Engaging in the Music Classroom Part Two: Running Rehearsals in a Student-Centered Classroom

In “ Part One: Making Connections with Your Students , ” I included some examples of how I create a joyous atmosphere in my classrooms. When it comes to running rehearsals in a student-centered classroom, I do a variety of things to keep my kids on their toes and wondering what I’ll do next. Here are some things you could try:

I’m a big fan of “Do Now’s,” which are brief starters or warm-up activities that occur at the beginning of a lesson. It’s a great way to establish routines and norms for your students. You can put anything from the most basic instructions (e.g. practice the pizzicato section of Dragonhunter ) to something a little more advanced (e.g. last week we struggled with this section, do you remember what it was?). Once the kids assume they know what the “Do Now” is for, I throw in twists to make things fun and to make sure they’re reading it. In the tiny print at the bottom, I once wrote, “Wave your pencil to make it look like rubber until I’m ready to begin rehearsal.” I was immediately able to see who didn’t read the “Do Now” and needless to say, they read it from that day forward. Assign jobs to your students. This leaves you free to roam the room, greet students and talk with them, and handle instrument issues (fallen bridge, putting on a new string, etc.). When I taught middle school, we had an orchestra secretary to take attendance, a librarian to handle music, and a student to pass out electronic tuners (tuner patrol). Some years, I had students monitor the instrumental storage room as well.

Talk less. Do you ever feel like you talk too much during rehearsals? We don’t mean to do it, but we do. Just think about those college classes we had where the professor lectured and we took notes - BORING! Try this one day: have a silent rehearsal and mime everything to your students. They’ll catch on and realize they have to work together to decipher what it is you want them to do. If you tend to warm up on a scale, draw stairs on the board and then the notes, or make the shape with your hands. Use an instrument and demonstrate, but no talking. They will be engaged and have a blast as they try to figure out what you want. And you will realize that we really don’t need to be talking all that much for our students to learn.

Instead of “telling” your students what they did incorrectly, try something like this: “Trumpets! I was listening for this in measures 6 and 7, but I didn’t hear it. Discuss amongst yourselves what you’re going to change this time around.” This puts the learning on them. If you tell them to play forte or to articulate , they’re being taught that they need to be told when to do something differently, and anyone can be told to do something. But if they decide to do it on their own, then they inevitably own what they do and their learning becomes their own. Yes, this looks a lot different for beginners, but it can still be done, albeit with more guidance from you. Another example of this is simply asking, “Hey, what happened there? What did we forget to do?” Make them do the work.

Have you ever tried reverse psychology on your students? This only works if you have a trusting, open, joking and happy relationship with them, and it’s totally worth it. Say there’s something in particular that your cello students are missing (a bow lift, transition to pizzicato, D.C. al Coda, etc.). You know they’re capable, they’ve done it, and you’ve rehearsed it. Say to the rest of the orchestra, “Okay everyone, the cellos are going to try this section again. They’re probably going to miss the bow lift in measure 10, but let’s watch them do it.” Now you know what happens in your cellos’ minds? “Game on! Challenge accepted!”

I never seat my students competitively or put my best violins on first. I’ve noticed that school in general has gotten more competitive since I attended. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when students overly obsess about it, it can be. We want them to love our ensembles, not think of it as another thing that they have to be the best at. When my students come into my classroom, I want them to breathe a sigh of relief and think, “This is the one place we’re I’m treated the same as everyone else.” My students (pre-Covid era) rotated seating and had a new stand partner each quarter. I also give violinists the choice of whether they want first or second violin, educating them that both parts teach something different.

“Turning and Talking” is one aspect of Responsive Classroom that I was trained in. Responsive Classroom is a student-centered, social and emotional learning approach to teaching and discipline. It is comprised of a set of research- and evidence-based practices designed to create safe, joyful, and engaging classroom and school communities for both students and teachers. Using methods like this help promote student-centered classrooms. Remember, we’re not teachers lecturing the students: we’re guides. It’s a great way to give them some autonomy and a chance to walk over to that student(s) who needs a little extra help. Now being an orchestra teacher, I take it to the next level and have them “Turn and Play” for the person next to them. If you have trained them in peer assessment, you’ll hear your students give excellent feedback to one another (e.g. you missed this slur right here; the rhythm is actually this; this is an F natural not an F sharp). It’s interesting: students learn better when they teach their peers, and some students would rather accept feedback from a peer than a teacher. A student will give the same exact feedback as me (same wording) and it’ll make better sense to the student than when I had said it; I have no clue why!

Most importantly: celebrate the small successes. Your students will get better, but try to acknowledge when they do even the teensiest thing correctly. Make it genuine, and don’t over-compliment (kids can very easily sense when feedback isn’t genuine). I can recall saying to my elementary students recently: “Look, I’m not sure what notes you all just played, but...that was the first time I didn’t have to tell you all to start at the frog on your bows.” They laughed and agreed with the first part, but accepted the compliment and I haven’t had to address the frog since. Positive feedback sandwiched with critique will give them confidence and help them want to improve.

