About Me

My photo
I am a rising senior at Vanderbilt University majoring in "Music, Language, and Culture." I am a guitar teacher of three years at W.O. Smith and have been heavily involved in music since the age of six. I play the piano, violin, guitar, sing, write songs, arrange, and compose. I have participated in youth symphonies, touring high school symphonies, chamber groups, quartets, A Capella groups, and summer music conservatories. It's an honor to be a part of W.O. Smith!

7/5/11

Class 4 Reflection

This marks the completion of the fourth Basics of Music Creation class. This class was a major setback. Even though I vowed to give the students less homework, I have still not pared down the assignments enough. None of the students did their homework. However, this could have also been due to the fast that this past weekend was the 4th of July. Most of the students' families did not have to work on Monday. The long weekend and the festivities of the holiday could have distracted them from completing their work. I realize that this activity is very different from what the students are used to doing over the summer. Most of the students normally go to a "center" or a day camp where work is not a priority. I need to be clearer that this is not a summer camp, but a class. Better articulating my expectations would be helpful. I spent most of the class teaching them the lesson again and supervising the completion of homework. I scheduled a make up class for the following day and personally told the parents that this class was being held because none of the students did their homework. Here is the lesson plan for class 4:


Class 4 Plan

Previous Assignment

Each student was to have completed the following assignment in addition to completing the packet’s written homework:
1)    Keep up with your idea journal. Record at least three new ideas before next class!
2)    Know how to construct each of the chords we learned from any key. You will be quizzed in front of the class.
·      diminished triad: minor 3rd on bottom, minor 3rd on top
·      minor triad: minor 3rd on bottom, Major 3rd on top
·      Major triad: Major 3rd on bottom, minor 3rd on top
·      Augmented triad: Major 3rd on bottom, Major 3rd on top
·      Major 7th chord: Major triad and a Major 7th at the same time (four notes)
3)    Write a new composition/song/piece. Here are the guidelines:
·      You must have a melody in the right hand, and chords in the left hand.
·      You must use one of all of the types of chords we learned, and each one must start on a different note.
·      Make it in C major or a minor. This means that you will use accidentals.
·      Use professional, correct notation. Other people should be able to read what you wrote. Pick a title, pick a tempo, and add a copyright mark at the bottom.
·      Label fingerings in the right hand.
·      Practice your piece and be able to play it perfectly in class.
Bonus: Now that you have written a new composition/song/piece, try to play it in a different key. If your piece was in C major, try playing it in G major or F major. If your piece was in a minor, try playing it in e minor or d minor. Start by playing the chords in the new key. The relationship between notes will be the same (intervals), but the notes you start on will be different. Write out this new way to play your piece.

Lesson Plan

·      Make copies of all new and revised compositions, and all arrangements of radio songs. Hand out to students while students warm up and review materials.
·      Have students play new compositions/songs in front of class. Discuss.
·      Have students play revised compositions/songs in front of class. Discuss.
·      Have students play arrangements in front of the class. Discuss
·      Discuss idea journal. Read ideas aloud. Have students pick at least one idea from someone else and write it down in their idea journal. Encourage them to borrow ideas from people, and to give those people credit.
·      Homework check. Brief concept check. Students who understand concepts well help students who do not understand concepts well.
·      Chord games. Use the small dry erase boards and the large dry erase board. Use flash cards. Have students draw a certain chord and play it on the piano. Race to see who can do it correctly the fastest.
·      Ear training: play a chord on the piano. Ask the students to put on their headphones, figure out how to play the chord, write it down on their individual dry erase board, and indicate the key it is in. See who can do it the fastest.
·      New lesson: Chord inversions. New assignment pack handed out.
·      Be sure to explain figured bass and pop inversion notation in class. If you do not explain this, the students will not understand it and they will be lost.
·      Assignment read aloud by students in class and discussed.
Extra time: play a four bar melody on the piano. Ask students to put on their headphones, figure out how to play the melody in the right hand, and write it down on staff paper. Direct students to add chords in the left hand. Ask each student to play their final product. This is a chance to explain the standard four bar phrase.

Assignment

Each student is to complete the following assignment in addition to completing the packet’s written homework:
1)    Keep up with your idea journal. Write three new ideas for songs.
2)    Do the packet. Call if you don’t understand something. Cayla’s number is xxx-xxx-xxxx.
3)    Write a new composition/song/piece. Here are the guidelines:
o   Pick either GROUP 1 or GROUP 2 from the previous page.
o   Write the chord progression in the bass clef.
o   Label the chords above and below the clef, just like on the previous page. 
o   Write a melody in the treble clef.
o   Label the fingerings in the right hand.
o   Practice your new piece.
o   Write the transposition of your piece in F and in G on the same sheet of paper.
4)    Bonus: Come up with a new group of chords using the chords listed on the “Chords in C” page. To write a new composition using this new group of chords, follow steps 2 through 7 above.