Reflection Commentary
It was my initial goal to structure these lessons so that students would have ample opportunities to create, perform, and assess music. After reflecting on my completed project, I believe that this was mostly a success. Every time the students improvised, regardless of the parameters I set, they were creating music, and in a way that (I would assume) was personal to them. Since I pulled these students from the school’s band program, it was relatively easy to get them playing and performing often. Students also had numerous opportunities to assess themselves and each other, although some opportunities were more obvious than others. I tried to give students various chances to evaluate themselves and how they felt about what they had just played (their opinion was usually negative, but I know that their confidence will take time to develop). Improvising provides its own outlet for peer assessment in that students can listen to what the people before them played to influence their own ideas. This is a more challenging idea that I would have liked to explore more if I had more time. I was only able to scratch the surface of this in my three planned lessons.
I attempted to use my own musicality and instrumental proficiency to the benefit of the students as well. I used instrumental modeling on the vibraphone for call and response exercises and to demonstrate more difficult improvisation exercises. I used it during the call and response not only as an ear training exercise, but also to demonstrate the jazz style and articulation I was looking for. I have found in my experience that much of this jazz style is more easily learned through listening, and I think my modeling was effective in this situation.
Jazz improvisation, as I mentioned to this group of students, is difficult to learn because it requires the student to let go of their insecurities and play what they are thinking and feeling. In order to make this as comfortable for students as possible, it was important that I established that the room was a safe space and that it was a space where students could express their ideas without fear of ridicule or rejection. Of course, even with this classroom environment set, many students still felt uncomfortable. Had I had more time with this group, we would have worked on breaking them out of their shell even more, and soon I would have had them all playing alone more instead of in pairs or as a full group.
Of course, there is still much I could change for a future set of lessons. In the first packet, I gave them way too much music. That packet was 4 pages, and we never touched half of it. However, it could have been a good chance to challenge the stronger players. In that case, I may have chosen some more challenging pieces for them. I also would have liked to get everyone soloing alone earlier. It was good that I let them play together in the first rehearsal, but I think it would have been an invaluable self-assessment tool to let them hear themselves alone. Introducing trading at an earlier stage may have also helped, though some students may have struggled with the counting aspect of it.
I definitely could have done more in terms of differentiation. The more advanced students who already had improvisation experience were probably getting bored. I could have found small things to say or give them to keep them occupied. I also would have liked to challenge the percussionists more. They were certainly engaged enough, but giving them more to do could have also calmed them down considerably, which would have helped the flow of rehearsal run smoother.
It was my initial goal to structure these lessons so that students would have ample opportunities to create, perform, and assess music. After reflecting on my completed project, I believe that this was mostly a success. Every time the students improvised, regardless of the parameters I set, they were creating music, and in a way that (I would assume) was personal to them. Since I pulled these students from the school’s band program, it was relatively easy to get them playing and performing often. Students also had numerous opportunities to assess themselves and each other, although some opportunities were more obvious than others. I tried to give students various chances to evaluate themselves and how they felt about what they had just played (their opinion was usually negative, but I know that their confidence will take time to develop). Improvising provides its own outlet for peer assessment in that students can listen to what the people before them played to influence their own ideas. This is a more challenging idea that I would have liked to explore more if I had more time. I was only able to scratch the surface of this in my three planned lessons.
I attempted to use my own musicality and instrumental proficiency to the benefit of the students as well. I used instrumental modeling on the vibraphone for call and response exercises and to demonstrate more difficult improvisation exercises. I used it during the call and response not only as an ear training exercise, but also to demonstrate the jazz style and articulation I was looking for. I have found in my experience that much of this jazz style is more easily learned through listening, and I think my modeling was effective in this situation.
Jazz improvisation, as I mentioned to this group of students, is difficult to learn because it requires the student to let go of their insecurities and play what they are thinking and feeling. In order to make this as comfortable for students as possible, it was important that I established that the room was a safe space and that it was a space where students could express their ideas without fear of ridicule or rejection. Of course, even with this classroom environment set, many students still felt uncomfortable. Had I had more time with this group, we would have worked on breaking them out of their shell even more, and soon I would have had them all playing alone more instead of in pairs or as a full group.
Of course, there is still much I could change for a future set of lessons. In the first packet, I gave them way too much music. That packet was 4 pages, and we never touched half of it. However, it could have been a good chance to challenge the stronger players. In that case, I may have chosen some more challenging pieces for them. I also would have liked to get everyone soloing alone earlier. It was good that I let them play together in the first rehearsal, but I think it would have been an invaluable self-assessment tool to let them hear themselves alone. Introducing trading at an earlier stage may have also helped, though some students may have struggled with the counting aspect of it.
I definitely could have done more in terms of differentiation. The more advanced students who already had improvisation experience were probably getting bored. I could have found small things to say or give them to keep them occupied. I also would have liked to challenge the percussionists more. They were certainly engaged enough, but giving them more to do could have also calmed them down considerably, which would have helped the flow of rehearsal run smoother.