Letter to my students

Dear Students,

            Literacy is one of the most important things you can learn in life.  To be literate involves not only the ability to read, but the ability to understand the world around you.  Today in the digital age so much information comes written, whether formally or not, you will need to be able to read and interpret that.  Literacy is not only reading, but the knowledge required to apply what you learn and what you read to the world around you.  It is the ability to parse out lessons about the society that we live in and how we must try to change it.

            While the music classroom is primarily a performance-based classroom, you will still need good reading and writing skills to be able to read and write intelligently about music.  To do any serious study in music you will have to read and write about music at a deep and scholarly level.  Most of the articles you will be required to read will be tedious and boring, but it is necessary to be successful.

            In this class you will have to read many things that you will not understand the first time you read through them, but I will teach you how to go back through the article and how to get the most out of what you read. Not every author is correct, and sometimes even the most learned of people write things that just are not true.  You will learn how to look deeper into what you are reading and to decide whether or not you agree with what the author is trying to say. 

            This class will challenge your writing as well encouraging you to try and write scholarly papers about music.  Too often students like you are not challenged to write papers in any class other than English while you are in high school, but I will challenge you to write critically about the music you hear.  I want you to make connections between what you learn about music history and what you learn in your history classes and to show these connections in your writing.  Music is after all a very politically driven art form, and I want you to understand that and to be able to discuss that in your writings.

The Skills you will learn in this class will not only help you in this class, but they will also help you greatly as you continue your education.  You will learn how to effectively read articles that you may not fully understand, you will learn how to use context clues to understand vocabulary that may be unfamiliar to you, and you will learn how to write critically about the subjects you learn about in school.  The overall goal of the literacy focus in this class is to get you to be able to make transfers of all the skills that I teach you to the other classes you take throughout your career.  I want you to be successful in life, and so you will learn how to look more critically at the world around you and to be able to always question what you hear.

Your Teacher,

Mr. Luke Arno

Strategy 10: Retelling

This encourages to think critically about what they read by having them to tell what they read as close as they can to the original without reading directly from the story.  Thus this encourages students to imprint as much as they can of what they read into their memory.  Then the students are able to make the text into their own and are able to make their own interpretations of what they have read, allowing them to truly internalize the text.  I would incorporate this by very informally asking the students to describe what they have read in class.  If I could tell that they were able to fully describe the text then I would know that they completed the assignment.

Strategy 9: It says, I say, And so

This strategy involves having the students list things stated in the article and having them use their own logic and judgment to decide whether or not that makes sense.  This would be good as it would help students to make sense of what they read without as much help from the teacher.  When I would go over this in class it would demonstrate for my students how to think through what they read.  I would demonstrate this and then require the students to do this for many of the articles that they read for a short period of time.  After I was confident that the students were showing good enough abilities at reading the articles critically then I would have them read articles without them having to do the assignment.

Text 10: Ode

O'Shaughnessy, A. (1874). Ode. Music and Moonlight London: Chatto and Windus.

Ode is a poem that begins by describe the power of music.  It metaphorically describes the creative process.  It references the sadness brought about in the lives of many people by not having music in their lives.  This is a poem that the students who truly appreciate music in my classroom will relate to and will understand.

I could use this poem to help my students better understand poetry and its relation to the metrical rhythmic patterns of music.  I could also coordinate this lesson with the english teachers in my school and see if we could not both teach the poem in our lessons.

Text 9: Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra

Britten, B. (Composer). (2006). The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra [Recorded by London Symphony Orchestra]. On Variations on a theme of Frank Bridge [Medium of recording: Record] Hong Kond: Naxos. (2006)

 Benjamin Britten's Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra is an educational piece of music that introduces listeners to the different instruments in the symphony orchestra.  The instruments are introduced according to section and each instrument is introduced on its own with a small excerpt for the instrument to play by itself.  The piece is narrated with descriptions of each instrument as the piece goes along.

This piece could be used to encourage students to read aloud during class as I could have the students take  turns reading the narration.  I could also have the students read the narration quietly and then have discussion to ensure comprehension.

Text 8: Music History 102

Sherrane, Robert. "Music History 102." Internet Public Library. Internet Public Library, n.d. Web. 26 Jul 2011. <http://www.ipl.org/div/mushist/middle/index.html>.

This is a website about all of music history.  On the main menu it groups music into historical periods and provides a brief description of the period as well as a brief synopsis of the history.  On the page for each musical period there is an overall description of the music of the period and the website also has biographies for notable composers of the period.  There are many very important composers not listed on this website, but it has a good overview.

This website would serve as a good place for students to research and read about music history.  This would not work for a source that students could use for their papers, but it would be a good starting place for students to get a good idea what they should be looking up.  Also the fact that this is an electronic resource is good because too often nowadays students are able to pay more attention to things they view electronically rather than in paper form.

Strategy 8: Rereading

Music related texts can often seem very foreign, even to the most advanced students, due to the large amount of jargon utilized in the texts.  Even the most advanced students have to read the text over and over again to understand many parts, but struggling readers would not recognize the need to reread as readily as more advanced readers.

