Building an Audience

Building an Audience

         Music is a medium that is meant to be shared in real time between the player and the audience. There is nothing like the thrill of a successful performance in front of a live audience. It is a chance to show off. Furthermore, it is a test of everything that your students have learned in rehearsals. 

          The issue with any performance that isn’t by a major group like the Rolling Stones is filling the seats. It is a common problem faced by every performer especially while they are building their career. There are many ways to help build an audience including posters, getting ads on the local radio stations, newspapers for the town and making announcements at school. It can be very helpful to link your performance group to the community and a sense of civic pride. Have your students perform during a 4th of July celebration. If your band travels they may pick up more concert goers who would not otherwise go into a school for a performance. Take your students to a local senior center and have them perform there. I happen to know someone who works as senior center activity coordinator and she is always looking for performers especially free ones. If there is a new library, town office, super market opening or a new movie theater, or mall in your area call and ask to perform. Local sports teams including any Triple A ball clubs will have a built in audience as well. Make sure to draw connections to your band and the community at large. Invite local civic leaders and the mayor. People who may come up for election always need to be seen as part of the community. 

          Furthermore, if you can get together a booster committee they can be helpful too. Selling raffle tickets in front of a local store doesn’t just raise money but it also raises community awareness of your performance group. Also, these boosters may be willing to provide food for after the concert. Many people will attend an art opening just for the wine and cheese. They will stand around and chat, have some yummy food they may even tell their friends about this wonderful event they attended. You may not be able to provide alcoholic beverages but a slice of homemade blueberry pie and some cookies with punch and coffee may leave your current audience with a stronger desire to come back.

         Bottom line is, become a part of your community. The greater the connections and visibility, the more people will want to attend your concerts.

Science of Sound Waves Lesson plan -Should be a high school unit plan instead

Student Teacher: Amy Braica_ Grade Level: 8

Date of lesson: March 31, 2014_

Institution _University of Bridgeport_   Length of lesson_10 minutes___

Topic/Title: Science of Sound Waves

 (A)  Relevant State and National Content Standards

  Music content area 6. Analysis, 8 Connections to other disciplines

 (B)  Learners’ Background 

Regular music classes, some are also singers, band members and and or take piano lessons.

 (C)  Student Learning Objective

Students will be exposed to the science of sound waves including pitch, frequency, volume and introduced to the beginning of harmonics.

(D)  Materials & Teacher-developed Resources 

Powerpoint presentation, computer, projector, flute and other instruments.

 (E)  Learning Activities (Teaching and Learning Strategies with an Approximate   

        Timeline)

(1)  Initiation

Students are greeted. Teacher explains the reason for the lesson. Many of you have been interested in sound waves and how they work. This is a lesson about that. We will have some additional lessons on sound and how it works in future classes but this is just a beginning.

(2) Development

Classroom Organization/Grouping Patterns.

Students will be seated in their assigned seats facing the board.

Student Learning Activities (Note: List the sequence of student activities and forms of 

class participation.)

Students are free to ask questions and listen to the lecture. 

Teacher Modeling Behaviors- Teacher will give lecture and perform on the violin and flute. If other instruments are in the classroom brought by the students then they may also play for demonstration of an A-440.

Guided Practice for Students- Students will have to answer questions from the teacher reiterating what the teacher has just said.

Questions to Promote Learning and Studying- Can anyone tell me what is pitch? Frequency? Volume? What is timbre?

(3)  Closure

Summary of the Main Points of the Lesson

Reinforcement of the Purpose for Learning- I will tell them that they need these basics before we get into the science of composition.

Homework: Write a paper about these things you have learned today and come back to school tomorrow with written questions about the science of sound.

 (5) Independent Work (optional)

 (F)  Evaluation of Student Learning

(Describe the formal and informal assessments you will use for students to demonstrate their learning and mastery of the objective(s).) 

Students will demonstrate their knowledge through their interactions with the teacher, summing up what they have just learned,

 (G)  Modifications for Individuals Needing Differentiated Instruction

Handouts of the powerpoint if necessary. Privately going over the classwork between classes or after school.

Individuals Needing Differentiated Instruction: Describe 1 to 3 students with learning differences. These students may be special or general education students and need not be the same students for each lesson.  Students may represent a range of ability and/or achievement levels, including students with IEPs, gifted and talented students, struggling learners, and English language learners.

Note: Differentiated instruction may not be necessary in every lesson.  However, over the course of the student teaching placement, it is expected that each student teacher will demonstrate the ability to differentiate instruction in order to meet the needs of students with learning differences.

Notes from the pre-conference

 (H)  Teacher Reflection

See Post-Observation Reflection Form

Supplemental Information (if needed)

Lesson plan in sound waves reviewed

My evaluation of my work in class teaching a lesson on the Science of Sound Waves

I believe that I did a poor job. I spent a lot of my time talking and showing slides which were boring. I also tried to cover too much information in my 10 minute time frame. I should have stuck to teaching students that sound comes in waves and teaching amplitude and hertz. I should have shown a vibrating string on a violin and had students play with a guitar. 

