Teaching More Than The Notes And Rhythm

A performance is often the major driving force behind our teaching as music educators. It is in a sense the final assessment. Certainly, students learning the music for an upcoming performance is top priority. No doubt, the music must be practiced and mastered to the best of the ensemble’s ability. However, I’m sure when many of us think beyond the concert music to what we want our students to learn and ultimately take away from the process of working on a concert program, it’s more than just the correct notes and rhythms. We want to provide our students with enduring knowledge and concepts that will last a lifetime. I want to provide my students with the skills necessary to continue growing in music, independent of me, as well as a broader and deeper appreciation of music.

How to Practice

Beyond mastering the music – the notes, correct rhythms, and so on, I want my students to learn how to practice a piece of music to the point of mastery. During the process of learning a piece, my goal is to help my students learn how to solve problems in their music, get past any difficulties, and work effectively to master their music. I strive to model effective practice habits for them and work with them to develop their own practice habits. Here are some ways I have worked to do this over the years. 

Throughout the process of working on a piece I will have my students take a pencil and make sure they understand all their rhythms. We will break down any difficult rhythms – analyze them, count them aloud, clap them, and play them. I will have them mark bowings and fingerings – even if things are obvious to them – to ensure that the music becomes easier to perform. I will have them circle or put parenthesis around difficult measures so they can go back and work on those specifically challenging measures in their practice. I will have them write down metronome markings and goals for the piece.

Furthermore, I have had students keep a practice journal while working on concert music to log what strategies they are using to effectively master their music. These strategies might include slow practice, repetition, chunking measures, working with a drone or tuner on pitch. I then have students submit their practice journal at the end of the week and I will provide feedback to them. While on the road to mastering a piece of music, I want my students to develop effective practice habits for working on music independently, so they can go beyond my walls and master whatever music they choose.

Literacy and Expression

Teaching more than the music also means I want my students to understand the skills and concepts needed to perform a piece of music. For example, students should be able to identify the key signature and key center, the time signature, dynamic markings, articulation markings, and so on. To communicate the intent of the piece, students must have a working knowledge of the elements that make up the piece and should be able to perform, identify, and demonstrate their knowledge of the skills and expressive elements of a piece.

Composition

I’ve written on composition before, but another idea in teaching more than just the music is to have students create compositions based off of a piece they are performing. This can be as simple or elaborate as you like. In the past, I have had students compose four to eight measures in the particular key a piece was in to reinforce their knowledge of that key. Composition also exercises students rhythmic knowledge and notation skills as well as develops their creativity.

Another composition project example might be having students create a motif similar to the main theme of a piece you are working on. Furthermore, have students create a melody in major and then one in minor, if a piece you are working on presents a contrast between the two tonalities.

Set clear parameters and guidelines for students to follow and develop a rubric that is focused and helps students understand the expectations for the project. Composition projects are excellent ways to also give students a glimpse into what it’s like to create a piece of music – similar to what they are working on. 

Cultures, Styles, and History

Music can provide an incredible glimpse into cultures from around the world, styles, and historical eras and practices. When possible, I love to create resources providing my students with background information on the composers, time period, style, or cultural background of a particular piece of music we may be performing.

When performing a recent arrangement of a popular Puerto Rican melody, I taught my students about the charanga orquestas that were popular in the 20th century in Cuba and heard in Puerto Rico at the time. By teaching that piece I was able to share with my students parts of the rich musical culture of the charanga orquestas. I was able to dig deeper with the students than just the notes and rhythms and provide them with some context and background to the piece and also expose them to sounds they may not have heard before. Hopefully some of them fell in love with the music and went home and listened to more!

Conclusion

Beyond just the notes, rhythms, and final performance we all want our students to be well rounded, independent musical thinkers. We also want them to be life-long learners and lovers of music. What ways do you teach beyond just the music and what do you hope your students gain from working on a piece beyond just a successful performance?