Blog Prompt #3

- Should music educators be experts in jazz or American folk music?

I believe that all music educators should be experts in jazz and American folk music. While I think that music educators should be experts or at least very knowledgable in all styles of music, it is quite a lot to ask of someone to reach that level. Even just becoming an expert in one of these is a gigantic task. Regardless, I think it's important.

Jazz and American folk music are essential genres for every music student to experience in the classroom because they are both great styles of music. More than that, they are American. As such, it behooves us to be experts to allow are students to experience them fully.

Jazz is an art form that is concerned most with creation and improvisation. This is critical to any creative pursuit. This is how we create beauty as humans.

American folk music is where we come from musically. It's important to know and understand it because it still shapes the way we make music today.

- What American songs should all students know?

This list could go on forever. There are so many lists I could follow, but I will keep my list to 10 songs for simplicity. This list is not exhaustive, but I feel that these 10 songs are the ones that students should be most familiar with when concerning American songs. There is no particular order, but I feel that most American musical creations can be experienced through these songs.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Blowin' in the Wind

The Star-Spangled Banner

I Got Rhythm

Hound Dog

My Girl

Rapper's Delight

Sing, Sing, Sing

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Take Five

Teaching trumpet?

I have never played trumpet or any wind-reliant instrument. That's why when I was assigned to teach an example 5 minute trumpet lesson I was at a total loss. I scoured the Internet for resources and asked friends that played what I should do. It was overwhelming. It was supposed to be only a 5 minute lesson, but it was just too much for me.

How could I teach something that I have no idea how to do?

After a while I decided to just jump in and do what I could.

...

So it went well. We didn't have nearly enough time to create sounds. I was trying to rush through to get to the actual sound making because I feel that it's important to get beginners creating music as quickly as possible.

I tried to talk as little as possible to listen to what the student was saying. I felt that the student understand what we were planning to accomplish in the lesson. He was ehtusiastic and knew a lot about the trumpet already.

We were only able to take the trumpet out and learn how to hold it. We also covered how to control the valves. I was hoping to get to blowing through the mouthpiece, putting the trumpet together, and making actual notes. None of that happened.

I've never had an experience like this when I was in primary and secondary school, so I do not have an experience to compare this to. I was teaching what I thought would be the very first lesson and although I felt that I rushed, I still stuck to what I wanted to cover.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought. I was worried about my lack of knowledge, but it wasn't a problem at all. It went by quickly and it was actually fun to try and help a beginner through it.

I've always wanted to learn how to play trumpet. Maybe this is the motivation to get me to take the leap. It would only help me to know the basics of as many instruments as possible.

Blog Prompt #2

Reading an article by a professor recently, "Creating Musical Flexibility Through the Ensemble" by Brandt Schneider, has left me inspired. The type of music program presented in the article is something quite amazing to strive for. In my own school, it would be quite difficult, as I feel I've only been able to really teach music this year. We don't have the commonly found band instruments like trumpet or clarinet. We have ukuleles. 

Ukuleles are amazing little things. They are limited, but I love them and the kids love them. We've been able to do a lot, but we are still a ways off from achieving true musicianship. 

I loved the narrative presented here about taking musicians from this place of just getting by and playing what's on the page to truly experiencing all that can be done. I agreed with every point on discipline, technique, theory, and composition. They are things that should always be included in a music education. I appreciated the list provided as well on how it was done.

It starts with a problem and presents a perfect solution. I will definitely be using these ideas in my classroom. Ultimately it will help me create good musicians. How will I know when I have created good musicians?

In a nutshell, I'll know if they can do what the kids in this article could do.

Beyond that I believe good musicians can be caught always learning and always challenging themselves to improve. Even if the scale practice assigned is giving you trouble, in my eyes you're a good musician for not giving up on your craft.

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog. I'm Abraham Deshotel, a father, teacher, volunteer firefighter, runner, musician, gamer, and recently co-pastor. I'm 28 years old, have 3 children, and have been married for 11 years. I'm in my fifth year teaching music at a small middle school in the south end of Bridgeport. Although I graduated from the Univerity of Bridgeport in 2010, I'm in my first year of completing my Music Education degree at the same school.

For one of my classes, our first assignment was to read Peter Boonshaft's Teaching Music with Purpose. It's an amazing book that I'd recommend all music teachers read. It's a book with so many important bits of information about how to be an effective teacher. It doesn't exactly follow a plot. Instead every chapter is filled with anecdotes concerning every situation imaginable in the life of a music teacher. As a percussionist, I was especially impressed by the chapter dedicated to percussionists.

In a nutshell, it's a snapshot of the values that are most important to being a teacher that every child deserves. It's about shifting your perspective and trying to become the type of teacher that can leave a lasting, positive impression on students. Every chapter resonated with me. 

As a teacher, I believe that every child should receive a good music education. Every other subject is important, but to me music is simply the best. I believe that music should be fun and emotional, not intellectual and repetitive. As a human, I believe that we are all part of one family and deserve the same treatment. Music is too often left on the side or only pursued for the sake of something else. I think that music is meant to be played, enjoyed, and experienced purely for the sake of music. It's what makes us human.

For teaching, at my core, I believe that music should be fun and should include everyone. While I believe that performance is an important part of the development of a child, more than that I think that music should be performed for oneself. My favorite chapter in Boonshaft's book was concerning this. Sure, rehearsal might be the time that musicians traditionally slack off. But how much better is it to perform to the best of your abilities just for yourself with no pressure from the eyes of an audience but your peers!