comprehensive musicianship through performance
Questions, Questions, Questions! Rick Bjella, CMP Committee Member
T
Those who have attended a Comprehen- sive Musicianship Through Performance (CMP) workshop will recall time spent exploring “questioning” strategies, or drawing thoughts and ideas from the stu- dents through discussions that begin with and include many different types of ques- tions. Why did the composer choose to have you play quietly at letter M? Which articulation is best suited to this passage? What do we want the audience to take away from the performance?
As we find ourselves immersed in the fall semester, and we take time to reflect on this year’s beginnings, we can apply the questioning tactics to our own teaching. Here are some questions posed to reflect
on the choices we have made and will be making.
Do you know your kids?
If you are able to truly get a sense of where the kids are musically, emotionally and intellectually you are more likely to pick the best music for the students that can assist them in feeling fulfilled in the choral classroom. Find out what they are doing, what they are excelling in, where the challenges are in their personal life – show that you not only care but also truly love them.
Do you know your music?
Spend the score study time necessary. Find the best scores, composers for that
“…we can apply the questioning tactics to our own teaching.”
particular choir. Know your singers abilities very well and pick music that can challenge them without burying them. Understand that rhythms, languages and some unique harmonies can be taught to many groups, but a bad tessitura or a piece with significant range challenges will likely be unsatisfactory for all within the time frame of learning the repertoire. Can you surprise your choir on a daily basis? Do you know and love your scores so much that you find them inspiring to open and study on a daily basis and thus you find inspiring new ways to teach the score on many plans. Are you teaching to the visual, aural and kinesthetic learner? Are there certain kinds of repertoire or composers that you avoid because you are afraid that you can’t teach them well? Add one of these pieces every year!
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Do you know your school and your community? What is the ethnic makeup of the school or community? Are you honoring those cultures in your literature selection? Are you utilizing all of the wonderful teachers around you to enrich the students through their expertise (i.e. history teacher, a lan- guage consultant, a poet, a theatre guru)? Involve your parents, get their input and build a coalition of people that will sup- port and help you and your students grow in many ways beyond music.
Superscope Technologies · 1508 Batavia Avenue · Geneva , Illinois 60134-3302 · Phone 800.374.4118 · Fax 630.232.8905 ·
www.SuperscopeTechnologies.com
Richard Bjella is professor of music at Texas Tech University and a member of the Wisconsin CMP Committee. Email:
richard.bjella@
ttu.edu
30 September 2010
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