Students need to have a few key ideas to take away with them and instead I gave them about a dozen including the overtone series and the basic functions of the human ear. This was all too much for a 10 minute lesson plan geared towards middle school students.

I overreached and that is why my lesson plan went so poorly.

Choral warm up

Student Teacher __Amy Braica         Grade Level_High School 

Date of lesson_3/7/2014

Institution _University of Bridgeport Lesson Plan   

Length of lesson: 10-15 Minutes Lesson Performed in Class (5 Minutes)

Topic/Title: Choral Warm Up Lesson

 (A)  Relevant State and National Content Standards

        National and State Music Standards 1: Singing, Standard 2: Evaluating Music and Music Performances

 (B)  Learners’ Background 

           Varied. Some learners can already read treble clef to some degree when prompted. Others are more advanced and sing with private instruction, may play instruments at home or in band class.

 (C)  Student Learning Objective for the 5 minutes

The student will be able to breathe properly for singing. Demonstrate proper posture. Relax muscles of the body in preparation for singing and warming up the voice in preparation for rehearsal.

(D)  Materials & Teacher-developed Resources

             The piano is necessary for pitch matching.

 (E)  Learning Activities (Teaching and Learning Strategies with an Approximate   

        Timeline) 5 minutes and then 35 minutes for the full lesson

Greeting students for the morning, have students put away their things and get to their places and sit down. Body warm ups are performed as lead by the teacher and then singing warm ups. 

Each successive initiation will include going over the homework and any difficulties students had and reviewing basic concepts about breathing, posture, care and holding the instrument.

(3) Development

Classroom Organization/Grouping Patterns –student will sit in a chair facing the teacher. The teacher have students stand up roll their necks and gently roll their shoulders forwards and backward

Teacher Modeling Behaviors-Teacher will model warm up of muscles while facing the students and then play the piano and give verbal prompts as to what the teacher wants the students to sing during the vocal warm ups.

Guided Practice for Students-Student will practice proper breathing, relaxation of muscle warm ups and vocal warm ups. They will do neck rolls, shoulder rolls, stretches, imagine etthat you are smelling a rose and then while touching toes they will slowly roll their body up to standing position. Students will do lip trills. Students will sing up and down a 5th on one long continuous La. Then an octave. Then arpeggiated chord tones. Then super bubblegum and superdouble bubble gum. Then students will sing a round on solfege with each each voice part singing in unison against the others.

Questions to Promote Learning and Studying: 

Listen to your bodies: Does anything feel painful to you? If so you are overdoing it with your neck rolls. Don’t sing anything that hurts. Do you feel a strain? Does everyone feel warmed up?

(3)  Closure

Students will be told to sit down and open their music folders.

                Summary: Students will be physically and mental prepared to sing in rehearsal.

Reinforcement of the Purpose for Learning- Teacher verbal corrections.

              (4)  Students should do this to warm up before they practice music at home.

Independent Work (optional)

 (F)  Evaluation of Student Learning

(Describe the formal and informal assessments you will use for students to demonstrate their learning and mastery of the objective(s).) 

Teacher will listen to students performances and watch visually their physical engagement.

 (G)  Modifications for Individuals Needing Differentiated Instruction

Students unable to perform all warm ups will modify for themselves.

Individuals Needing Differentiated Instruction: Describe 1 to 3 students with learning differences. These students may be special or general education students and need not be the same students for each lesson.  Students may represent a range of ability and/or achievement levels, including students with IEPs, gifted and talented students, struggling learners, and English language learners.

Note: Differentiated instruction may not be necessary in every lesson.  However, over the course of the student teaching placement, it is expected that each student teacher will demonstrate the ability to differentiate instruction in order to meet the needs of students with learning differences.

 (H)  Teacher Reflection

See Post-Observation Reflection Form

Teacher will keep a mental note of the pitch matching of the group and abilities with solfege.

Supplemental Information (if needed) -None

Funding for the arts in our classrooms...

I have recently been asked the question, “Should we have to rely on parents and fundraising to run a modern BOJC program?”

           That is a very complex question that has numerous factors to consider. One school district are we talking about? In one school, I have visited recently basic textbooks have not been purchased for years while the school got grants for an expensive computer based reading program. I think many people would like to believe that schools always find a way to get the basics for Reading, Writing and Arithmetic but that is a myth. The federal government has grants and so does the private sector but they only have so much money and many needy school districts requesting the funds. While speaking to colleagues currently working in inner city schools I have learned quite a bit about the more impoverished inner city schools. In these poorer districts, students will not get the books they need to study history, buildings that are freshly painted when necessary, working intercoms in every classroom as a safety procedure, nor even special education paraprofessionals for every student who would benefit from their care. 

