Skip to main content

Composing Chamber Music: Crossing Standards and Streets for Vertical Connections

Ah, midterm season. The time of year when I end up doing more grading than at any other point in the school year. Just the thought of it makes me....

Is it worth it? Absolutely. But have I been spinning my wheels when there is a better way? Also absolutely. For what it's worth, I'm writing down my thoughts here to make sure I do it the better way when this season rolls around again next year.


Will you be my accountabilibuddy?

Context: For the last 4-5 years my middle school colleague, Amy Rever, and I have teamed up for a year-long chamber music project. It starts with me teaching the basics of chords, harmony, and progression to my HS students to create warm-ups and mini-chorales early on in the year, and makes its way to a composition project where each of my HS students composes a short (16-32 measure) piece of chamber music to be learned by the MS students that feed into my HS. These pieces are due at the midterm mark so that they can then be passed out across the street to the MS students, who then form groups, select one of the pieces, and perform it at our big Chamber Music Night in the Park in the spring. For many of the MS students, this is their first exposure to chamber music. It gives them a gentle, relaxed, low-pressure opportunity to stand up in the local band shell, play a short piece written by a HS student with their friends, and have a picnic with their families while the other students are playing. It's really a lovely evening, and it's very cool for the MS students to get to meet the composers of their pieces too. (I love when the MS students ask the HS students for autographs on their sheet music!)

But come midterm season, it makes for a LOT of grading with very little turn around time for corrections, edits, and final grades due for report cards. I have to check each composition for correct keys, transpositions, correct number of files, playability/accessibility, and more... it makes for a very concentrated headache with very little opportunity for me to actually help students before I need to turn in my semester grades for report cards. That is until I figured out it doesn't have to be this way.


Next year, I want to do more of a "writing workshop" approach, but with composition. If student's compositions (first drafts) are due earlier on before midterm grades are due, then we can take more time leading up to the end of the semester to have designated days for students to peer edit, ask me questions, get help with transposing for multiple instruments, and more. The more I think about it, the more excited I get... and the more I can't believe I didn't think of this before. 

If you have any experience with composing in the large ensemble setting, or conducting "writing workshops" in your classroom, I would love to brainstorm with you ways to help make my new idea even more successful for next year! Please reach out-- I look forward to hearing from you!


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Student-Led Rehearsals Day 1: Identifying Potential Problems

Today I introduced the task at hand: Each class will be selecting, as a group, one piece to perform for our Winter Concert-- without my direction. The Goal: To perform this piece to the best of our ability; to make it "YouTube"/Social Media worthy, something that everyone at the end of the experience would be proud to share with their friends and social circle. Surprisingly, it did not scare them as much as it does me. But, I did see my fair share of skeptical eye rolls. The first step towards our goal was to identify possible problems/roadblocks in accomplishing our goal. Each class was asked to create a list on the board of potential challenges we may face before we begin. It was very interesting to observe the dynamic of each class as they navigated even this first step, communicating with one another to complete their list. Sometimes, they chose to continue the "teacher/student" paradigm where one person wrote on the board and called out to others with their
2 comments
Read more

Innovator's Mindset in the Band Room: Student-Led Rehearsals

It all started when this happened... George Couros came to Rochester Community Schools yesterday, inspiring hundreds of teachers in his wake. If you are not familiar with George Couros (@gcouros), he is the author of the widely recognized, highly regarded educational manifesto entitled "The Innovator's Mindset" as well regularly writing on his blog, The Principle of Change . There are many aspects of the "Innovator's Mindset" that I find appealing. We agree on many, many points: the power of positive connections, cultivating passion, and the need for teachers to give students space and voice to take charge of their learning. This tweet though, sums it up for me: When you have a compelling reason, you can learn ANYTHING. #RCSInnovate — Kristine Balinski (@MathTeacherMrsB) November 5, 2018 If students have a compelling reason to connect, they will put in the work. Teachers are the resource, students direct their own learning. As educators, espec
1 comment
Read more

Open Letter to My Students

Dear Students, This is certainly not how I imagined the culmination of our face-to-face school year. The last time I saw you, I never imagined it would be for the last time. The selfish truth is that I'm still not ready for it to be the end. I thought we would have so much more ahead of us... Time to use all the tools we've sharpened over the course of the year to put together some incredible performances. Time to get out on the stage and leave it all out there for audiences to enjoy. Time to create, time to play, time to laugh, time to grow, time to cry, time to celebrate, time to say "good bye".  The irony of it all is although we supposedly have "all the time in the world", that time won't look like anything we imagined. This isn't what anyone imagined or anticipated. Not for you, not for ourselves, not for our world. But the good news is this isn't the end . Buildings might be closed, face-to-face instruction may not be possible, but the
Post a Comment
Read more