4th Lesson Plan

27 March 2018

Wesley Crow

Objective: Commented [AW1]: Hopefully this makes it easier for you

1. Sound/Dynamics: to see what I always harp on.
a. What role does your part play? Your “one” objective is really three. And you need a way to
b. Rehearse beginning – m. 21 focusing on control of air/sound (specifically dynamics). assess ALL three of these objectives.
a.c. Play light (make sure they know what this means, define it – multiple meanings, not only:
articulation, also texture (dynamics).

Procedures:
Warm-up: Commented [AW2]: This is too long (for this group) and I
1. Breathing gym (2 min.) don’t think it will really take that long. Recommendation:
2. F-Remington (2 min.) Breathing Gym = 3 min
3. Articulation (1 min.) F-Remington = 3 min
4. Gate City: beginning – m. 9 (2 min.) Articulation = 2
Gate City = 3
Rehearsal: Commented [AW3]: I am going to listening for you to be
1. Play through the section (beginning – m. 21) concise and efficient with your words. Too many words =
something happening from me  Remember what we
a. Give feedback talked about in Atlanta…
b. Give them the goal/focus for the day
2. Play through the section once again
a. What did you do to improve that/stride toward our goal?
b. What did you do dynamically? Did you simply play softer? Did you try to
exaggerate them more? What did you have to do physically to make that happen
on your instrument?
3. Play m. 9 – m. 21
a. Give feedback
b. Play your dynamic, but I want you to listen to a different section in the ensemble
and try and figure out what dynamic they have written. I realize there are some
crescendos and decrescendos for some of you, still play those. Just listen for what
dynamic you think a different section has written generally speaking in this
section. Commented [AW4]: Good! And if you need to isolate a few
4. Play mm. 9 – 21 sections so they can hear better, do it. And have the rest of
the ensemble write down/guess who has what dynamic!
a. Ask students what they heard/thought
b. One of our goals is to play light. What do you think it means to play light? There
can be multiple different interpretations/definitions for this? Commented [AW5]: Model an articulation example (di, ti)
i. not only: articulation, also texture (dynamics) – ensemble dynamic vs. or use your hand to show them what the articulation should
look like/what their tongue should do.
individual part or section dynamic
c. With that in mind let’s try this section again
 5. Play m. 9 – m. 21
a. So, playing light can help us achieve a better balance as an ensemble!
b. Remember: part of our goal – “What role do you play?” What role does your part
play in this section of the piece?
6. Play m. 9 – m. 21
a. How many of you feel like you have a pretty good idea of what role your part
plays in this section?
b. Point to who has the melody.
c. What role does this part play within the whole piece?? I know its been a while,
but by a show of hands; who thinks this section is the climax of the piece?
d. It’s not. m. 91 is more arguably the climax because everyone within the ensemble
is playing ff. So, let’s save that! It’s really cool when we’re all bringing it! That’s
why marching band is so fun. This ensemble is really good, and most ensembles
for that matter are really good at playing loud, and I don’t mean that in a crass
manner. You guys really do have some good/full sounds when you’re playing out,
however, the music does not always call for that. It would be really boring, if we
always played like that. m. 91 would have no effect whatsoever, and that’s
something you all can give this piece by playing softer earlier on. It’s hard to play
with control/quiet. Let’s work on the hard stuff. Commented [AW6]: This is really wordy. Less words but
Remember: What’s your role? have the same meaning.
7. Play beginning – m. 21

Assessment: Commented [AW7]: It would be nice if you could have

- On a scale from 1-5 how well do you think we did on the last rep in terms of achieving
our goal for today? Was there better balance?
- Searching for at least two different answers/definitions: Who can tell me what it means to
play light?
- Who can tell me what they had to do physically on their instrument to play light/with
control?
them write something down, share with each other, or do
something other than asking questions and praying that
someone raises their hands.
You don’t have to do the above, maybe just pick people who
you think are not paying attention or people that don’t
answer questions a lot to respond to your questions.

Self-Evaluation: Commented [AW8]: These are good, make sure you

- Did I stick to the lesson plan? Did I talk less and let them rehearse/try more? answer them after the fact!
o Not really. I could have made each rep longer to let them rehearse more. I can
also explain less. I need to try and show them what I want with my conducting
and facial expressions (and left hand).
- Did I show light/control in my conducting?
o At times yes. The melody is very smooth/flowy/connected so my pattern could
resemble that a little better. This will become easier by making my pattern
smaller.