         One of my professors at the University of Bridgeport, Prof. Frank Martignetti has told members of the UB Master’s Degree program that some of the more affluent Connecticut districts allocate $25,000 for a musical each year. Another professor from my university Prof. Brandt Schneider has told those of us in his class that a good sound system may cost $50,000. Through my own personal research on the website: band shoppe.com, I have seen that the marching band jacket cost $104.95, shirts $42.95 and pants 34.95 and this is per student. This does not include hats gloves and matching shoes so the figure is easily $200 per uniform and you are assuming that the students will only wear one uniform per year in both hot summers and cold winters. One website that has published a sample budget put the yearly cost of their band at about $20,000. http://wumethodskr.wordpress.com/instrumental-program/sample-band-budget/  While choruses can be cheaper to run as the instruments are internal and many teachers choose to have students wear all black or black and white outfits there is still the matter of memberships to various competitive organizations such as Allstate $500 and transportation by buses to various performances a few hundred dollars and music purchases: over $1000. 

         Music programs can save children. I have heard many adults, former students from various schools approach me when they found out that I was a music teacher. These adults have reminisced about their days in the chorus, band or in the high school music and told me how important their music teacher was. Some have even said that without music they would have dropped out of school but they didn’t want to miss out on music classes. Also, music and the other arts are the culture of a society. People may live by technology but they live for the vital emotional connections that are part and parcel with culture. How can we give that up?

         The question about funding music programs through local tax money versus fundraising takes on whole new meaning. In districts that are affluent I think that it is entirely reasonable to have the school put appropriate amounts of money for music programs into its budget but in poorer districts this doesn’t seem practical. In a cruel system of financial inequalities, which types of deprivation educationally do we want our poorer children to suffer from? Freedom from poverty will always take higher precedence over the arts in our classrooms. If we can keep our cultural heritage alive through private fundraising then we must do so.

Technology in Music Education

                                    Technology in Music Education

         Technology is changing music education. Today we have apps for our phones that act as metronomes, A -440 pitch tuners, key transposition apps that make the life of the music teacher and music student easier. Music theory software is also teaching our students about music theory and is especially helpful in teaching students who do not already play an instrument. Students can just put on headphones run the programs and answer music theory questions that are also played so that students can hear their answers in real time. 

         Music technology has made recording music cheaper and accessible to everyone. Youtube would not exist without cheap recording software. This website is filled with garage bands, amateur singers and even choreographed musical numbers in schools. Music technology now affords our students to feel like real musicians by putting on their own music videos that can be seen by millions of people world wide. Students are engaged in real performance art and can see for themselves just how difficult it can be to create a polished music video or studio audio recording. This gives them a greater appreciation for the work of the artists that they already know and listen to. Furthermore, video and audio recordings do not just create more excitement and engagement in classroom work but also allows students to see and hear their own performances and to correct their own errors.

        I think though that the biggest change caused by technology is in composition. Today composition is a more real and viable element in music education. Students can work on projects online potentially using dozens of instruments that they would not have access to in the classroom nor would they likely know how to play. Now we have access to composition programs that allow students to create their own music and to hear it in real time. Two excellent free online composition programs are Noteflight and Muse Score which can be found at http://www.noteflight.com/login and musescore.org respectively. Noteflight has the advantage of being able to share your music with other users of the website. More sophisticated programs that required students to build their music from the ground up include Finale which has a limited free version, both can be found at www.finalemusic.com. As a first step some students are introduced to music looping with the product Garage Band from Apple but this is more music sampling and requires less musical thought as compared with the previous products.

         For blog sights that you can research for more information, I suggest visiting http://mustech.net which has online classes, reviews and explanations of music tech programs and http://musicianswithapps.com which gives reviews elementary school music play apps.

A Review of the Film: Young @ Heart

Young @ Heart: A movie that shows the social impact of choral participation

              Young @ Heart is a choir that performs rock and pop music by senior citizens. This film is a documentary directed by a British filmmaker Steven Walker who first came into contact with the Young @Heart Chorus while it was touring Europe. His film follows the group and interviews some of the individual members while they are preparing for a major tour. 

             The average age of the singers is 83 and the minimum age requirement is 73 years old. The Young @ Heart chorus is based in Northampton, Massachusetts and is directed by Bob Cilman. The films shows the interrelationships between the music, the singers, their families, their communities, their health and emotional welfare, the relationship with their audiences and with their choral director as well. Two members of the choir who are struggling with health problems die during the filming process and another singer Eileen Hall dies shortly after the filming of the movie.

             One man in particular whose heart is failing is singing while on oxygen and the other participants including the musical director Bob Cilman talk about the importance of having him perform with the group. Wives and other family members of failing members of the choir speak about the importance of the choir on their loved one’s lives. For some, getting better after a bout with cancer or heart disease means struggling towards a recovery that will include the chorus as part of their lives again. This is a goal that is important to them in their healing process and it is also important to the other members of the choir. Many members had never met each other until they sang together in the choir. Many members had never heard music from such artists as Coldplay but they learn with time to interpret the music and sing it well enough to thrill audiences. For this to be an authentic musical experience for these singers musical director Bob Cilman chooses music with emotional depth and doesn’t pull any punches, insisting that his singers learn the music. There are no excuses such as I’m old and I have never heard this type of music before. Everyone is there to learn the music and everyone has problems including health and personal problems they must overcome to learn the music and show up for rehearsals every week.