Concert Prep

In the beginning of my career I would run concert pieces exhaustingly, sometimes to the point where the kids didn’t need the music anymore and it was almost mechanical. It was also a very teacher-centered approach. I would be the one saying what went right, what needed to be improved, and then we’d move on. I’ve since taken a more interactive approach, even during dress rehearsals.

Do the same kids always sit in the back of your band or orchestra? One day, walk to the back and tell the entire group to rotate and make the back the new front. Yes band teachers, this puts your percussion section in front of you. This works amazingly well if you’re having some particular behavioral problems. It also lets those kids who are in the back know that you think the same of them as those in the front.

Switch up stand partners! Everyone needs to find a stand partner that plays an instrument other than their own (instruments like basses can spread out across the room). This works very well as you are gearing up for concerts; it forces students to listen hard for their other section members, but also appreciate the subtle differences in the other instruments’ parts.

I’ve seen some awesome visual representations that ensemble instructors use for their students prior to concerts. These include giant thermometers drawn on the board that the kids fill in, to simple exit tickets asking students if the pieces are concert ready. I had a smart board in my room and made an interactive scale where each note represented something different in the piece that the kids needed to accomplish. What they had to accomplish was written clearly so the kids could see it. I chose eight students, and as each task was completed by the orchestra, the student tapped the board and the note was replaced with a happy face. This is what we called the “Scale of Success,” and the students knew when they got the eighth one they were ready. One of my colleagues and good friends draws a giant empty music note on the board and divides it similarly to what I mentioned above. Students go up and color it in.

Games

Kids love games! And what better way to engage your students than by adding some musical fun into their day.

Hide the bow: Pick a student to go in the hall and wait. Take an extra bow (or a drumstick, band teachers) and pick another student to hide it somewhere in your rehearsal space. Have the student out in the hall come back in and look for the bow. The opportunities here are endless: if you want to work on dynamics, as the student gets closer to the bow’s location, the orchestra should play louder (or softer depending on what you want them to work on). Change this up if you’re working on articulations like the difference between staccatos and tenutos/legatos; practice subdividing and going between quarter notes when the student is far away from the bow and sixteenth notes as they get close. Learning a new scale? Have the students play it up and down, and when the student gets close to the bow the ensemble plays out of tune. The kids love this one!

Detective: A group of students have to find the person who is purposely doing something incorrectly (playing wrong notes, not doing the correct bowing, etc.). You can always turn the tables and have everyone play the same thing incorrectly and one section doing it correctly. The point is for the students to be able to discern between playing accurately or inaccurately.

Posture Police : Have a group of students play with incorrect posture (slouching, back touching the chair, instrument pointed to the ground, bad bow hold). Have another group of students be the Posture Police and walk around and give out Posture Tickets .

Elimination or Substitution: Take an easy nursery rhyme (Twinkle) and have them play it as a warm-up instead of doing a normal scale. Students play it the whole way through by ear. When they’re finished, you can eliminate (“Every time there’s a D, you’re going to rest.”) or substitute (“All F-sharps are going to become F-naturals.”). I learned this one from a former colleague/friend and I still use it to this day.

Modeling

One of the best things about our profession is our ability to demonstrate what it means to be a musician. When I first started teaching I taught both chorus and orchestra. Luckily, singing was an area I was comfortable with and had no worries about, and as a violist I wasn’t worried about playing the string instruments. But following that I got a job teaching 5th grade beginning band. It was terrifying for me only because I wasn’t comfortable or familiar with all the band instruments. I took time the summer prior to obtain and practice each instrument in the band and get to a novice high beginner’s level (i.e. one page ahead of my students always). I knew if I modeled correct posture, an appropriate tone, embouchure and essentially did what I was asking them to do, I would be successfully reaching my visual and aural learners. And also, if I struggled with something, I DEFINITELY knew what my kids would struggle with.

I play violin in front of my orchestras, and I generally change parts depending on which section needs help in the moment. This means I memorize the score and walk around, maybe to the bass section or the back of the violins. During instrument lessons, I play the instrument I’m teaching unless my challenge for them is to play their part with another part and hold their own.

Conclusion

I will end this with a couple of thoughts. Start by building meaningful connections with students, and extend that connection to parents at home. Keep emails to parents positive and supportive of their children, and offer extra help when/if you’re able to. Remember that scene in Mr. Holland’s Opus when the extra help Clarinet lessons finally pay off for both student and teacher? Goosebumps.

Rehearsals and lessons should be fun, not repetitive and boring. The games and ideas I listed above should not be attempted in one rehearsal. Sprinkle them around here and there, or pull them out of your back pocket when you have some extra time.

Always remember: we got into this because we love children, we love teaching and we love music.

With Kindest Regards,

Anthony Granata