Alright Kid, show 'em' what you know. You've got 5 minuets. (reflection)

On Monday I had the pleasure of teaching Brandt, a 4 year old boy attempting to learn the clarinet.
The catch: I only had 5 minuets to teach him.

I should also probably mention, it was my professor doing a pretty accurate impression of a 4 year old.

When writing my lesson plans for this lesson, my two goals were:

1. Teach him how to put the clarinet together.

2. Attempt to see if he can play an open G (not nicely, just some screech of a G. After all there is only 5 minuets.)
 

Upon sitting down with Brandt and talking to him briefly, I realized "There's NO WAY I'm going to be able to have this kid able and  ready to assemble his own clarinet and play a G in 5 minuets."

So I had to make a quick decision, "Do I teach him how to play a G? Or, do I teach him how to get the instrument ready so he can be taught to play a G at any time."

Well I went with the latter. I figured " You've got to learn to walk before you can run."

So, reflection:

I think young Brandt walked away knowing you definitely need to put "chap-stick" or cork grease on the clarinet before putting it together if its dry. He also knows that you must be gentle when putting it together. Other then that, I'm not really sure if Brandt walked away knowing anything else. I didn't have enough time to finish showing him how the clarinet goes together. Luckily, the pieces only fit one way. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for Brandt to learn how to put on the reed so the instrument was pretty much useless. I guess long story short, in terms of lesson plan goals: Mission failed.

Would I change anything?
The only thing I would go about changing is finding a better more child friendly way to set up the clarinet. Something easy to remember, such as a rhyme. Everything else other than that (my stretching warm up, keeping him engaged by asking him questions in-between steps) I would not change. Hopefully, I'll never have only 5 minuets to teach a lesson again. If I do, were cutting straight to the point.

No regrets, just new life notes.

Be honest with me..... Do we sound terrible?

How do we determine if some one is a good musician..

This is not the first time I've been asked this question and in my mind the answer is not a simple one, but alas
I shall do my best.

Over the years I have come to this conclusion,

There are two types of musicians, performers and creators. That's not to say that one can't do the other, its just generally speaking, in my experiences, some people often feels more comfortable doing one rather then the other.

Performers- Performers are those musicians that can have a piece of sheet music placed in front of them and play the piece note for note beautifully. The good ones can often play the piece with out error by their third attempt. These musicians can also transpose incredibly well and quickly. Some have the ability to remember an entire piece and play it note for note without any sheet music. Now of course there are pieces that are incredibly difficult to play and that's what separates the good musicians from the pros.
Example: A classical pianist.

Creators- Creators often create there own music and do not make a huge attempt at playing others pieces. A good creator has their ability to perform a piece they have written flawlessly with the emotion that they wish to convey. Another thing that determines them to be a good creator is their ability to pick up what someone else is playing and play along to it or improvise a solo to it, often playing completely by ear.
Example: A blues guitarist.

I have heard AMAZING classical musicians (performers) straight out say "no" to the thought of jamming with another musician because "If I don't have music in front of me, I will be lost and have no idea what to play."

And I have seen AMAZING rock musicians (creators) openly admit they have not the faintest idea how to read music and only play by ear (Jimi Hendrix)


The common ground on what makes them both good: They both know how to stay on time and stay in key. Their performance of the piece is next to near flawless and if they do have an error they are able to recover from it quickly.

Now I'm sure that you have thought of a handful of people that can do both of these things (create/read music)  incredibly well and good for them, but there are allot musicians out there that would much rather do one than the other.

Which leads me to my next point, which is training as a musician! Which is how I'm going to leeway into the discussion of  Brandt Schneider's "Creating Musical Flexibility Through the Ensemble"

After reading this article I was thoroughly impressed with Mr. Schneiders ability to turn a band program that had literally nothing around to being an award winning, competitive concert band program.

In the article Mr.Shneider stresses the point that students should have proper ear training, technique and discipline as well as a good background in music theory. By teaching his students these skills it helped him take them to the next level and made it easier for him to teach them. It also gave them the ability to play pieces more naturally, by ear and understand why they're the notes that they're playing.

Personally, I think this is a fantastic way to teach students. I wish I had this kind of teacher when I was a student in high school, but as most of us know, I am a self taught musician (EEK, every time I say this I feel a music major shriek and my credibility gets cut in half. "How dare you do it yourself!?").

I believe that teaching students music theory at a young age as well as giving them ear training is a fantastic way to give them the tools necessary to make it on their own as musicians. This comes with a big BUT though. That but being, I believe this should be taught in a music making setting. Not a bunch of students sitting in front of a chalk board, instrumentless, trying to memorize the circle of fifths. (which I once had to do once and it was AAWWFUULLL!! Give me a piano or a guitar for goodness sake! Let me hear what I am learning. That day, nothing was learned. I had to go back and figure it all out on my own.)

