Mr. B's Blog

The conference featured a special clinic focused on teaching music to autistic students.  The first part of the clinic explained the definition of autism and the fact that 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with this disorder.  We went through what the average autistic student undergoes during a typical day: speech and language deficits, perceptual difficulties, problems in relating/socializing, and bizarre motility patterns.  With these factors in mind, we learned about how music instruction can be altered to meet the needs of these students. When teaching a song vocally, the clinician pointed out that it is important to always have the students keep a steady beat.  This can happen by playing a drum or lightly tapping knees.  Through informal guidance, a child can be guided into audiation (thinking of the music in the head).  It is important for the teacher to model everything that is expected for the student to do.  Repetition is key!  The student must always be prompted through verbal,...

Did you know that most pop music has a four beat pattern where the snare drum usually accents beats two and four? Example: "Get a Grip" by Aerosmith! At 8:00 am I attended what I consider my favorite clinic thus far at the MENC All-Eastern Music Educators Conference. Titled "From Simple to Complex: Leading the Listener to Learning," clinician Mathew F. Finnegan gave great examples of how popular music can be used in the classroom to teach music theory. The idea is this: teaching music theory through the old school fashion of notes on a page and through classical music does not work in today's classroom. In order to create the motivation for students to want to learn theory, we need to reach out and use the music which relates to them the most and connect it with the content we want to teach them. I found this clinic to be very inspiring. Here we just focused on the beat, but this clinician has already established how to incorporate pop music with the teach...

While at the conference, I attended a clinic focussing strictly on the clarinet.  I learned some pretty cool tricks to help young clarinetists sound great.  I learned that elementary and middle school clarinet players tend to lean their right elbow on their thighs which is not good.  Additionally, they usually have their chins pointed down which cuts off the amount of air they can get through the instrument.  The clinician gave a great idea for explaining just how much breath is needed for good air support in clarinet playing.  She told us to tell the students that they need to pretend they are 100 years old and that they need to be able to take a deep enough breath to blow out 100 candles.   A question I asked was how to handle clarinet playing with students who have braces.  When playing a clarinet, the lower lip should curl in over the lower teeth, but if you have braces in the way, what do you do?  The clinician was stumped! Someone in the audience told us all her method, which was...

Just in case we ever get a new or renovated high school (I might be dreaming), I wanted to be prepared for helping input the best design possible for a new band and chorus room.  I ended up attending a clinic by the Wenger group.  Wenger is the company that made the acoustic shells on our high school auditorium stage along with the two "soundproof" practice rooms that were installed back in the 1960's.  The company is now the standard company used in the United States for music room design. I learned many things at this clinic.  Firstly, I learned that most bands and choruses have their own rehearsal rooms, practice rooms, and offices.  We spent a long time focusing on where sound goes after it leaves the instrument.  Our music room has a ceiling that needs to be at least four feet higher.  Additionally all the equipment in the room cuts down on reverberation.  It is suggested that any closets or storage areas in a band room have open grilled doors so that air and sound c...

Yesterday morning I watched and heard the coolest thing ever!...a high school steel drum band.  The Greenville High School Steel Drum Band from Greenville, Pennsylvania had 36 members in it.  The band was comprised of the lead, double second, guitar, four-cello, and bass steel drums along with drum-set and aux. percussion.  They performed seven pieces, one being "Pan in A Minor" by Lord Kitchener Roberts. This piece was very intense and is a song that is often played in a pan drum competition.  The group also performed an arrangement of the "Carmen Suite," by Georges Bizet.  It was fantastic to hear classical music performed so well on steel drums.  The group ended with a crazy and fun piece known as "Santana," by Fernando Filazola.  

A picture of myself and the UMass Lowell contingency who went to my clinic. After the issues I had with my car just two hours earlier, my stress level was high.  As I entered the top floor of the Rhode Island Convention Center, my professors from UMass Lowell greeted me and we got to spend a few minutes just chilling and reflecting on my trip into Rhode Island. My clinic went great!  It was an hour long and featured information for upcoming first-year music teachers.  Everytime I experienced something that I did not know during my first six months at Pentucket, I would e-mail myself those details so that I could include them on my powerpoint.  I included topics such as cori checks, exciting students, using technology to your advantage, interview tips, starting new things while respecting traditions, and working with students who have I.E.P.'s.  There seemed to be a lot of people at the clinic and I was happy that they had questions to ask at the end of the presentation.  I think th...

Yesterday morning we had the high school musical previews for the middle school students.  I conducted the pit band.  They sound great and Jonathan Brenner was a great help coming in this week to take over conducting as I venture to the All-Eastern Music Educators Conference. I went into my car after the preview and started driving down Route 95.  I was near the Danvers exit at which point my back right tire suddenly began to wobble.  I immediately pulled over to check and see if my tire was flat.  It was not!  I decided to keep driving.  The car kept swirving to the right side of the highway and I was losing control of the vehicle.  I went off the next exit and made it to an Enterprise car rental dealer.  I ended up renting a 2008 Kia Spectra.  I was so thankful as my presentation at the MENC convention was only two from that time in Providence, RI.   I am here now and am thankful that my car did not fully collapse on the highway!