MUED 352: Week 10

The subject matter of this week was very similar to that of last week.

The main point that I took away was that every piece of music has an infinite number of teaching concepts contained within it. While this idea has not been lost on me at all, I never really noticed it until now. Just viewing the different interpretations of the pieces that we reviewed was very interesting.

There was a clinic at OMEA that was very helpful for me. It was given by Dan Crain, Brad Hruska, and Ryan Huch. The clinic was incorporating all of the national standards for music into a band curriculum. Again, many of the concepts that the trio covered were not new to me, and most of them I have either done or would consider using in my own classroom.

What I found most interesting was how each teacher chose a different piece of music to play with their band and, furthermore, how they would teach the standards with them. Like this weeks class, I was surprised at how differently I would have chosen literature as well as what I could get out of each piece. This is a fun aspect of teaching instrumental music that I think I can really enjoy.

On this subject, I have been pondering a subject that I hope we will cover, programming music for a concert. I also attended another clinic at OMEA about programming. Instead of answering my questions, it made my questions more in depth and intense. I was surprised by how much I wanted to know about programming. I never really put any thought into picking music for an ensemble. I hope that we can have a lesson, soon, on how to pick a program that suits your band, community, and school.