          I cannot help but think that part of the charm of hearing and seeing them is that they are showing all of us that you can still be vital and relevant to the world around when you are old. The positive and aggressive take no prisoners attitude of the members is encouraging to anyone who has thought about growing older and still having something to say to the world and to have purpose. As a future choir director, I don’t just think about the music as an art form. I think about the relationships that will be forged and how lives will be changed by having a positive group experience while working towards real and challenging goals. My own best memories of choir practice have been a mixture of hearing our group perform challenging music well and the caring community that we and the director had created for ourselves. The film, Young @ Heart shows the viewer exactly why choirs are so important both artistically and socially to everyone involved.

              

Midterm Paper

What are three important skills or traits for any music teacher?

Reference the Battisti and Boonshaft. 

         Three important skills or traits for any music teacher would be their

knowledge of the subject matter and other related subjects, their ability to teach and their ability to inspire. Music teachers need to know their subject matter otherwise they will be unable to teach it. They must choose the literature their students study. They must help student interpret the material through various lenses modern eyes, period performance, historical and cultural contexts. Teachers must know how to teach. Teachers cannot just bark out information. As our work is with music textbooks are not enough to teach with. We must give demonstrations of the subject matter, explain it as the students our taking in the sound and adjust performance techniques so that students learn from their errors. Finally, music teachers must teach to inspire. Music teachers ask much of their students, practicing for long hours after school and at home. The work is voluntary and performances are live in front of an audience who may judge them. For music to continue to be a part of our culture, we must also inspire people to continue with their musical pursuits beyond the classroom.

      A music teacher must have knowledge of the subject matter and any other matters that can be drawn upon to add further depth to our art form. As we music teachers often work alone in schools, we are called upon to be the first and last reference or expert in our field in the building. Furthermore, the field of music education in America does not have a required curriculum like the other fields like English or Math. Those teachers have textbooks that they are required to use by the school system and often have no choice or say in the curriculum whatsoever. As music teachers we are given the opportunity to decide what to teach, when and how with broad latitude. Therefore, it is vital for teachers to have both a broad and deep knowledge of music. 

       Author Frank Battista, writes in his book, On Becoming a Conductor, that real conductors are music educators as well. In chapter one of his book, pgs. 3-4, Battista writes that conductors must have basic musicianship skills, sight reading, the ability to hear a score mentally without sound, error detection hearing skills, knowledge of theory, harmony, music history and historical practices, composers and performance practices, score reading, the basic performing skills for singers as well as those needed on each instrument in the orchestra, their ranges and transpositions, etc. He further states that all conductors must have knowledge not just of period music but also of current music including popular music and knowledge of jazz as well. Peter Boonshaft also takes this view in his book Teaching Music with Promise, when he writes, “Knowing the score like the back of our hands is the first step,…surely the study of music theory, music history, performance practice orchestration and the like will bring a wealth of information to the table.” pg. 44 

        The ability to teach is also vital to being a good teacher of music. It is important to know how the human mind works, how it stores, processes and then transforms information as one does when making music.  Boonshaft comments on this in his book on page 174, “we have…new philosophies of how to assess learning, new ways to accommodate different learning styles, new designs for merging diverse educational content and the like.”

        Every conductor (and every teacher must be one) must communicate their evaluation of the music and their vision of it to the ensemble.  As this communication during performance often comes in fractions of a second Conductors must be clear and concise in getting across to their musician/students what they want them to learn. Battista when he writes of conductors must communicate ideas to the ensemble clearly through, “representative gestures, expressive mime gestures and explanation by word of mouth.” page 67.

     Furthermore, the music teacher must learn such subjects as muscle memory, how the body’s basic functions such as breathing work, how muscles interact with one another and the human body’s and their instruments limitations. Boonshaft writes about the need to instruct students on these topics on page 93 of this book. Concerning warming up, “Time spent getting students mentally and physically limber…It helps them ready their musculature…for lifelong literacy.”

     The ability to inspire others is a character trait that can be honed through reading psychology books, experiences in leadership as well but  not everyone who can read such books can become a good leader. Music teachers have a special kind of leadership. While they do inspire their students to work toward a specific musical goal such as playing a piece of music well in a concert they must do more.   

        With learning, we hope that our students never stop learning. For the health of their minds and souls we hope that they are learning until the day they die. Battista on p137 quotes Goya who said, “keep on growing…don’t go to seed!” Battista takes this further by writing: The choices in life are simple either one grows or dies.” CEOs do not need to inspire their workers into lifelong goals that extend beyond their work lives they merely inspire the best work they can from their employees for the duration of their time working for their companies. Military commanders do not need to inspire their troops for a lifetime just for the duration of their service in battle. Eventually every soldier’s service comes to an end. Boonshaft quotes Pericles in his book on music education on page 217, “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but is woven into the lives of others.”

        A real music teacher inspires a lifetime of learning in the student for the arts. The student internalizes goals and sets up their own and works with their own discipline towards goals that far accede the scope of a class or a performance. They are self directed students. As the author, Boonshaft, writes on page 217, “the goal of our own planned obsolescence, teaching students as much about how to learn and why the joy of learning is as exciting as the subject matter itself.” Many including Harold Taylor who is quoted by Frank Battista in his book, On Becoming a Conductor, believe that music heighten the human experience and teaches us what it means to be fully human through an exploration of our emotions. Battista   page 142.