I would implement this strategy in my classroom by first demonstrating to the students why there is a need to reread the text and how to go about doing that for maximum learning.  I would then supervise the students reading an article in class and make sure that they were fully practicing what I had taught them.  I would then assign a reading for them to do at home that would require them to use this strategy to read it and would assess their learning when they returned the next day.

Strategy 7: Post-it Notes

This strategy is a great way to help struggling readers figure out the problem areas in their reading abilities.  While the book suggests using it as a way of having students to mark in their textbooks, I see this concept in a more broad term as applying even to short reading passages.  I think students should have to mark in the passages they are reading the areas where they are having difficulty.  Once students are able to realize where they have difficulty reading and what is causing their problems then they will be able to seek out help from an appropriate source.

Strategy 6: Think Aloud

The think aloud strategy would help my students to parse through difficult texts filled with music related jargon.  I do not imagine that my students would get the opportunity to read many fiction texts in my class, so I find many of the reading strategies would not work in my classroom.  Think aloud would help me to assess my students' understanding of the texts while we are reading them in class and would help me to identify students who were struggling.  Thus this reading strategy would be a great way to help gauge critical reading abilities.

Text 7: A Blessing of Music

Poltarnees, Welleran. A Blessing of Music. Seattle, WA: Laughing Elephant, 2003.

This is a picture book that describes what makes music so special.  It contains various historic pictures of music making from the 19th century, and thus can be related to history.  It is engaging and inspiring, reminding the reader of what makes music such a universal language and what makes it so awe inspiring.

This book is a very easy read, and thus would be a very good assignment for struggling readers.  English Language Learners would also benefit from this book by being able to see the pictures in the book.  I would not have the entire class read this book but I would rather assign it to individual students and have them read it as homework.

Text 6: Amadeus

Amadeus. Dir. Milos Forman. Perf. F Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, and Elizabeth Berridge. Orion., 1984. DVD.

Amadeus is a movie that follows the live of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  It more specifically explores the relationship between Mozart and Antonio Scalieri.  It is known that Mozart had a very challenging relationship with the Austrian Court, but this film dramaticizes that relationship.  It includes depictions of the monetary challenges that Mozart faced as he tried to make a living off of composing alone.

This movie would serve to help the students to relate to Mozart.  Too often the composers that students study about are only just names, but a film such as this would help to humanize Mozart such that the students would understand him.  It would illustrate the time period in which many composers worked for the common practice period, and would help students to understand the role that composers played in society.

Strategy 5: Rereading

Rereading would involve having the students read the article they had been working on over again so that they could get a better understanding of what they read.  Most articles that I would have my students read would be of the professional nature so students would have to read most of the articles again to develop a good comprehension.  Reading would not be very common in my classroom due to the performance driven nature of the music classroom, but when I would use in class reading in my lesson plans rereading would aid the students considerably in improving their reading comprehension.

Strategy 4: Ocassional Paper

An Ocassional paper is using a paper about things that happen in students' lives apart from school that is not graded on grammar or mechanics.  This  would be very appropriate for a homework assignment to get students thinking more openly about music.  I could give this assignment to students getting them to use it to think more critically about the music in their lives.  The students then could read their papers to the class and the entire class would gain more insight into how music affects the lives of others.  This would then be a great way to engage students of diverse cultures in class and a way to validate the musical tastes of all students.

Text 5: Die Moldau

Die Moldau is a programmatic tone poem from the late 19th century by Czech composer Bedrich Smetana.  This work is one of the first works by czech composers trying to establish a czech musical identity.  Smetana paints a picture of the moldau river as it flows from just being a small tributary to where it meets the ocean.  He includes such cultural themes such as a wedding dance and mythical stories of a magic forest inhabited by fairies.

This is a wonderful example of the programmatic tone poems that were so popular during the 19th century.  It helps the students to realize that even thought the music does not have words that it can still provoke images.  I would also use this to teach students the nationalist function that a lot of music served in the 19th century.

Smetana, Bedrich. Die Moldau. Perf. Norrington, Roger. 1996.

Text 4: Music Notes

Music Notes is a web site that includes information on all different subjects in music.  It has information on everything from music history to possible careers for students in the future.  the part that I find the most useful on this website is the music theory tab.  It has details for students that will prepare them for any entry level college music theory course.

I would use this as a resource for my students as I taught them non-performance related subjects.  This site is too generalized for an academic paper but it would be a great resource for my students to use as a general reference.

A., Ryan, Lauren S, and Jessie B. Music Notes: An Interactive Musical Experience. ThinkQuest, Web. 13 Jul 2011. <http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/>.

Text 3: August Rush

This is a film about a child who experiences music in everything around him.  He uses this ability to hear the music around him to help him find his parents.  He is an orphan and never has met his parents, but he holds firm to the belief that the music will lead him to his parents.  He leaves his orphanage in search of his parents and through the movie develops his musical abilities into something more tangible than a general sense.

I would use this film to encourage students to seek out the music that exists in the world around them.  In nature, and in inhabited places, sound is produced in patterns that could be heard as music.  I would challenge the students to hear the music around them and to be interested in what I call the music of life.