My only question for Mr. Schneider is, "Your technique for teaching students sounds amazing and informative, what a wonderful way to give them the building blocks they need to strive as musicians! But, what about the students that are easily frustrated? How do you get to them? Since most of the things that you are teaching them are interrelated, it's easy for a student to figure out one problem by studying something else, but what about those students that are having a difficult time making connections? What happens to them?"


All in all, I would say when trying to teach a group of musicians to be successful in the future and give them there own means to survive, Mr. Shneider is definitely on the right track.

DOES-NOT-COMPUTE!!!

                                                           DOES NOT COMPUTE!                                                           



Rubric.... Sounds allot like robot to me...

So here's the question? Does using a robot justify how a student should be graded. I'm sorry, I meant to say rubric***.

Me, I personally have always felt that there are certain subjects that require a rubric and there are certain subjects that should just use it as a (loose) guideline.

For example;

Special Agent James Bond must know how to disarm a Mark 27 Naval nuclear warhead before it's launched from the United States (by hostel British terrorists that took over a US submarine) to Russia, which in turn would cause WWIII.

Unfortunately, James was too busy hanging out with beautiful ladies that happened to be mixed in with the wrong crowed to open the disarming manual. As a result of this, James failed his Mark 27 Disarm test. In the simulation, James cut the green wire instead of the pink one which caused the warhead to detonate killing thousands off the coast of Alaska.

Here is a perfect example of where a rubric should be used, enforced and studied. For a skill set that requires exact details and measurements, a rubric should be used in order to score a test or performance.

Maybe a more realistic example would be a surgeon. You better hope that a brain surgeon was graded on a rubric before performing a brain tumor removing lobotomy. Or an EMT was graded on a rubric when demonstrating exactly how to use defibrillator and do CPR.


Then there are places where a rubric should be used as a guideline NOT as a standard.

For example;

Johnny is taking a 10th grade Beginner Group Guitar class. Johnny is taking this class to fulfill an elective and because he has always wanted to learn how to play an instrument. For his final, Johnny is required to play a Bb scale (which he nails) as well as several other scales. He is also required to play two pieces. One of which has several Bbs' in it.

Well, Johnny does a great job with his first piece and all his scales but plays 2 B naturals instead of Bbs' in his second piece. He got the other 15 Bbs correct and everything else he played note for note. After the piece, Johnny said to his teacher that he "missed 2 Bbs'", demonstrating that he understands where he made his mistake and what he needs to do in order to fix it.  The professor has heard Johnny play this song over 15 times correctly (while practicing in class) but according to the rubric it's a -10% point deduction for every note missed.

Here is the perfect example of a situation where a rubric is a ridicules thing to live and  grade by. The point of the class is to teach students how to play guitar at a beginner level. Johnny, who has attended all the classes, has always been prepared and who has clearly studied all the materials, grade is now in jeopardy because of a rubric.

Does this rubric, this test really demonstrate ALL of the information that Johnny has learned over the course of the semester? Does this rubric decide if Johnny really did all his work?

This is where the teacher needs to ask himself/ herself  "Should this really effect his grade? He has studied everything he was supposed to and demonstrated his knowledge of the content over the course of the semester. Should those 2 Bbs' really effect his grade?"

OF COURSE NOT!!!!

Johnny clearly knows what he did wrong, he knows how to fix it. He's not taking this class to perform live, its not "Guitar Performance class". He is taking it to learn how to play the guitar. Johnny has demonstrated that he has absorbed the content over the semester. He has also demonstrated that he can play guitar at a beginner level several times before his final. Therefore Johnny did what he was supposed to do, effective demonstrate his knowledge of the content. Therefore in my opinion, Johnny should receive an A.


 All in all,

There are certain subjects where a rubric is necessary. If you are teaching a specific skill that takes precise calculations in order to get a proper outcome then yes, live by your rubric. If one must perform a specific skill with an exact outcome and that's what the course is for then a rubric is necessary. A rubric should only be used when teaching factual user information that demonstrates the students ability to carry out an exact task.

But then there's other subjects, subjects that are more tuned towards a bigger picture, such as History. When teaching a subject such as history we have to ask ourselves, "Does the student understand the big picture? Have they demonstrated that they understand why this has happened? How it happened? When it happened?" If the answer is "yes" then a student shouldn't recieve major drop in their grade (according to a rubric) because he/she got the names of the guns the soldiers carried in WWII  wrong or because they misspelled a few words on a test.


We have to ask our selves, "Are we programing robots that perform tasks and do calculations? Or, are we teaching students to periodically demonstrate their knowledge of the content over a course of semester. Do they understand what the big picture is? Are we going to penalize them for small details that may not be detrimental to the actual subject? Does a test really demonstrate everything they have learned? Is taking a single test really a proper way to asses all the students?

When you answer those question, then you should decide how to use your rubric.