     To sum up the three most important skills and traits of the music teacher, we must have a broad education both in music and related fields, we must be able to teach effectively and we must inspire so that music does not die as a subject of human endeavor. Music teachers must know before others can learn from them. They must be able to express what they know in such ways that students will understand the new material.  To do this the teacher must know how others think, the general processes of the human mind as it learns. They must also know how that people’s  mental strengths and weaknesses vary so the teacher must be able to relate the material in such ways as to capitalize on students strengths. Finally, the music teacher must inspire for art to exist we must know how to create it and to appreciate its value to our souls so that we may better understand our own feelings and for the emotional connection we have with others in our culture.

5 Minute Trumpet Lesson

       My first experience teaching trumpet. I think that my demeanor was warm and nurturing. I think that it was a mistake to address my student as honey even though he is a fifth grade child. I think that it encouraged him to be flippant with me. 

            I think that I taught breathing and good posture well which were the main focuses of my five minute practice lesson. I think that I also used positive and practical motivation for my student to stay engaged in the learning goals. I believe that I was efficient but I also think that I should have talked less. I was also corrected by a fellow student teacher concerning the formation of the trumpet embouchure. I think overall it was a good effort on my part but I am very interested in reading the reflections of my other student teachers. I am sure they noticed things that I missed.

On the Subject of Grading

On the Subject of Grading

The Subject of Grading is always a complicated subject in music. One of the wonderful dynamic things about music is that quality of music playing can be heard and often intrinsically felt. While this can make our work subjective I prefer that risk to that of sticking to standardized tests. While working in public schools in both Massachusetts and Connecticut, I have seen the tyranny of standardized tests. 

         In one sixth grade class I was covering, I gave the students a several definitions of the word sophisticated and the students were upset with me because I gave them more information than their English book gave them. The English book said that it meant learned. That, I was informed by the more advanced students in the class was all they wanted to know for the test. Never mind that this word would be used in numerous ways in every day speech, magazines and newspapers to mean such things as worldly or socially polished. One can be learned through a life of books without being culturally sophisticated through experiencing multiple and various social and business contacts.

         As a former English major, I decry the loss of the nuances of language and the playfulness of using ideas without worrying about how someone will grade you. I am sure that many SAT test graders would grade a sample of a young Ernest Hemingway’s spartan language poorly in compared with the florid language of a young Henry James. The use of a large vocabulary does not mean that the ideas represented are any more sophisticated than those represented in a spare manner. I for one prefer Hemingway to Henry James as I think that Hemingway has more to say than Henry James. ( I will take any passage from the Old Man and the Sea to one of Henry James long boring passages about a piece of furniture or the stitching on a ladies handkerchief any day of the week!)

          After having read Alfie Kohn’s article on rubrics, I have to say that I agree with him. By living and dying by standardized tests we are shutting down children’s sense of play with ideas especially in writing. Many of my fellow teachers who specialize in teaching English have also had braces put on their brains. Their ability to tailor a reading sample to the interests of the local students is often outweighed by the reading material supplied by a national company that has scientifically designed reading materials to make students vocabulary scores higher. I have a relative who teaches English to struggling learners. Many of them love baseball in her class, and while an article about a local team might motivate her students to read outside of class on their own, she cannot justify it for bringing immediate results in higher test scores as compared with what the national company has designed in its textbooks and software.

         There clearly are areas of performance that should be listened to and evaluated during grading. I have seen rubrics that give teachers 1-5 scale for various skills including, pitch matching, sight reading, rhythm in performance of a passage, breathing, expression, articulation. This can be helpful for basic information about the nuts and bolts of performance. Other systems of standardized tests include evaluation of artistic interpretation during an actual piece of music, the ability to hold ones own part while performing with people performing other disparate parts. This can be useful to in getting students and parents to recognize the legitimacy of your grades. I do think that music is too fluid for any one system to be the be all and end all of grading.

         I actually shudder to think of standardized tests and standardized materials invading my profession of teaching music. While students do need to have a sense of appropriate advancement in their work to decide whether or not they need extra help or put more hours in on their own, the best grading must come from within. Some of the best ways to test students is to teach them how to reflect on their own artistic and technical product and solicit opinions about how the groups performance sounds during rehearsal from its members. I have also seen students as young as the first grade required to give themselves a grade on their behavior in music class and admonished if they are not truthful according to how the teacher has observed them. I really feel that even this type of simple self reflection is helpful in maintaining good behavioral standards. I have seen students visibly contemplating their answer to the self assessment question and reflecting on the feedback from their teacher. 

            I really believe that the best grading comes from teaching students to have good taste in music who have been trained to seriously self reflect on their musical output and to take these considerations not as the end of the world that every assessment or perceived failure means the end of opportunities for themselves but as a way to open doors for themselves as these assessments from me and from themselves will help them to improve their work.

