Student Teaching Day 4

My Day

-Today I observed the orchestra rehearsal, and I was surprised to see how much of my band knowledge transferred easily over to orchestra!  We had a brass class because the concert band was split into two groups.  This was a lot of fun for me as a woodwind player, to really be immersed to understand how the brass players play.  I worked with the Wind Ensemble next.  This was my first time conducting the Wind Ensemble, which is the top band, and it was incredible!  I conducted through An American Elegy by Frank Ticheli and it was one of the best moments of my life.  The students played beautifully and I loved the rush of it.  Teaching and conducting a band is exactly where I am supposed to be!

Instrument techniques

-Brass

            -Warm up: lip slurs, air first, relax, yawn, open throat

            -A lot of buzzing

            -Trombone tonguing: Light tongue, slur

-Technique: sit up, valves up and down, 1 right way (not at an angle because it will damage the vertical valve)

-“Don’t hold your baritone in the taco positions.”

General Instruction

-Band

-Tuning: if your wrong, STOP-FIX-START, don’t bend around or continue to play wrong

Quotes and Other Random Happenings

-“Don’t hold your baritone in the taco positions.”

            -The students totally get this analogy!