HAT Journal 13

Summary: For our 13th HAT journal, we were asked to read about how to prepare for
an orchestra rehearsal. Not only did this chapter outline the most important areas of
preparation but neatly organized pointers and different approaches to this. Some of the
topics that were talked about were things such as how to prepare the room and how it
needs to be clean, inviting, and comfortable for your students. Classroom management
was an area of focus as well and the chapter explained different things to do such as
having different responses to different situations, being able to try different classroom
management systems to see which one works the best, and which approach is natural
and comfortable. Another thing to take into account is the length of the rehearsal time
and being efficient. We need to be able to determine our goals for each group of
students as we prepare for our rehearsal strategies. Private lessons are something that
is also something that was talked about. Figuring out ways for your students to have
performance opportunities is important in avoiding things such as anxiety will play, and
can sometimes even be emotionally satisfying. One of the questions that might be
asked is how a non-string player can teach an orchestra and the answer for this is the
same way orchestra teachers do. Aside from obvious disadvantages, there are many
advantages such as reading in concert pitch for all instruments, which tend to be
smaller in size thus allowing for more individualized attention and even fewer behavior
issues. Towards the end of the chapter, there were more topics about more contextual
things such as auditions and how to handle this with examples for rubrics and the use of
auditions. Lastly, to end the chapter spoke about the necessity for all of these prior
steps when preparing for a rehearsal.

*When reading this chapter, there was no real mention of method books and how to
implement this into your rehearsal. I was assuming that this is because of the level your
students might be at when starting to rehearse actual repertoire but I also thought it
would have been nice to know how to include the method book as well.

*While chair placements and auditions are very helpful in knowing how and where your
students are individual, when should we resort to the typical rotating of chairs or actual
chair placements and assignments as when I was in high school, I never auditioned and
rarely was rotated for the part.

*When talking about classroom management, there was a mention to establish a rule
about no talking when someone is on the podium. While I can see the benefits for this, I
can also see that this can be intimidating for students as I sometimes felt when I was in
my high school setting. I want to be an inviting teacher while still letting my students
know that they are not the ones to dictate the rules in the classroom but I just want to
know what are maybe some other ways of creating silence without saying this.

*One of the biggest areas in which I was able to take many good things from was how
strings and winds are actually very similar in certain areas. One of the most obvious is
intonation and sound quality. In terms of sound production for strings, the air that we
use for winds is the bow for strings. It has to be solid with even pressure and a relaxed
wrist. Basically the same for winds just with a warm breath and relaxed body.

*The difference between an art school program and a specially funded program is
something that was fairly new to me. If one is a funded program more resources might
be available to you as it receives special funding for your program. This type of funding
can be used to find support such as assistants, new instruments, and even extra
rehearsal time. With this extra time, we can incorporate ensembles such as chamber
groups, mariachi bands, and even arts infusion events. This not only opens more
opportunities for your students but also encourages them to practice more.

*One of the things that I was surprised by was the reselection process for music. While
auditions play a role in chair placement, I never really thought about how this can affect
your premeditated music selection once you get a better idea of your student’s playing
ability. Also, I believe that at this level of playing students will either be chair placed or
will be on a rotation basis for part assignments. I never auditioned for a chair and was
just told what part I was to play when I was in high school.

*At the end of the chapter, there were a few points that were listed that could help one
that is not a string player such as using the most of your more skilled players and
section leaders to model and assist with bowings, using your community such as
inviting in members who have played, allowing for university professors to come and
clinic your strings, and even invite someone else from a different district to come in and
also help your group. This approach of using outside resources to not feel like you are
alone is something that I will certainly use in my future teaching.

*During the reading, there was a mention of how important it is to choose the right
music for your group. The music needs to be attainable but also needs to be a
challenge for your students as the goal is to make them better musicians. The music
should also go in line with what they know technically and if there is a new concept,
then teach it. If the music isn’t challenging in any form, it will not allow for growth in
one’s group and this type of music selection is something that I will look into before
deciding what is right for my group.

*While audiating is something that is very crucial for countless reasons, it was really
nice to see this also talked about in this chapter. Singing through parts so that students
know who has the melody and who has the counter melody is something that I will
certainly use. Also, as the teacher, we can play through each of the parts to really
understand possible difficulties that students might encounter when reading the music
and also shows you where a line should lead.