Year 8: Week 20 - Electives

Today in 8th grade band class, we watched this youtube video. . .

 

We had a great discussion about this videos.  The pointed out how the different music changed the mood and also brought different parts the scenes.  Then watched some other videos about film music. I had a great time with my kids, and it was one of my favorite band classes I’ve had this year, and we didn’t play a note on their instruments.

Today we started our elective units. Here’s the idea. For a couple weeks the kids will be able to select what they want to do during band class. After some discussion with the kids and getting their input, we landed with three groups: chamber music, music tech, and film music.

The chamber group kids were given a bunch of music and they rehearsed. The music tech kids worked with another teacher and did some things with related to music recording and technology. The film music group was with me. We watched some examples of film music in, and discussed different ways film music is utilized by filmmakers.

Two of these three groups didn't play their instruments, but isn’t this a band class?

Here’s the thing. Band and choir are curricular groups at my school. For music class, students choose between band or choir. This means that we have some students who aren’t that into singing or playing  in these ensembles. This is a very different situation than students who do band as an elective at the middle school level and come to school early, or come in during lunch to rehearse.

This is our reality, and this set-up means that all students in our middle school have a significant musical experience. Knowing that there are students who are not as into the performance aspect of band and choir has led me to this unit.

This is a tricky thing, because we don’t have a lot class time, and it’s vital that we keep our skill building up as a band. However, some of our kids needs another experience in music to explore their own interests, and find themselves in band class. Like my younger students, I suspect that more creative experiences will actually make them be more productive when its time to learn music. There’s an unspoken exchange that happens, where the more creative time I give my students, the more they are willing to go with me in the traditional band setting.

Overall, the vibe was good, and the students had a good experience. I told my students that this is an experiment, and that this is an opportunity to make choices to make music class personally meaningful.

Today, took advantage of this situation and made great choices