere. While you have likely already set up your space, you might take a moment to evaluate whether the setup is working for or against you in your goals for the ensemble rehearsal.
• Provide a space in the classroom for books and other materials.
• Large cases should not be allowed in the rehearsal setup.
• You need to have enough room between your rows/risers to walk around and monitor posture, feet, hand position, etc.
• Students should be encouraged to walk into, rather than through, the setup. Students enter the setup from the sides rather than from the very back or front.
• Flute and horn students may need to move the angles of their chairs, depending on the setup of the previous class.
Use of Risers
While the size and configuration of your room may prevent the use of risers, if you have them and have the space for them, they can be beneficial to your rehearsal. Risers are not used just for visual purposes; they allow brass players to project more easily, trombonists to move their slides with better ease, and more. Music stands may need to be on the risers as opposed to the floor. Most string orchestras will not need risers; however, full orchestras can utilize risers to their advantage.
Auxiliary Equipment
The use of metronomes and tuners for individual skill development and ensemble progress is critical. Using each effectively can yield great benefits for your groups.
Metronomes
• Metronomes can help students in many ways. Metronomes can help them feel subdivision; focus their articulation, movement, and release of notes; and keep them mindful of energizing the airflow throughout notes in a phrase.
• When using a metronome, do not try to talk over it.
• Do not amplify the metronome through speakers making it louder than the ensemble’s sound. The sound produced by a room metronome should be adequate to demonstrate tempo when needed. Students should always be able to remain focused on the sound of the other players in the ensemble when playing.
• It can be effective to place the metronome in the middle or back of your ensemble.
• Purchase an inexpensive, generic remote-control device that allows you to turn the metronome on or off from any location in your classroom. These remote devices are available at most electronics stores and can be connected to the metronome in the same way you would connect them with home electronic devices.
• Do not allow students to continue if they are not playing in rhythm with the metronome. Either stop or turn off the metronome. Students need to be made aware they are not moving together.
Tuners
• The tuner is an effective device that allows students to visualize their pitch instability. It can promote greater student interest because it incorporates the sense of sight into their sound production.
• I highly recommend using 12-strobe tuners. The darker the strobe bands are, the more focused the sound is.
• Tuners with needles that move from side to side to indicate pitch discrepancies are difficult to control. Students will often inappropriately contort their faces, and thus embouchures, to make the needle stop. This is certainly counterproductive to the goal.
• Individual clip-on tuners can be useful for individual practice or section rehearsals. It is important to note that they should be used only for tuning octaves, fourths, and fifths. Linear lines can sometimes be improved by the use of these tuners. Clip-on tuners, however, are not compatible with tuning chord structure. If your students use clip-on tuners, be certain that their use of them doesn’t negatively affect their instrument carriage or their attention to their director. Students tend to look at these devices more than they look at their director. Never allow your students to use these devices in any public venue or performance.
Pacing
There are so many factors involved when deciding at what pace to progress with your students: size of class, work ethic, prior skills, etc. It is vital that you teach with sensitivity with regard to these factors. Be sure that all students in beginning classes have the necessary equipment to participate in each component of your daily lessons. Leaving a significant number of students behind, for any reason, will eventually cause frustration to you and the entire class. Students can also become bored and/or disruptive while you attempt to re-teach materials because of a student not having a mouthpiece, an instrument, etc. Do your best to move at the most appropriate pace that an average student can successfully achieve.
Consider alternative classroom activities—such as written theory work—while you begin sound production with each individual in your class. Be sure to grade every written assignment so the students will realize the importance. Materials can be found on the Internet, published in book form, or can be self-generated—just keep everyone involved and busy.
In ensembles, it is important for students to learn basic notes and rhythms in section rehearsals as opposed to in full band or orchestra rehearsals (presuming you have the opportunity for both). When you have to work with a small group of the ensemble for a long time, the remaining members lose interest and often create disruptions.
Student Accountability
While basic, it is effective to require every student to show their pencils to their director at the start of each class—regardless of age or performance level. Students should not be allowed to share music, whether or not stands are being shared. When students share one set of music, you have to assume that one out of every two or three students are going home without the markings and information that you gave that day. If you as the director are marking your books/scores, you should obviously expect your students to do the same! Consider collecting a particular piece of literature and grading the markings students have been given, both in sectionals and ensemble rehearsals. This will give students a written grade for their parents to see if their course grades are not deemed acceptable at the end of the various grading periods. It should be understood that numbering measures is a given!
Care and maintenance, as with all aspects of playing instruments, must be taught, monitored, and positively reinforced in all classes. High school directors should not assume that students are mature enough to manage this responsibility. For this important component to occur, students must be given 3–5 minutes at the end of every class to take care of these matters. If students are consistently held to the bell, they will easily fall into unacceptable habits regarding instrument maintenance.
It has been my experience that students respond to positive reinforcement that can be given only on an individual basis. While this adds time to your daily schedule, the confidence each student builds through your immediate feedback and guidance will contribute to their musical growth and sense of ownership within their ensemble. After beginning your UIL concert preparations, it may be effective to incorporate individual listenings after a few weeks of section rehearsals. These listenings also benefit students who are not able to take private lessons; furthermore, they allow you to get to know your students better, especially if you are a new teacher or are receiving students who someone else taught the previous year.
At all levels, it is important that all correspondence sent home with the students or emailed have a designated place for a parent/guardian signature. Student grades should be determined by their compliance with your expectations.
Teaching in a Logical Progression
Whether a first-year or experienced teacher, it is imperative to have a definite and clear plan for yourself and your students. Although you may not be required to create and submit lesson plans to your administrators, you are encouraged to create a structure within your program that will allow you to progress in the manner and at the speed you wish.
Beginning band or string students will develop detrimental habits if certain aspects of playing are introduced too quickly in some instruments or too slowly in others. For example, flute and brass flexibility should be among the first skills taught once acceptable sound production has been attained. Scalar and intervallic technique is often taught too soon in the process, therefore leading to poor hand position and coordination problems.
Use your method book structure judiciously to achieve your pedagogical goals. Lines that are left out of the order in published materials can still be covered at a later time when they fit within your structure.
Many times, beginning students move into full ensembles and struggle with comprehension of basic rhythm and note-reading skills. When teaching scales to beginning students, be cautious of rote-teaching too many scales without checking the students’ knowledge of the actual note names, intervals, or articulation used. In the same manner, be cautious of rote teaching rhythmic structure. Use a consistent counting system within your program and cluster. Never play rhythms that have not been counted verbally within your structure.
As this and each year begins, you should always strive to be as organized and detail-driven as possible. Your students will remain successful as long as you have a structured, goal-oriented focus to every aspect of your program. I wish you the best of luck as you begin another year of teaching in this extraordinary profession!
John Benzer is on the music education faculty at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. He presented a clinic on this topic at the 2010 TMEA Clinic/Convention.