Music Teaching Observation Form #1
MUED 211: Foundations of Music Education
Observer’s Name: _Michael Behnke____________________________________
Video 1: 6th Grade Band Rehearsal
Video 2: High School Concert Choir Rehearsal
Activities
List all the activities that you see the teacher and
students do in class.
Video 1:
-Unison concert b-flat scale multiple times,
working on playing in time.
-Announcements are given to individual
sections about the schedule for the week.
-Playing through their first concert piece in
whole.
-Gives immediate positive feedback to
students about their performance.
-Answers questions prior to starting the next
piece.
-Has a contest to see who can demonstrate
the best posture and also rewards students
with candy.
-Moves to next song.
-Asks for feedback about the performance.
-Takes input from students about how pieces
are different.
Instruction
List possible reasons for each activity that you
observed. Why did the teacher or student do
this?
-The class did this as a warmup and to work
on playing in time together.
-This was important so that students know
when to come to lessons and in general be
on time for rehearsal.
-This is used to build students confidence
about their playing and helps them
remember what they do well. After this they
are more likely to take constructive criticism
better.
-This strategy would help to reduce
distractions during the rehearsal.
-The contest would make students a bit more
competitive about maintaining the best
posture. The candy adds a reward so there is
reason to maintain the posture.
-By asking for feedback from students, the
teacher is pushing them to think critically
about their own performance about the
sound from the whole group.
-Having students compare two styles of
pieces allows them to think about what
different tempos and dynamics can sound
like.
 Music Teaching Observation Form #1
MUED 211: Foundations of Music Education
Video 2: -This is used as a stress reliever and overall, a
-Begins with stretches and massaging each way to reduce tension.
other’s backs.

-Breathing exercises.
-This warms up the ensemble by working on
-Technical exercises using solfege, along with keeping a consistent tone at softer dynamics.
scales. It also allows the teacher to watch how
students are breathing and correctly
-Begins performance piece mistakes that they make.

-Running through individual parts, with
emphasis on pronunciations and pitches.
Breaking down male voices. Gives attention
to sopranos when he recognizes they do not
completely understand their part.
-This helps the section become more
confident and feels secure in their parts,
before adding other harmonies.

General Reflection Questions

What things did these teachers do that demonstrated their abilities as a professional music
educator? (See table 1.1 in your text)

Each teacher demonstrated many abilities that make them professional music educators. The
middle school band teacher got input from her students about how a section sounded when
played. This is a form of assessment because students are self-evaluating and critically thinking
about what the performance sounded like. The high school choral director mixed his pedagogy
of teaching the pronunciations of words with an assessment of how students are doing. After
saying each phrase or word with a call and response, he called on one student to repeat it
alone, as a way of testing how students overall were doing.

What teacher qualities did these instructors exhibit?

Each teacher was a strong communicator to their students. They were vocal and clear with all
instructions. The band teacher demonstrated that she was very organized with how she read
through the weeks schedule and how efficiently she moved through the warmups and pieces.
Each teacher had a passion for improving their students skills and furthering their knowledge of
music.
 Music Teaching Observation Form #1
MUED 211: Foundations of Music Education

How did these teachers make use of active learning in their classrooms?

By approaching the male singers and speaking through the lyrics with them, the teacher was
able to keep them engaged and ensure each individual understands their part. He also asked for
feedback from the female singers about how the tenors and basses performed on a section.
The band teacher used feedback from students to make sure that students were paying
attention and were responding. By simply responding with their own ideas, students are
learning what may sound good and what needs improvement.

What metaphor would best describe these classrooms and why?

The 6th grade band could be described as a well-oiled machine. They worked through the music
in an organized manner and with purpose. There seemed to be very little wasted time, which
was surprising considering it was 6th graders.

The choir seemed to function as a unicycle. It moved alright, but was significantly more
unstable. It could have incorporated more modalities and ways to reach different styles of
learners, rather than just auditory.

What was your general impression of each class? Why?

The sixth-grade band class seemed to function very well. The teacher was organized, and she
gave the students quite a bit of responsibility for their age. I also thought the idea of sectionals
and lessons was a brilliant way to work with students on a personal level. The choir class
worked well also; however, I believe it could have been improved with more engagement from
students. Many students cannot learn from a teacher lecturing to them about how a piece
should sound and need a visual aspect as well. This could be a drawing on the board about
phrasing, or the pronunciations of difficult words spelled out.
 Music Teaching Observation Form #1
MUED 211: Foundations of Music Education
Field Experience #1 Narrative

I thought the observation of the two rehearsals was a great experience. While I come
from a band background, watching how a choir rehearsal functions was important to me as well.
It gave me more ways to think about how to reach students and how being interactive with
students is crucial. It was also interesting how the sixth-grade teacher treated the students with
more responsibility than I expected. She gave reminders about lesson times students need to
come to and asked questions about how their performance of a section sounded. I am actually
interested in teaching high school band or orchestra, and so it was interesting to see how younger
students can act almost as respectful and “mature” as you would expect from a higher grade. One
concern I had about these field experiences is that I would like to see more about how to start
teaching a piece. Each of these rehearsals were focused on pieces that the students had already
begun learning. However, I have not had much experience (besides my own from middle school
and high school) learning effective ways to start working on a piece with students. Overall, I
thought these rehearsals were great examples of working with students and how to effectively
work a rehearsal.