1. Routine: Eliminating the Guesswork
A predictable daily flow creates psychological safety and allows students to focus entirely on music. In my middle school band class, every single day ran the exact same way, removing the need for daily announcements or micromanagement.
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The Daily Flow: Instrument out - Write counts for rhythm exercise - Student-led warm-ups - Teacher-led rehearsal.
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The Benefit: Clear expectations mean no time is wasted. Students know what's next, allowing a non-music substitute to supervise easily—the students simply lead the first half of class where we left off.
2. Repetition: The Path to Mastery
Consistency is key to skill acquisition. We repeated the daily routine, scales, and warm-ups every day, adjusting the focus only slightly based on the class’s current needs and skill mastery. This daily dose of deliberate practice is what translates notes on a page into confident music-making.
3. Responsibilities: Building Leaders
This is where the magic happens. After initially modeling the warm-up routine, I implemented a rotating roster for student leaders. Every student, eventually, had the opportunity to lead the class through:
- Counting and performing the assigned daily rhythm.
- Articulation exercises.
- Daily scales or tetrachords.
The Leader’s Toolkit: By taking charge, students learn essential life skills: how to start and stop a group, how to listen critically to the ensemble, and how to think on their feet to keep the rehearsal moving. A fantastic side benefit: I was free to complete administrative duties like attendance and quick emails while the students prepared the ensemble for the main rehearsal.
- Our warm-ups were not arbitrary; they were anchors that connected us to past lessons. Reflection was built into the daily rhythm:
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Interconnected Exercises: The rhythm of the day mirrored material covered the previous day. New notes or scales learned that week immediately entered the warm-up sequence.
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Curiosity and Inquiry: We constantly asked questions, even those that seemed "obvious," pushing students to think critically about musical elements like time signatures or dynamic markings—elements often revolutionary to a young learner.
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Listening Like Leaders: We regularly recorded performances and listened back with the specific intent of analyzing "the good and the can be better." This cultivates musicality and builds better listeners who are invested in the ensemble's success.
We use music as our tool to build better people. By giving students the routine, repetition, and responsibility to run their own class, we build confidence, critical thinking, and a deeper investment in the art form.
Jessica Holtzscher
Manager
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