Pre-Internship: Week 1

The first official day at school was one of the most interesting because Greg Bush, a clinician, was brought in from the University of Victoria to work with the kids (and others throughout the city). This was an amazing thing to see. First he worked with the senior jazz band. These students are by far the most dedicated musicians in the school. They are all involved in at least two groups and some are involved in as many as four (plus musical). They were very well disciplined and prepared for the clinic. They tuned before hand and were ready to take Greg’s advice and work with him.

The second group was a combination of the two concert bands. This resulted in a group that was too large for the band room, on a hot day with the furnaces still running, in a room with two very small windows at lunch time. In spite of this the students were excited for the change and the clinic and as a result many of them could not focus. However this was still very interesting to watch. The group settled down and Greg worked well with them. Because the two groups were combined the co-op and Greg found music that neither the students or the teachers had worked with before. The clinic was essentially a sight reading clinic with emphasis on general musical skills, and less attention to the particulars of the music itself.

The last group was the junior jazz band. This group was not well behaved. They did seem to like Greg, but there wasn’t a very high level of respect. They all spoke when he would tell stories and it wasn’t very polite. They were not prepared to work with Greg like the first group. They didn’t tune ahead of time and Greg needed to talk time out of the clinic to tune them (which took way too long because the kids were not paying attention). Although there was a lot of material to cover with this group and Greg gave them a lot to consider, I don’t think that they were really paying attention. Our co-op lectured them afterward and told them how embarrassed she was. This was unfortunate, but necessary.

The rest of the week was the only normal time. The three of us shared the time in front of the band. It was a little aggravating that we didn’t have more time with the bands, but as this was the week before the Optimist Band Festival it was understandable. My partner and I only really got to warm up the groups, but this was a nice (although not realistic) way to start things. We were given a lot of time to work with the drama class. I introduced them to narrative and their assignment for the next week: narrating and acting children’s stories. I also met my English co-op. I would be working with one of her grade 9 classes and I would be starting a new unit with them. She’s only been teaching for 3 years which worried me a little. But she seems to have things under control.

In this first week we also had the time to watch the elementary area junior bands rehearse. There are two groups (grade 6 and grades 7/8) and both have well over 60 students. They barely fit into the band room. They were crowded and had to share stands. I didn’t really know what to expect. When they were getting ready it seemed like it might be a bit of a gong show. But the teacher had great control over them. Most of the students seemed to be having a lot of fun and they were excited to be there. Both groups were rather well behaved. The only time either teacher had to speak sternly to them was about Optimist. She told them she had high expectations of them and reminded them of protocol. I was genuinely surprised at how well the kids worked for the teachers. The teachers were able to speak at a high level for students of that age about musical concepts. I’ve never worked with young kids in a music classroom, so I supposed I didn’t know what to expect, but I definitely didn’t expect for them to be talking about key signatures and transposing in grade 6. She had a great relationship with the kids.

For the same reasons as concert band we didn’t really get to work with the jazz bands this week. We did however sit in with them and play along. I played in the saxophone section and I think I did a good job of helping them out with jazz style and articulation. The teacher said the band sounded way better on and after those days, so I hope I did well in influencing them positively. There are several kids in the junior jazz band saxophone section who are new to band. Teaching them was an interesting experience because they are at the intellectual level of grade 9 students but at the musical level of grade 6 or 7 students. It was odd, but very easy to teach them because I didn’t have to talk down to them. They easily understood analogies.

The band classes run Monday through Thursday. On Friday the Choir had a combined rehearsal to prepare for Choral Festival. We had time to go watch the choir teacher work with the kids. She asked us to sit in, so I sang Alto. The students, some of whom we hadn't work with, were very accepting and helpful. They shared music and made room for us. I felt like I belonged. The music was very interesting to work with and it was great to watch another music teacher in action.

The first week I took notes about how the classrooms functioned, notes from Greg and how the teachers taught. One of the students asked me why and I told her I couldn’t possibly remember everything I saw. One day I would want or need to look back on the experience and I will be thankful for the notes I took.