          

A Llist of American Songs all Students Should Know

A List of American Songs All of My Students Should Know

By Amy Braica

I have been trying to compile a list of all the American songs every student should know. It has been quite the undertaking. Some songs that are a part of our American consciousness are totally inappropriate for me to teach my students in school. Songs with swears or overtly sexual or violent messages though they may be legitimate art should be left up to the parents of my students as to when or if their children as minors should be exposed to those pieces of music. I believe very strongly in keeping parents in control of such matters. This list was also difficult to create because I realized how many bands I wanted my students to be exposed to and yet there is no one song that I want them to learn to sing by heart as a part of our national identity. Their style may be a part of our national consciousness but none of their individual works is so iconic that it should always be a part of the school curriculum. For example, The Beach Boys have a number of songs that anyone of my generation can immediately recognize from only the first few notes but none of their songs meets the high standard of being a part of every school’s curriculum and every student should sing and basically know the words by heart.

I have settled on an amalgamation of the list set out by NAfME, some civil rights and counter culture songs, show tunes and Native American music.

NAfME, the National Association for Music Educators who has its own list of songs that every American should learn. Some of the songs on their list such as Yesterday by the Beatles are not American songs so I have removed them from the list. The following is the remainder of the list created by NAfME:

Amazing Grace

America

America the Beautiful

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Blue Skies

De Colores

Do-Re-Mi

Down by the Riverside

Give My Regards to Broadway

God Bless America

God Bless the U.S.A.

Green, Green Grass of Home

He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands

Home on the Range

I’ve Been Working on the Railroad

If I Had a Hammer (The Hammer Song)

Let There Be Peace on Earth

Michael, Row the Boat Ashore

My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean

Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’

Oh! Susanna

Over My Head

Puff the Magic Dragon

Rock-a My Soul

She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain

Shenandoah

Simple Gifts

Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

Star-Spangled Banner

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

This Land Is Your Land

This Little Light of Mine

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

Music Alone Shall Live

The following songs are additions to the NAfME repertoire

Elementary level songs:

Oh When the Saints Go Marchin In

Happy Birthday

Mary Had a Little Lamb

The Black National Anthem:

Lift Ev’ry Heart and Sing by James Weldon Johnson

For Middle School and High School

Song of the 1960s

The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel

Bridge Over Troubled Waters Simon and Garfunkel

Where Have All the Flowers Gone Pete Seeger

Turn Turn Turn by The Byrds

Lean on Me by Bill Withers

Showtunes 

What’ll I do by Berlin

Always by Irving Berlin

Ole Man River by Jerome Kern

Can’t Help Lovin' Dat Man o Mine by Jerome Kern

All the Things You Are by Jerome Kern

Look For the Silver Lining by Jerome Kern

Summertime  by Gershwin

Embraceable You by Gershwin

Someone to Watch Over Me by Gershwin

Our Love is Here to Stay by Gershwin

Climb Every Mountain by Rogers and Hammerstein

Some Enchanted Evening by Rogers and Hammerstein

What a Wonderful World sung by Louis Armstrong

For High School Only due to meaning of the song:

Strange Fruit song by Billie Holiday-(veiled references to lynching.)

In addition to these American songs we should not exclude songs by Native American tribes. Native Americans are the original Americans and part of our nations culture. It is absolutely necessary for students to learn real Native American songs. This has been difficult in the past as many Native American cultures find recordings of their songs to be an invasion of privacy (at least according to one professor I had in college who was getting his PHD in Native American music.)  

Lately, I have found performances of Native American music on Youtube. So the question now becomes adapting the music for the vocal style of singing that we use in western European singing. Singing in the style of throat singing could be damaging for students working with a teacher who is not versed on this system of singing.

From what I have heard on Youtube, I plan to teach my students the Lakota Lullaby. The song has a nice easy to remember melody line. The choruses are sung on vocables and there is only one short verse that is repeated twice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNulkDwFAxY

I am always on the lookout for other authentic pieces of Native American music that best represent those communities so please send my links to more music that I should be listening to.

Should American music teachers be experts in American folk and jazz music?

Should music teachers be experts in American folk and jazz music in our public schools?


            I believe that school music teachers should have some level of expertise in both American folk music and jazz. I believe that for many musicians myself included it would be difficult for us to start studying folk and jazz and achieve a true expert level of knowledge. At this point in my musical career I could write a book about opera, art song or even a general music book about western classical music without it being a multiyear process. I have already laid the groundwork in those areas of music such that writing a book would merely mean fact checking and organizing information. I can say this because I have been studying these areas of music since I was in elementary school so for a good 3 decades. In order for me to be able to write a book about American folk music or jazz I would need to repeat this process for the same amount of time.
           The study of music takes time. It takes time to listen to, sometimes hours listening to the same piece of music, countless hours of reading, talking to experts and trying to perform sections of the song or similar songs by the same artist to really get a sense of a genre. The kind of training that I have had has occurred along with my growing into adulthood. It has been interwoven with how may developing brain has been organized. I appreciate the subtly of classical music more than I do the broad strokes of folk music and mathematical structures associated with the improvisation in  jazz. 
            For me to try to become a true expert on American folk and jazz music would be a disservice to myself and my students. Should the only music teachers working in the public schools be Berkeley graduates? -I think not. For as there are those students whose minds will be lit on fire with the music of jazz and American folk music so there are those who will gravitate towards classical music, world music and other musical art forms.
           Should I have some level of expertise that goes beyond what an especially gifted high school student can learn on their own? Yes, yes I should. As a teacher, I need to try to meet the needs of all my students. This is especially necessary with American folk and jazz music as they are truly American art forms. It is both necessary for me to have expertise in these areas to continue our American cultural heritage but also to help students who are drawn to the musics of their ancestors.

