orchestra
where each orchestra performs a 30-min- ute set of pop music. That music is started the first week of school, and after about two weeks, we only work on it on Fridays. For the all school Holiday Concert the orchestras combine to play contemporary music, often a TranSiberian Orchestra piece, which gets the crowd fired up and the orchestra students feeling good about themselves.
It is important to realize, especially at the high school level, that not all of the stu- dents are in orchestra for the same reason. The same is true of my summer volleyball team. People show up each week with a different purpose: exercise, fun, winning or the camaraderie. Students in orchestra are the same way. A few of the students may be considering continuing on in mu- sic, but the majority of them will be music appreciators. It is important to recognize these different goals, and try to make it interesting for everyone. Last semester the upper orchestra played Beethoven’s “Egmont Overture.” We made it interest-
“Human beings need to feel success to enjoy what they are doing.”
ing by talking about Beethoven and his difficult personality, how he scratched out the original title and then talked about the emotions in the music. There were days students wanted to play the “Egmont” more than pop music.
Most importantly, it is critical to recognize each student as an individual and show you accept and care about them. We have a very broad “type” of student in Chippewa. It ranges from ED students, to athletes – including hockey, football and wrestlers, to students who work on their cars during lunch, to 4.0 students and students who began playing before kindergarten. Other teachers have commented that they always
thought of orchestra students as the high- est achieving students in the school, but when they see us play, they realize we are not “normal.” Making connections with students is achieved by asking at the beginning of their lesson to share one thing in their life that is new. At the end of work- sheets there are often questions that have nothing to do with music, such as “What was the best present you gave someone for Christmas?” In class we talk about things that are going on in their world. At the be- ginning of ninth grade, we talk daily about high school survival. In 10th
grade driving
is a huge topic. In the upper orchestra we talk about non-music major scholarships and life after high school. I try to attend events they participate in outside of the classroom. As someone once told me, “They don’t care how much you know until they know you care.”
Molly Malone Nordin teaches orchestra in Chippewa Falls. Email:
nordinmm@chipfalls.org
Wisconsin School Musician
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