We hear so much about doing the proper score study to prepare for instrumental ensembles. In my earlier years of teaching, I really struggled with it. No time. No energy. Through the years, I found a way to make it a little bit easier.
I sit down with my scores, a pencil, and a notebook. After a few years teaching experience, you start being able to anticipate where the problems will be in the music. I start writing the anticipated problems down. These become my “goals.” For example, it might look like this…
- Letter A clarinet rhythms
- Letter B tune the chord from the bottom up
- Measure 24, 1st trumpet has a high D that some students might not reach
- Measures 64-68 the woodwinds have 16th note runs
In about a half an hour to an hour of score study, I can get several pages worth of goals written down. I use those in my lesson planning.
In my written lesson plans – some admin want you to go into way too much details – I simply list my warm-ups, my technique review (this is easier to plan/map out than rehearsal strategies as you are building skills throughout the year), and then the songs we will be working on. The specifics of the details are in the notebook. When I have had jobs that required me to submit lesson plans, I’ve included a copy of the notes I’ve written. All the admin I have worked for have been happy with that.
Now as I rehearse, the notes I’ve written become my to do list. I check them off as we master each item. I check it off so that I know we’ve completed that. At any moment, I know the next thing we need to work on. You probably have discovered that sometimes students will learn a rhythm or pick up on technique very quickly, something you thought would take 10 or 15 minutes. Other times the reverse happens, something you thought would be simple takes 10-15 minutes instead. This has made lesson planning so much easier! I don’t have to sit down every week and think about what I’m going to do with the students. I already have it planned out almost to the next concert.
James is retired from full time teaching. He has served private, suburban, and Title 1 schools and now teaches half time at a charter school. Find out more about James at www.jamesdivine.net Subscribe to his podcast Almost Everything I’ve Learned About Teaching Band.
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