Reflection

The end result of the Series of Lessons led to my students learning many concepts in
relation their own creation, performance, and assessment. The primary objective of The Series of
Lessons was to reinforce ideas for form, chord structure, and part function through composition
of their own piece. This is similar to an English class where we encourage our students to
research a topic and synthesize their findings into a concise paper or having them use specific
vocabulary words in a paragraph. The students were able to create a piece collaboratively which
came with their own assessment of their work and the work of their peers. They needed to assess
both sides fairly or they would end up with a piece that “sounded weird” as many noted in the
first version of the piece. In terms of their own performance, the students recognize that what
they would write would be what they had to play themselves. That forced a lot of them to think
of rhythms and pitches that would feel “natural” to them. They wrote parts that would be
considered idiomatic to their own instruments, which wasn’t necessarily how they felt about their
original parts. All of these facets of the project worked together to reinforce the main concepts,
but also helped to get the students to explore musically via the notation software and their
instruments, build more effective communication skills through group work, and get out of their
comfort zone in respect to their musical experiences.
In the video, there are many representations of my musicianship. I wrote my own
composition that covered all the concepts that I wanted the students to achieve, with well thought
out parts. My composition also includes a chordal analysis to help guide the students through that
process in their own composition. I believe this was something that was pivotal in their
understanding of tonic and dominant chords, as they were relatively new to this concept at the
outset of this Series of Lessons. Another portion of the video includes my performance of parts
of the composition that I wrote. This was a portion of the lesson that demonstrated my ability to
play my own music, which is something that I encourage each of my students to be able to do
before turning in their portion of the piece. Through this performance, I was also able to have a
discussion with the students on my process of composition for the melody, counter melody, and
harmony. Most of these students fall into a category in their current band music where they
either only play melody, only play counter melody, or only play harmony. Most of them have
never played a different kind of part, so this explanation was enlightening to them because most
of them had to write a part type that is not generally covered by their instrument.
My classroom environment was very relaxed. We held our classes in the black box,
which is across the hall from the band hall. We were able to separate ourselves from the rest of
the class and away from all the noise that entails. We were also able to have 50-minute lessons,
which lessened the burden of constant rushing and pressure that is usually enforced on these
students in a normal band class. There were many moments where the students would break into
small group work and I would be able to just observe and help out groups as needed. This is
different than a typical band class where working with a small group usually forces the rest of
the class to wait until you are done with that group. The way that my classroom functioned
allowed for a continuous flow of work, where groups could continue working as I helped another
group.
 I think that this Series of Lessons would benefit from more scaffolding and a more
committed dedication to composition. If I were to take this kind of lesson into my own school, I
would incorporate composition as a weekly or biweekly activity where all the students would be
required to write a mini-composition. It could fall in line with what ever our theory focus would
be for the week, be it chords, form, or anything else. I believe that our students learn the most
when they perform, improvise, and compose. That brings their musical learning closer to how
learn and reinforce language. For example, I noticed that a lot of my students had struggles with
writing the right pitches for tonic and dominant. This is to be expected since they are very new to
this concept and I had to gloss over many of the theory fundamentals that lead up to that point to
get them ready for chords. This could be an issue that would be solved by smaller lessons on
fundamentals and smaller composition assignments. These lessons would be designed to directly
lead the students into completing an assignment similar to the one featured in this Series of
Lessons.
A major lesson that I learned from this Series of Lesson is learning to let creativity come
from chaos. After my first lesson ended on a not so expected note, I was able to take the chaos
that I was feeling about the project and turn it into solutions for the students. I decided to cut
down on the length of the composition and create a worksheet to help the students with
transposition. Instead of giving up on the project, this moment of frustration and chaos allowed
me to come to the project from a different perspective and led to some solutions to problems that
I did not even think that I would have. I think the students learned about this concept of creative
chaos as well. Many of them told me the hardest part was starting the composition, but once they
started writing, it seemed to come to them naturally. I think it’s a lesson for them to know that it
is okay to create something that you don’t like, but then go back to it, analyze what you don’t
like, and change it to something that you do like. It forced them to have a critical ear, to find
solutions, and to think critically through a chaotic process. At the end of the process, some of
them even mentioned that they were surprised about how much fun the composition process was,
and that they were wary at first because composition can seem so daunting.
This Series of Lessons was extremely rewarding for both my students and me. This kind
of project was something that I always wished that I could have had the chance to do in school
and I am glad that I was able to open the eyes of my students to how enjoyable composition can
be. I hope this inspires them to continue to write, no matter what form of music they want to
enjoy. I hope to take this Series of Lessons and have it evolve into a whole unit that I can bring
with me to wherever I end up.