Amanda Herold

Dr. Heim

MUS 150

28 February 2019

Clarinet Observation – Franklin Elementary School District

This was an observation done at Franklin Elementary School District for a clarinet lesson.

The room was decorated with musical posters and had a white board filled with musical

information. There was a proper number of stands and chairs in the room. The room was small

but fit the amount of students in the lesson.

As students entered the room, they immediately grabbed their instruments and started

setting up. It seemed like this was a set procedure in the usual lesson routine. They received new

music and discussed how they would work on another piece they were working on at the next

class. While instructing the students to play, the teacher discussed the concept of “stagger

breathing” and always making sure that someone was playing. The teacher opened with this

topic so they could begin to implement it into the new music they were going to receive later in

the lesson.

When running through the new music, the teacher counted aloud while conducting. The

teacher also had students who were not currently playing finger along in their music. This

allowed for students to still be engaged. The teacher also made a point of reminding students

when to breathe and when the time signature changed. After having students run through the

time signature change, the teacher had students highlight the change to help them better identify
it. The teacher was always in close proximity to the students and would use humor to keep the

students entertained and engaged.

During the lesson, the teacher was task-oriented at all time and would often work to keep

the students focused on the lesson. The teacher had the clarinets play by themselves and identify

the notes in all of their difficult passages verbally. The teacher them reminded of the proper

fingering for “F”. The teacher also had students work on their dynamics when a student was

beginning to blare on their clarinet. The teacher did this gently as to not discourage the student

from creating a big sound. The teacher then had clarinets play by themselves in front of the rest

of the woodwind group. When this proved unsuccessful, the teacher ran through the fingerings

note by note. As the class closed, the teacher explained what students would need to practice for

the next class. The teacher also addressed any questions and gave all of the announcements.

Overall, I really valued the way the teacher ran their lesson. The teacher stayed on task

and kept students engaged despite it being a very crowded room. The teacher also exhibited

excellent class management skills by giving students tasks to think about and implement when

working with others. I thought this was a very clever way to keep students from being distracted.

I affirm that I have upheld the highest principles of honesty and integrity in my academic work

and have not witnessed a violation of the Honor Code.

Amanda Herold