C.J TE Day 1
This was the first day that I worked one on one with the 8th grade orchestra students at CJMS. Kira and I took the violin I's into a practice room and worked with them for the entire class period. After my first observation, I was not worried about managing a group of these students. Their classroom teacher has done a great job of teaching them to be respectful, active listeners. It took a lot of prompting to get them to start talking with me. I am not sure if this is because is was early morning or because they were scared to talk. Kira taught her rhythm and the students were very responsive. I think she taught the rhythm differently than the classroom teacher, because the students took several tries to pick up on it. These students seemed to have fairly comprable abilities, with the exception of maybe one student who took private lessons. I learned the names of all of the violin I's, who were all boys except for one.
I was nervous to delve into the music since I do not play the violin, or any of the instruments in this string orchestra. I had a semester of techniques, which I honestly do not feel prepared me to work in depth with a violin section. It was great to be teaching with Kira, because she knows the violin like the back of her hand. I was able to help the violins with their intonation. I may not be able to play the violin, but I could sing to the students and play the piano, which seemed to help them just as much as Kira showing them fingerings. We helped them through a few difficult sections of music, and when we asked them which piece they were having the most trouble with, they pulled out an orchestral work from the opera, "Carmen". I instantly knew the piece, which helped me help them. I was able to tell them what was going on in the opera at the point when this piece is played and helped them with the mood of the piece. Since I knew it so well, I could sing it for them. This was very encouraging to me, because even though I know very little about the violin, I was completely comfortable teaching them a song I knew. If I am ever an orchestra teacher, I will obviously know the songs I am teaching. I now feel much more comfortable with the possibility of teaching orchestra, since I know I won't totally crash and burn!
Very inspiring! You are correct that a mere semester of techniques class doesn't prepare you enough to teach orchestra, but it is a first step. Hopefully this class is a second step (which is sounds like it is). The more comfortable you become with teaching in general, the more agile you will become at teaching in areas away from your specialty. This takes time and experience. If you do find yourself teaching orchestra or band, I would highly recommend that you get involved in a community group or take some lessons. You may be teaching students that are beyond your ability, but your main task is to just guide them.
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