4th grade instrumental lessons -- the first week saga

"No, no, no... you're holding it upside down!"
"Pretend you just ate a lemon and make a sour face..mmmm"
"left hand on top, Left hand on Top, LEFT HAND ON TOP!"
"Yes, you do sound like a dying elephant..."
"A reed it tastes like... well... wood"


Ah -- September marks so many different favorite moments of mine, including, teaching beginning instrumental lessons.  A time of having to contort yourself around a student to help them hold a trombone, touch much more spit then necessary to fix a reed, or just endure the lovely sounds that come out of an instrument the first time it is played...


This past week, I had the pleasure of teaching five different 4th grade beginning lessons on their brand new instruments.  Each year I forget how painful the first lesson can be.  My first lesson last Monday was 4th grade sax students.  This year we have a rather larger 4th grade and have 5 students in this group.  Normally, they would be split into 2 smaller groups, but there is just no more free time in mine or the band teacher's schedule.  Wow, let's just that was the longest 30 minutes of my life and I left the lesson wishing someone replaced my poland spring water bottle with another clear liquid (that was stronger and would make me think of happy places.)  I never had a group have so many issues putting together a sax, it is one of the easier instruments to assemble.  And forget about making a sound..... or even holding it!  It actually took us the full 30 minutes to just put the reed on correctly, play a little on the mouthpiece/neck, and then put the instrument together, then take it back apart.  Oh I should mention that during this 30 minutes, I had 2 twin brothers fighting with each other, and another one of the students having an anxiety attack because they weren't perfect yet.  Fun fun fun -- very very happy that we are off this Monday.


Next lesson on Monday is one of my beginner low brass groups, a baritone and 2 trombones.  All boys.  They got buzzing right on and no puffy cheeks.  They put together and held their instruments with no issues (even though it can hurt little hands to hold a trombone).  They even were able to play nice long tones on F!  We even played the first 3 lessons in the book, F's, Ebs, and a mix of both!  Wow -- there is a chance everything will be good this year!


A few days pass (5th grade lessons mixed in, who are dream!) Next new lesson is beginning clarinet -- a group of 4. [ **I do need to state that I myself have never taught clarinet before, and this year will be a learning experience for me as well**]  I had high hopes for this group since 2 out of the 4 were some of my top recorder players, 10th degree blackbelt students.  Also part of this group was a girl who never figured B, A, G and a boy who is very adhd, couldn't hold a recorder, and has a hard time focusing.   Who would have guessed that my unfocused boy would be 10 steps ahead of me, putting the clarinet together perfectly with no issues, and could make a perfect sound on the instrument.  Who would have also guessed that my 2 10th degree black belt recorder kids would have a super hard time putting together the instrument, placing the reed, and finding where the thumb holder was on the clarinet (one even put his right hand on top?!). Oh and the girl, shes doing okay, which for her is great.  I think they will be fine -- but wow, kind of a shocker.


Finally, my last 2 new lessons of the week were on Friday.  First up was my other low brass group, again 1 baritone and 2 trombones, cept this time all girls (split up by class not gender, just worked out that way).  They did okay, had more issues holding the instruments and getting that first sound out -- they will need a lot more coaxing and work, but they will get it.  Then came my 4th grade percussion group!  This group will be my dream group, at least I hope.  I have the 2 best recorder players in the class (both were grand masters by June) and the third, well just has natural rhythm (and it helps that her older brother was one of the best percussionists to leave our program).  So 2/3 already read treble clef quite well, and 1/3 has taken a year of percussion lessons already.  They all had good success holding the stick and were able to handle basic sticking exercises.  They are also excited about learning bells!  I can't wait -- for once the percussionists won't give me a headache!


So that just sums up my first week of new lessons.  It shall be an interesting year to say the least.  


Now, I do pose a question to you the reader...  what is your favorite 1st lesson story?  Please share -- whether horrible, hilarious, or even better inspiring!

New year? Feels like we never left...

I did it -- made it through a full week, a full monday through friday, with little to no pain...

Still suffering from a cold/possibly sinus infection and that definitely makes teaching music a bit interesting, but getting through it. 

On Wednesday, I began teaching my first real lessons of the year (not just first week fluff) and it has been interesting so far.  For the most part, my students have been eating up the new material and have been performing at their best.  I have also begun my chorus rehearsals.  Here are my general observations of the week:

Highlights:

*It is highly entertaining watching 5th graders, who had finally figured out the cup game pattern successfully at a normal even tempo, try to keep up with the accelerando in "In the Hall of the Mountain King."  Let's just say there were cups everywhere and tons of laughing by the time the piece had ended.

*Started really singing with one section of my 4th grade chorus -- and wow, they already are singing beautifully in their head voices.  I have a TA (teacher assistant) who sits in with the class since it is a double, and she is quite blunt and has no problem telling me how it really is (she has sat in with a 5th grade group a few years ago) and she was shocked at their talent as well!  I was even able to teach them the first part of one of their songs and it already sounds great! [*side note, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that this group is my first group of kindergartners at the school.]  Oh yeah, 5th grade chorus is doing okay so far as well.

