So I Have This Idea...(pt 3)

Check here for Part 1
Check here for Part 2

Students began teaching their sections this week. (Slightly) Organized chaos would be a good description. My first thought was how HARD it is to totally step back and let them try. So often I wanted to interrupt and ask the class to quiet down or offer a hand with their conducting. But I resisted and kept my role to observer. Aside from the difficulty of relinquishing control, here were some other points I noted:

• Conducting a basic beat is pretty much like breathing. I don't have to think to do it, it just happens. However, as we all start somewhere, I realized what a challenge it is for my students. Keeping time for the group as they read their parts was tough for a lot of kids, which made it difficult for the band to stay together as they worked on new sections.
• Students don't realize or trust their own musicianship. There were times when group of instruments or two were very obviously off. But instead of doing something with just section, students would just go back to the beginning of their chunk and have everyone do it again. When I went up and conducted through the first part of the piece, I could see many students turn and look at the section that was off though. They can hear it, they just don't trust themselves to fix it.
• I'm going to need to start the process of finding our student conductor sooner than I thought. Being reminded of the challenges of learning how to conduct has made me realize they're going to need more time to practice with the group than I was originally thinking. I haven't decided yet though if I want it to be an application process for interested individuals or if I want it to be a nomination process. I'll ask the students but in discussions so far, it seems like a fairly even split between the two ideas.
• Each group had a different approach. Some had group members split up and teach different parts of the band their part. Others worked it out all at the same time. It was neat seeing how they worked to their strengths and watching them consult others in the class for questions instead of asking me!

We're on Spring Break this coming week, but we'll be back at it after!