Yesterday the 19th of November, my string students performed at our third PTSA meeting. We have a new prinicpal at Thomasville Heights Elementary and he is very supportive of the music program at the school. Unlike most of the adminstrators I have worked with, he seems truly interested in arts program in his schools and sees us an important aid to the developement of the students and how we can reach our targets. These are first year 4th grade string students. We played with the bow yesterday for the that program. The first two times we used pizzicato.
Which brings me to today's lesson: November 2o,2009. Now that I am taking this class on Saturdays, I have become more aware of what I am doing and procedure. I am becoming conscious of deadlines , timelines, and details. The students this year vary in their abiliy and locals. The students at Thomasville are very talkative which mean more stricter discipline and consequences from me to get my point across. My other schools are more structured and disciplined. Although time restrictions are a problem, my students are learning very well and are commanding good control of the instruments( posture, intonation, bowing etc). I am beginning to teach note reading and rhythms through the program pieces more than the lesson book. The general music teacher as help unwittingly by teaching notes and rhythms and I can easily transfer some of what he has taught to my lesson.