Sheridan, Kristen, Dir. August Rush. Perf. Highmore, Freddie. Warner Bros.: 2007, Film.

Occasional Paper

A World Without Music

            As I recently watched the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, I was struck by the realization of how much music is a part of the movie.  In this occasional paper I will discuss how music can affect our emotions and influence the way our minds perceive our environment.

            Our society it seems often takes for granted just how much music we hear on a daily basis.  There are many movies that the only way viewers know what is going is through listening to the music.  In addition most people listen to the radio all the time while driving to and fro.  It could almost be argued that human beings are inherently musical if only based on their love of listening to music.

            Music can affect our emotions in ways that many scholars cannot even begin to explain.  Adding an intense piece in a minor key such as “O Fortuna” from Carmina Burana can vastly influence the way we perceive what s happening.  The addition of that particular piece can provide the feeling of a great evil attacking.

            People who watched The King’s Speech would have experienced firsthand what the power of music can do.  The scene depicting the war speech that was delivered by King George VI declaring war on Germany is a prime example of this.  The words themselves are powerful enough, but the addition of music behind it really drives the point across.  Especially with a very recognizable piece such as Beethoven’s 7^th symphony movement II.  This piece, with its minor key signature and ever pushing forward tempo sets the stage for the ensuing war.

            Music can really change the whole mood of a scene in a movie.  Whether the music is intended to be ironic such as the waltz scene from Batman, or intended to set an ominous tone like the pieces mentioned before, it can really affect how we perceive what we watch, and the study of the tonalities of the music can help us to understand that.

Strategy 3: Admit Slip

The admit slip would be a simple one paragraph writing assignment that students would have to turn in each day.  The students would be assigned readings outside of class from various professional literature and they would have to illustrate their reading comprehension through these admit slips.  The prompts would be very simple like, "What is your opinion of the music choices for the marching band show in 'American Band?'  Do you think our High School Band could do a show like that?"  The students would have written their slip while at home and would use this to show that they understood the reading assignment.

Strategy 2: Know, Want, Learn

This is a strategy for engaging diverse cultures where I will have the students say what they know and what they want to know before I teach it to them, and then after the unit is finished I will have the students tell me what they have learned.  Students all have different ideas about the history of music depending on their background, and this would allow me to see how their background had affected their viewpoint.  This is most appropriate during discussions of music history, as this is one of the subjects in music where students seem to have the most misconceptions.  It is a valuable tool for me as the teacher to know what lessons should be structured around and it is a valuable tool for the students as it challenges them to think critically about their learning.

I would present this to my students by introducing the activity and then giving the students a broad prompt like, "Beethoven, tell me what you know and what you want to know."  Then I would compile with a group discussion a list of what the students had said on something like a trifold.  Once the unit on Beethoven was done, we would go back over the list.

Strategy 1: Exit Slips

Given that band class is a primarily performance driven subject getting students to write in the class is a very tricky thing.  It is hard for a student to just set aside a tuba and write something, there is a high probability that something could get damaged.  Therefore it is best to work in writing at either the beginning or end of class.  The exit slip could be as simple as a question like, "What was the style of the piece that we sightread today?  What did the piece make you think of?"

This would be a good assessment tool as it could be used to see whether or not the students understood what was covered during the day.  It is important that the music classroom be more than jsut a place where students play their instruments, but also that it be a place where students are challenged to think critically about music.  This would be used at the end of class.  Students would pack up their instruments and then would be given the prompt for the exit slip.  The assignment would be graded based on completion and on effort.  Effort being defined simply as whether or not it is evident that the student put thought into his/her work.

Text 2: Musicophilia

Musicophilia by: Oliver Sacks

This is a very interesting book that explores at the surface some of the relationships between music and the brain.  The book covers topics such as brain disorders cured by music and brain disorders caused by music, how people are affected emotionally by music,  why music uses more of our brain when we listen to it than language does, and many more.

This is a very advanced book, heavy with many psychology references.  This would not be a book that I would have students struggling to read attempt.  I would use this to challenge my uppermost students.  It would push their vocabulary and would challenge them to read at a higher level.  This book would get students to think about music with new applications.  This book is a surface level foray into the fields of music cognition and music therapy, two fields that could inspire students to go into music as a career.

Text 1: American Band

American Band by: Kristen Lane

This book is a survey through the marching band season as observed by a reporter who had not previously been exposed to the activity.  While many people when they learn of the world of marching band and the great lengths high schools go to for competitions have the tendency to role their eyes, but Kristen Lane is able to keep a distance and observe it for the value it holds.  She looks specifically at the lives of 7 different students and shows how their lives are affected by their time spent with the band.

Students while reading this book will get a better appreciation for the work that they are putting forth.  They can often get so caught up in the routine of rehearsal that they loose track of what they are actually doing.  By seeing what similar groups are doing they will understand better the value behind all the practices.  This book would not be particularly challenging for students, so it would be a good way to get students to start thinking about how they could read more in the academic world of music.