           As a teacher of general music in the schools I am the best living link to all musical art forms and our American cultural past through music. It is important for me to be an expert in these fields such that I can teach them to generations of students-especially those that are the most gifted and willing to go beyond the general music curriculum. Such students are likely to be the cultural curators, teachers and performers of the next generation.

Brandt Schneider's article and a reflection on how to judge a good musician

Brandt Schneider "Creating Musical Flexibility Through the Ensemble"

          This article was very helpful. Today’s music educational standards require us to have composition, improvisation and analysis in our curriculums and Prof. Schneider has made a powerful case for the importance of these standards. He says that our school musicians cannot change keys, improvise songs in various genres and have lost a lot of knowledge of American music. I agree with his assessment. I remember watching old black and white performances of jazz bands and other bands of the 1930s-1950s. So I do know that bands used to play pieces of music in different keys just by having the conductor or the singer tell the band what key they wanted to use.  I also know that the same was true for pianist accompanists working in American music as well. This is something we have lost in America but it doesn’t have to stay lost. 

          He has also given us a blue print of how he added these missing elements into his own band practices. He identified pieces of music that are considered American standards and tested his students to see how well they knew these pieces of music. He filled in the gaps in the knowledge of American music in his students and taught them to play these songs in all 12 keys. He also taught students the stylistic concepts necessary for them to perform American standards in a variety of different styles. He set goals for his students that he thought they could complete each week and then increased the work load and complexity once they had grasped the concepts.

          I think that there are a lot of ways to critique a musician and part of that assessment must come through judging how well a musician thinks musically and responds to musical ideas -this also includes excellent playing skills that express these responses. It has come to my attention as a classical musician that I have almost been paralyzed at the thought of altering music-the thoughts and ideas of other musicians and wanting to get the most technically “by the rulebook” answers to respond to musical ideas. In the world of classical music that formed me as a musician, I have had friends who had travelled to Europe and gone to obscure places looking for original manuscripts of compositions just to see if there was a comma in a song or not. My colleagues who have been trained in jazz and rock music feel more comfortable making broad changes to music. They are often bolder in their capacity to alter music. I think that my classical training has given me a subtly of expression in my responses that can sometimes be lacking in the performances of some jazz and rock musicians-sorry any jazz and rock musicians out there who may be offended. I think this is why live jazz appeals to me so much whereas recorded jazz music often falls flat for me. I think we can judge musicians on either separate sets of criteria one for the subtleties of classical music and one for the broader expressions chosen in the moment by jazz, rock and folk musicians. I think that Pavarotti was an excellent musician but hearing him sing American songs during the Three Tenors Concert I was less than impressed with his performance skills. I also think that not every rock musician should be playing classical music. I don’t think the band members of Kiss should be singing Samuel Barber any time soon. Thus, I do think that the case can be easily made that different types of music require different musicians. 

          I do have some exceptions to this division on judging musicians…General music teachers in our schools. I believe that they must have skill in both areas although I think that it would be unrealistic to assume that they will always have both types of musical responses both broad experimentation and subtle infinitesimal choices within their mindset. Music teachers do tend to gravitate towards the musical training in which they have been raised. But as teachers we must be able to respond to all of our students. As a voice teacher, I must be able to respond to the needs of a jazz or rock oriented singer. I must be aware of the musical skills needed in these genres and be able to give high school and early college level training in these areas to those students whose gifts require it. Teachers must always be able to go beyond basic high school training so that students can progress beyond it as well under our instruction. As we were once the gifted students at our schools so these youngsters may be the musicians and teachers of tomorrow as well. I and my fellow teachers must respond to their training needs so that future generations may profit from them.

         Teachers must also adapt music to the available musicians, compose music as necessary as their may not be suitable music for their ensembles or certain performance occasions. Teachers in the public schools must have training on a variety of instruments and keep some skills fresh in all of them. No one can be an expert on a dozen instruments such that they can perform in a professional ensemble with their current skills but every music teacher that I have worked with has been trained on one or more instruments from every section of the orchestra, plus piano and recorder. The public school music teachers that I have admired the most in my observations owned multiple musical instruments and have told me that they regularly go back to these instruments to practice and thus maintain a basic level of playing knowledge on these instruments.

