"Hi, I'm Chris, I called about observing Ms Labrie" I said to a secretary who had known me by name the 4 years I spent at ELHS
"What are you here for?"
"Well, as I said on the phone, I'm here to observe the music classes"
"Oh, well.... we thought you were a student teacher, we probably shouldn't let you in..."
I was more than a little surprised and perturbed
"But Beth contacted you and said I would be coming, I'm not here to cause trouble, in fact I've gone out of my way to go through the proper channels to make sure you knew I was coming and that we wouldn't run into a situation like this"
Another secretary comes wandering by, informs secretary #1 that Ms Labrie just called her and told her that I was coming and to let me in, they are still very wary but end up letting me through.
I understand the need to protect our children, but seriously, is that necessary? Half the teachers in the school now me by first name, all of the assistant principles do. I was a student in the school for 4 years, I did very well academically, and was involved in over a dozen extra-curriculars. I took the time to email the teacher I was going to see, as well as call the office 3 times to confirm that there wouldn't be any problems, and yet I am stopped because they assume I am a student teacher when I do nothing to imply that. I am a MUSIC EDUCATION STUDENT! I am a future music educator, wishing to converse and watch a professional music educator at work! Why does it have to be so difficult for me to try to better myself professionally? You'd think future teachers would be ENCOURAGED to observe veteran teachers in the field and learn from them, but apparently its all too likely that a pedophile trying to sneak into a school and lure away some 14 year olds or a gun toting maniac will call the office 3 times, have a teacher call the office twice and email the office, all to let him in the doors.
Anyway, once I got in it was really quite a nice visit, I saw several of my old teachers in the hallway and 2 of the assistant principles and none of them treated me as though I was a dangerous risk to school security. I observed the unauditioned choir and the Honors Music Performance class, and had a nice talk with Ms Labrie about college, teaching, financial aid, my future plans, and the good old days. I gained some perspective on the scheduling issue, which is so often a huge complaint of music teachers, because for her it has worked out to her favor no matter what, and the administration has always worked around her. Seeing that block scheduling isn't always terrible was definitely encouraging.
While I was there I browsed through her copies of Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir volume 1 and volume 2. These are really fantastic resources! The books start out with several essays from some of the big names in choral music and music education, such as Jerry Blackstone, Weston Noble, James Jordan, and Anton Armstrong, along with many others. The second section is where the books really shine though. Here the Books define a set of criteria for determining the difficulty of choral music for an average high school choir, on a 1-5 scale. Each book then presents 100 pieces of exceptional literature selected by choral experts in all 5 levels. The book states that the average high school choir should be able to handle pieces of difficulty level 3 or lower without much problem, and that level 5 should provide a challenge even to advanced ensembles. The books also come with recordings of professional caliber choirs performing selections from the literature presented in the book. Each piece is presented with a detailed description of the composer, the context of the piece historically, a musical analysis, and the rehearsal challenges it is likely to provide. These books essentially give you the framework to teach the entire piece, while still leaving enough room for you to form your own interpretation. When I can afford it, both volumes of these books will be in my library along with the recordings. (It is interesting to note that books in this series are also made for band, orchestra, and jazz ensemble)
After the last bell rang I grabbed lunch and saw my good friend Tiffy, whom I miss very much and hope to see again before I go to college forever, and then came back to the school for more.
This time I was joining in at the Speech and Debate rehearsal. I love Speech so much. I joined my high school speech team my junior year, and competed in Humorous Interp (HI) and Duo Interp. That first year I never placed above 5th but I always had a blast and learned a lot. If anything, it did wonders for my stage presence, audition skills and nerve issues. My senior year, I put a lot of effort into Speech and it payed off in a big way. I have several first place ribbons and trophies from my Duo and Ensemble pieces, as well as high rankings from my HI. At the national qualifying meet I learned a Dramatic Interp piece 3 days before the meet so I could double enter in DI and Duo. I qualified for nationals with both pieces. While I really enjoyed my DI piece, I could never deny my partner, Megan, the chance to go to the national competition, so since I could only choose one event to go to nationals with, I picked Duo. That summer I competed in Texas with the best Interpreters in the country. It was an experience I will never forget. Speech does so much for its participants, it helps you to open up to people in a way that isn't possible in a lot of other mediums. In a lot of ways I open up more in speech than I do with music, because I know it won't be judged as harshly. I've been able to transfer a lot of the skills I gained in Speech into my musical performance and I consider myself a better musician and teacher for having those experiences.
In a similar fashion, I am able to transfer the skills I learn in music to my Speech presentations. Focus on posture, breath support, volume and pitch control, steady tempo, phrasing, and diction all transfer directly into Speech. These were the things I was able to bring to the table to help the EL Speech team with tonight. I listened to piece after piece, (staying for a total of 3 hours during a 2 hour practice) and spent at least 10-20 minutes with each Interper going over areas of strength and areas for improvement, and working on posture, engaging the audience, using their full range of dynamics and pitch, and utilizing effective pauses. One of the big things I focused on was something I've pulled from my girlfriend Brinee Martin, that in public performance of any type, every action must be a conscious decision. This means that every single thing you do (or don't do) must have an explanation, motivation and justification. For example, one of the girls cocked her hip to the side during her whole poem. This was somewhat distracting, but in some ways added to the character of the piece (a rebellious teenage political activist). When I asked her why she was standing that way, she didn't know how she was standing. We ended up deciding that the cocked hip wasn't the best position, but I feel that even if she wanted to continue standing that way, her performance would benefit from the motivation of knowing her stance is part of a characterization and not just the way she happened to be standing.
I found myself also focusing a lot on "energy". By energy I mean the area of maximum interest on a performer. With the above girl, it was the hip, because her entire body was pointing to it and she was tensing up to that point. Her face was quite engaging, but I had to make a conscious effort to notice it because my eyes were drawn to her hip. With a guy in the Ensemble group, his rounded shoulders and slouched head just made all the energy in his presentation flow away from him. I found it hard to look at him at all because his posture made me want to look anywhere BUT at him. Working with each performer about where they wanted to put their energy at any given point in the piece and why, and when it was okay to shift that energy to a new spot, was really fun. It was easy for them to see that the energy should by default go to the face, and that the more you break eye contact, the less the energy stays there. Experiences like this really help me to see that most students really have an innate understanding of what performance entails, and they just need someone to tell them that they are right. When I work with peers on music theory, I find they almost always know the right answers, but they are hesitant to write them until I tell them that they are right. It seems like if teachers spent more time encouraging their students that they are smart and capable and can accomplish whatever they set their minds to, there would be less time spent teaching and more time spent learning on both ends.
At the end of the practice, Mrs Deveau, the coach, encouraged me to judge another upcoming Speech meet. I judged Speech for the first time a few months ago and it was an incredible experience. Seeing the activity from the other side really does add a new perspective. Between the positive experience I had in high school, the great time I had judging, and this fantastic night I spent coaching, I'm sure that I really do want to spend time coaching Speech later in my life. I hope I get the opportunity to work at a school where I can be of service to the Speech team, and I also hope to get the chance to judge again soon.
After the Meet I came home, watched a video of an excellent choir from Connecticut, bought my books for my classes next semester and worked out my budget. I'm actually doing better financially than I thought I was, and the budget is definitely helping me with that. I hope to get through security to observe my old choir director again tomorrow, and maybe catch up with some other teachers who made a real impact on me. Finding the motivation to practice is hard, but I will try my best to prepare for a few hours tomorrow at least. Until next time, thanks for reading, sleep well.
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