Rock TIll I Die, Blues When I Cry.

The question,
"Should music educators be experts in jazz or American folk music?"

America, we the people, the founders and creators of blues, the original rock n' rollers. The hippest and meanest of the improvisationalist, howlin' away at the moon every night.

We created this culture, no matter which way you look at it, it's all ours. Some other countries got a hold of it, put a couple chapters in the book, but its our birthright, our gift to the world, our psychotic, addiction ridden, hyper active love child.

So the question is, should American music educators be experts in jazz or American folk? Understanding American music is understanding America. It's understanding our culture, it's understanding our history, its understanding who WE the PEOPLE are, not those that represent us, but who WE are.

So I guess the answer to this question is, rock on music teachers, rock on.

Who am I? Glad you asked.

                                                        Who are you?

Who am I? The question “who am I?” has been plaguing me since I was a child. I know what I like and I know what I don't like, but with every passing day I learn something new and I change ever so slightly. Maybe change isn't the best choice of words. I would prefer to use the word adapt. What I do know about myself is that I'm passionate, driven, adventures, curious and loving. I strive for the best but I attempt to achieve my goals with modesty. I know what I want and I know where I want to go but I don't know who I am yet. I will never know who I am until I achieve all the goals I have set forth to achieve. Unfortunately for those looking for the short answer I cannot give you one. Why? Because my goals are life long. Some goals I may never accomplish, but I know that in my lifetime, time provided, I will give them my best shot. Some attempts may be failures. Perhaps all. But there wont be just one attempt. There will be multiple. Failure is an option but not a deterrent, and with every success comes a new goal. If I know myself, I know this to be true.

So to answer the question “who am I?”, I am James H. Darling II. I am one man who has the whole world in front of him and is looking at every possible path he can take to get where he needs to be. Making some new paths as he goes. I am not concerned about which path will get me there the fastest but more focused on the path that will allow me to see and do the most along the way. To put it simply, I am an adventurer.

                                                     What do you believe?

I have several beliefs I stand firmly by them. I believe that patients is an overlooked virtue, I believe that a proper education can open up an entirely new world for someone where as an improper attempt at education can leave a persons world in shambles. I believe that failure is just a lesson on what not to do on the next attempt or as Boonshaft referenced Samuel Beckett “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail Again. Fail Better.”. I believe the word “can't” should really be “how”. I believe that hostility can be a motivator but letting someone know you genuinely believe in them is a far greater motivator. I believe that we as people need to be able to move freely and express ourselves with out concern but we fight both of these traits on a daily basis. I believe in the power of a good conversation, I believe that most people, with enough time to reflect would prefer to make positive choices rather then negative ones.

                                       What are your core values?

Through out my life I have been lucky enough to see and associate with people from all walks of life. I have had over $300 a plate meals paid for by people that believe money is no object and I have lived in a house that at times would get as cold as 34 degrees because there wasn't enough money in the budget to pay for the oil. I can't say I have seen it all but I have seen the difference. I have seen incredible acts of kindness first hand and I have seen inhuman acts of anger and aggression. Everything I have experienced thus far has shaped my core values, and I wouldn't trade any of those experiences for the world.

I believe there are moments in this world where your values are all you have. There are moments where nothing can help you or some one else other then your values. Every decision you make on a daily basis is based off your values. Even if you don’t think about them in that moment there is still something, some form of experience that is driving you to make that choice.

I stand by my values, some may even say I am stubborn. But I believe in these values and until something happens to change one of them, they will remain the same.

1. Always be a positive and nice person. Give people the opportunity to change their actions towards you before you react to them or a situation negatively.

2. If you are patient but assertive you will almost always come out on top.
3. Always graciously thank someone for helping you. Let them know that you genuinely appreciate them taking the time out of their schedule to help you.
4. Never let any one push you or a helpless person around. Stand up for yourself and others. Bullying will not be tolerated.
5. Be your own motivation. The only person that’s holding you back from doing something is yourself.
6. Take care of yourself physically and mentally. At the end of the day all you have is your health. Nothing more.
7. Things can ALWAYS be worse. Take a moment to find the light in every situation. I find that not making light of a bad situation is like holding onto a brick while swimming stranded in the middle of the ocean. Let go of the brick, you'll be able to tread water and swim for allot longer.
8. With the right amount of dedication, time and training ANYTHING is possible.
9. As the great Henry Ford said, referenced in Boonshafts book, “Don't find fault. Find a remedy!”. It's easy to point the finger, but all you're doing is taking time away from a solution.
10. Think about how your actions may effect others.
11. Don't be afraid to be passionate about something. As the great Dr. Seuss said. “Those that mind don't matter and those that matter don’t mind.”
12. Be yourself, it's allot easier then trying to be someone else.
13. Always strive to learn more, achieve more, be greater, push your limits. Play hard, party hard, rest easy, repeat.