        To sum up my views of judging musicians, western classical musicians or musicians that perform in styles of music that require great attention to the rigorous style of music that does not allow for much deviation can be judged on subtly in their performances and musical decisions. In musical art styles that require broad musical decisions in the moment, musicians can be forgiven some momentary lapses in subtle performing perfection as they have a lot of musical decisions on their mind. The public school music teacher must be a generalist which means some ability to train students in both types of music, plus train students on multiple instruments as well as singing plus they must be able to arrange and compose music as needed. 

Resume

         Music Teacher Resume for Amy Braica

Contact: 413-331-9859

Email: afbraica@yahoo.com

Teaching Experience:

Opera Appreciation classes at Keystone Village Retirement Community.

2013 Substitute teacher in Chicopee, Massachusetts through Kelly Educational Staffing Services.

In fall 2012, I tutored young voice students at Holyoke High School under Mark Todd.

Summer 2012,  Teaching an opera music history course of adult continuing education at Trinity Methodist Church in Springfield, Ma.

I have volunteered on and off for various projects over 2 years at Our Lady of Nazareth High School as a teaching assistant volunteer for Music Director Patricia Tamagini.

I taught at the University of Southern Maine as part of voice teacher training class. I have also had private voice, piano and music theory students while living in Maine.

Major Vocal Influences:

2008-2010, Private lessons with Karen Nimereala, an American soprano who is the protege student of the late Franco Corelli. Ms. Nimereala is a graduate of Juilliard School of Music and is an affiliated teacher.  Her most famous student is Sting who began working with as he started to record classical music albums. Her website is http://www.karennimereala.com/. Her email is karennimereala@yahoo.com.  Her number in France is +33 06 09 10 93 72. Contact in New York City +1 (212) 489-7649.

2009-2010, I also worked with David Triestram in Paris, France. Mr. Triestram is the current vocal coach of Denyce Graves. He has also worked with Renee Fleming, Kiri te Kanawa, Frederica Von Stade and Pavarotti. His number in France is +33 01 44 67 78 64.

Additional Private Voice Instruction:

2009-2010 Ecole Normale de Musique instructor Caroline Dumas, retired opera singer. The Ecole Normale de Musique can be contacted through their website and they do have staff that can respond to requests about former students in English. Their website is: http://www.ecolenormalecortot.com/rep1/index.html 

2006-2009, Roland Jalbert, a graduate of the New England Conservatory and is now teaching in Portland, Maine. 2005, I studied voice with Bonnie Scarpelli. 1998-2000 Studied with Barbara Winchester at the New England Conservatory. During the years 1994-1998, I was studying voice with Dr. Patricia Tamagini who has a doctorate in music from the New England Conservatory. 1991-1993 I was studying voice with professional concert soloist Gretchen McBride.

Private Piano Instruction:

2005-2006 I later studied for 1.5 years of piano lessons with Thomas Bucci, professor at the University of Southern Maine. I worked on a freshman piano major level. I have also had 9 years of private piano lessons with Barbara White.

Continuing Education

Fall 2011- Fall 2012. Classes at Westfield State University including Music Curriculum, Classroom Management, Educational Psychology and Conducting. 3.35 GPA.

Academic Training

I have a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts: Music from the University of Southern Maine with a 3.2 GPA. Received 2007. Classes included child development classes and lesson planning.

2009-2010 Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, France .

2007-2008, Studied French at the language school Universite catholique de l'ouest in Angers, France.

Ensemble Memberships

I am a member of Trinity Church Choir in Springfield Massachusetts and have performed as a soloist several times.

I was a member of the Choir at the University of Southern Maine's School of Music.

I was a member of the MT Players theater group at the University of Southern Maine.

Major Performances:

2009-2010, Studio Recitals at the Ecole Normale de Musique and also for Karen Nimereala’s studio in Paris, France.

2005-2007, Performed solos recitals at St. Luke’s Cathedral and in solo recital for Bridgton, Maine fundraiser. I performed as a singer in several other concerts as well.

2004 Fall, I performed a solo recital which took place at the University of S. Maine.

2002, I was in the opera workshop at the University of S. Maine and in the summer I was in a performance of Once Upon a Mattress. I was the Singing Nightingale as well as acted a part that was created for me by the director.

1999, Two opera workshops and two studio recitals at the New England Conservatory.

The years 1987-1991 were as follows. 1987-1988, I was in the chorus at Coolidge Middle School. 1987, I was in P.T. Barnum, the musical, in the chorus in Reading, Ma. 1988, I was in H.M.S. Pinafore as Little Buttercup in Reading, Ma. I was studying voice with Barbara Engel from 1988-1991.

Public performances on the piano:

As a child, the piano was my first instrument. I have performed various piano solos within larger piano concerts and talent shows.

Other Music Related Accomplishments in College:

Composition lessons with composer Dan Sonenberg at the University of Southern Maine.

Additional Arts Related Experience:

I designed 50% of the makeup for a high school for a play competition in greater Boston. The makeup received an award. I designed the makeup for the Kitchen Wench and Nightingale characters and parts of the Nightingale costume in the production of Once Upon A Mattress in 2002.

I have worked as a cue card prompter in the wings for a production of Godspell.

I have also taken acting classes in my university, high school, and at the Northshore Performing Arts Center in Massachusetts.