Preparing and Planning
Introduction to the Series of Lessons
The students participating in this project volunteered to spend after-school hours in order to complete this project. Thus, this group isn’t a class that meets during the day, rather just a few students who feel comfortable with challenging themselves.
In terms of prior knowledge, I made assumptions on what they knew based on their ensemble placement in the band program. Given the fact that all three students are sophomores or older, are in Wind Ensemble (top group), and are in the program’s top jazz ensemble (Jazz Band I), I was able to tailor my lesson plans to fit the needs and expectations of upper level high school students. I also had interactions with each of these students after school and was able to gather information on their musicality, technical proficiency, and ability to process and learn new information.
The final product of these lessons will be a recording of an instrumental cover of Feel it Still by “Portugal. The Man”. Leading up to the recording, the group will have short lessons on ear training, transcribing, and arranging. These ideas are part of the learning goals of the lessons, in addition to learning about the process of recording through performance.
This project will allow students to engage in assessing, performing, and creating music. Students will assess themselves and others who have engaged in similar projects in order to fuel their own ideas and curiosities. Through performance, both individually and as a group, students will be encouraged to record their best playing in order to ensure a quality product. The final product is a result of the students creating music through the ideas they gathered from the previous lessons. Furthermore, the crux of the recording portion of the project is the reliance on student-led decisions as opposed to a teacher-led decisions.
In terms of prior knowledge, I made assumptions on what they knew based on their ensemble placement in the band program. Given the fact that all three students are sophomores or older, are in Wind Ensemble (top group), and are in the program’s top jazz ensemble (Jazz Band I), I was able to tailor my lesson plans to fit the needs and expectations of upper level high school students. I also had interactions with each of these students after school and was able to gather information on their musicality, technical proficiency, and ability to process and learn new information.
The final product of these lessons will be a recording of an instrumental cover of Feel it Still by “Portugal. The Man”. Leading up to the recording, the group will have short lessons on ear training, transcribing, and arranging. These ideas are part of the learning goals of the lessons, in addition to learning about the process of recording through performance.
This project will allow students to engage in assessing, performing, and creating music. Students will assess themselves and others who have engaged in similar projects in order to fuel their own ideas and curiosities. Through performance, both individually and as a group, students will be encouraged to record their best playing in order to ensure a quality product. The final product is a result of the students creating music through the ideas they gathered from the previous lessons. Furthermore, the crux of the recording portion of the project is the reliance on student-led decisions as opposed to a teacher-led decisions.