Rachal Lake, Small Schools Curriculum Officer jsmallschools@wmea.org Chamber Music and Adjustments Improve Student Retention
“I’ve come to a frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal ap - proach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.” ― Haim Ginott The winter months can be one of the darkest times for both teacher and students. I keep this quote close by to remind myself that I can make a student’s day better or worse. The music room, for many, is a place where kids feel like they belong and welcomed no matter what. Mistakes are made and tenacity created in a safe environment. Sometimes, I forget this went I am in the thick of it. In my early years of teaching, I focused on winning: contest, fes - tivals, anything. When this attitude enveloped my teaching and program, I was losing students. After reflecting on why this was happening, I realized that I was the one hurting my own music program. Refocus had to happen or I was going to lose all my students. Moving away from my competitiveness and focusing on student voice was key to success. At a WMEA confer - ence session few years ago suggested that Chamber music could be the key to strengthening student voice. Each year my musicians gain more from this assignment then any of the large group work we do. I have found that Chamber Music in the classroom boosts students’ skills. I spend more individual time with smaller groups helping them technically and musically get better. Chamber music builds a team feeling and promotes leadership skills in students that normally do not have this chance. Hopefully some of the information will help your students and music program be successful. My Process: After the Winter Concert (mine is the end of November due to Basketball Season), introduce the process and the reason behind the Chamber Music. I always let my stu - dents know that this is a Classroom Based Assessment for Washington State, like a standardized test but easier. Many of my students have taken what they performed at Solo Ensemble regional contest to perform at college auditions, receiving scholarships for music. Scheduling the days for rehearsal is helping for stu - dents planning their time. I usually spend an entire week getting students situated in groups and helping them find music. After the first week, Tuesdays and Thursdays are Chamber Music days, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are full rehearsal. With this schedule the students come in knowing what to expect and get started right away. As the
Chamber Music rehearsals contin - ue, I have students sign up with me for help. As the groups progress, I encourage the students to sign up for our regional solo ensemble contest. I am lucky at Ilwaco, because our district pays for all their costs at the event due to it being a WIAA sanctioned event. The week before the contest we dedicate the class time to have the students perform their chamber music for the class. This teaches the performers good performing skills and the audience listening skills. In the past, I have had a few students who could not perform in front of the class due to anxiety. In these rare cases, I have them perform just for me. Sheet music can be a challenge in small schools. Over time I have written grants to purchase some of the basic books for Chamber music, but if that is not possible here are a few suggestions for free resources online. 8notes. com is a great resource for beginning and intermediate solos and ensembles. This website lets students listen to the songs first before choosing their songs. For ensembles, osfab.com is a great source for band students. Musescore is a source for community written songs, not as great for contest but for some fun arrangements in class it is a good source. For the voice, I recommend my students folk or musical music for contest. If they are performing just for the class, I have them perform to Karaoke backings on youtube. I have had several students chose to do two songs, one for class and one for contest. For folk music, I have used “12 Folk Songs for Solo Singers” arr. Sally Albrecht and “Folk Songs for Solo Singers” Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 by Jay Althouse. End Result: Over the last decade that I have integrated chamber music into our curriculum, I have seen massive gains by individual students and my performing groups. The first time one of my band ensembles made it to State was game changing. Our Clarinet Choir beat out all the large schools in our region. They came back to school feeling like rock stars. Our Principal made sure we sent them off to state with the same enthusiasm as our sport teams. Another one of my students took to heart the opportunity to use her solo for a college audition. I was so proud of her when she came back from the audition with the news, she received $10,000 for her audition! These little wins make it worth it. Chamber Music can be a huge asset to our music pro - grams. I hope you will consider adding it to your curricu - lum for the year. As always, if you ever have any questions, please feel free to reach out anytime. Hope to see you at Conference.
Voice of Washington Music Educators Association January 2023
39
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online