*On Thursday, I taught my second graders two new songs (nothing too crazy).  However, after school there was a girl scout meeting in our cafeteria (which is near my room) and as I stayed after school doing some work, I could hear the girls from that class performing the songs for the rest of the group and their moms.  They had no idea I could hear, and that's just really cool.  I love when the kids are just that excited about what they are learning.

*Also had open house this week and while I only spoke with about 3% of my students' parents, they all had nothing but wonderful things to say.  It is still kinda awkward to hear: "you're my child's favorite teacher/special," and I still am never sure how to respond other than "Thanks." -- However it is still wonderful to hear.

Parts of the Week I'd Rather Forget:

*We have a very low third grade this year, all across the board.  We have known this since they were in kindergarten.  However, the depressing reality showed its face this week when they were barely able to do an "end of the year" 2nd grade activity.  I taught them a simple 4 measure body percussion piece (unison) and then we tried to turn it into a 2 part round -- and then disaster.  They could only do it if I was helping them.  We tried and we tried, and they just didn't get it....  It's going to be a long year.  I've had quite the strong 3rd grade recorder program in the past, and I am not sure if this group will be able to get to that level.  I will try my hardest though -- and they are the most enthusiastic group I've worked with yet, we'll see.

Ok on to week 2.  This week I can look forward to beginning 5 brand new 4th grade instrumental lesson groups (1 sax, 1 clarinet, 2 low brass, and 1 percussion) as well as continuing on with my 2 5th grade instrument lessons (low brass and percussion).  Tonights hw: learn how to play clarinet!

Short and Sweet

Just doing a quick random post tonight.  My original goal for this blog was to post at least once a week about all the fun things that have happened at school.  However,  my first week was a bit more tiring than I had expected and being sick did not help one bit.  So here is a short and sweet list of my first week of school:

*my feet forgot how it feels to stand all day....  (though they're getting used to it again finally)
*students do not age a lot in 2 months, yet so much more is expected of them once they enter the next grade...
*kindergartners are soooo tiny on the first day -- and they are sooo eager to learn and do whatever you show them!
*it is really nice to just jump into review activities, because most of the students have known you for years
*school politics = blech
*having a cold on the first few days, stinks!

That is just a quick summary of my thoughts from the week.  Tomorrow begins my first week of actually teaching brand new lessons and I am excited to share some of my gems with a new group of students.  Tomorrow night is also our open house.... always an interesting night.  Until next time....

What I Did For My Summer Vacation...

So I have been a bit m.i.a. this week.  Had some personal things and a broken computer that made writing an entry at the complete bottom of my list.

I have one more day off until school officially begins and as of 9:52 tonight, I can safely say, I am pretty much ready.  I have accomplished a lot in my 3 weeks that I have had off (worked at a camp this summer.) The last 3 weeks I have:

• Completely updated/refreshed/changed my First Grade curriculum (using my new MusicPlay-1st)
• Completely updated/refreshed/changed my Fourth Grade curriculum (made it more hands on)
• Refreshed the first half of my Third Grade curriculum with better rhythm/note reading (pre-recorder) reinforcement lessons (especially since my incoming third graders are not the strongest students.)
• Updated my Kindergarten, Second, and Fifth Grade curriculums (like I do every summer)
• Recorded 5 choral accompaniment files for my winter concert (other 2 were files I had already)
• Updated/refreshed my school website
• Created a bunch of new SMARTBoard lessons to go along with my updated curriculums (still more to be made, of course)
• Created the band lesson schedule (even though it will probably have to be changed since we just found out a 4th section of the 4th grade is being added... hopefully we'll find how that affects the master schedule on Tuesday?!)
• Made a bunch of worksheets, etc for some of my new lessons

That list might not sound like a lot, but it was time consuming.  I had an especially big issue with some of the SMARTBoard lessons that I created in the last few days since I am having a compatibility issue between Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) and Notebook!!  Oh well, what would the beginning of school be without some form of issue.  

So school officially starts on Tuesday, with students returning Wednesday.  I am ready.  It's my 5th year at this school, 6th year total.  I know what I am doing.  The students know me (well cept for the new kinders) and my rules.  My first kindergartners are in fourth grade now.  I think they might be my best singers yet since we have worked on pitch since kindergarten.  

I am looking forward to some of the new lessons I created, some of the choral pieces I have picked out, during some of my really fun 5th grade units with my current 5th graders, and creating a love of music for about 400 students!

I am not looking forward to a lot of changes at my school (including adding a new section in last minute, with no teacher to teach it, many classroom teachers not teaching the same grade they have taught in the past, a friend and colleague retiring mid-year), not looking forward to district politics, and not looking forward to no longer working on the high school's musical productions due to district politics!

Should be an interesting year.  Hopefully I will be able to update at least once a week with any good stories, or drama, or just plain rants.