Music 344 Anasazi Rehearsal Lesson

 

Goal:

• To receive a better musical understanding of music repertoire, in this case Anasazi.
• To learn phrasing and how it is used in melodic ideas.
• To concentrate on the technical problem of fingerings.
• To learn how to blend in an ensemble setting and listen for instrumental entrances.
• To listen for intonation and to be able to hear when pitches are out of tune.

 

Objectives:

• The students will warm-up on a concert Bb scale then alter the concert Bb scale by inserting a concert E instead of a concert Eb.
• The students will perform from measure 3 to 10 and focusing on phrasing.
• The students will perform from measure 35 to 38 focusing on the technical problem of fingerings.
• The students will perform from measure 43 to 52 focusing on blending, intonation, and instrumental entrances.
• The students will be provided reinforcement, models of concepts, and involvement through questions.

 

Materials:

• The teacher will need the Anasazi by John Edmondson conductor score.
• The teacher will need to assign and provide music for three percussion players for the parts of bells (Ross Cohen), snare drum (Katie Hileman), and tambourine (E. Homan).
• Students will only need their instruments and their Anasazi music.

 

Prerequisite Knowledge:

• The students need to understand how to facilitate their instrument enough to provide a tone. Therefore they need to understand how to put the instrument together, understand fingerings of the concert Bb scale, and how to produce those sounds.
• The students need to understand the basic posture, tone production, and breathing techniques.
• The students need to understand how to play a concert Bb scale.
• The students need to understand how to read basic notation. Therefore they need to be able to read pitches, basic rhythms, and basic dynamic markings.
• The students need to understand the basic elements of ensemble playing like for example basic concepts of phrasing and blending.

 

Procedures:

• Warm up the ensemble by asking the students to play the concert Bb scale using half notes. Make sure to reinforce basic posture, tone production, and by modeling breathing techniques. Concentrate on intonation and correct any problems if they occur. Have the students play the concert Bb scale using half notes once again, but this time alter the scale by inserting a concert E instead of a concert Eb therefore implicitly reinforcing the scale motion used in Anasazi. Concentrate on intonation and correct any problems if they occur.
• Involve the students by asking them questions about the phrasing. For example, ask the students what the function of beat four measure 3 is and tell them you want the answer after they play. Then Have the students perform measure 3 to measure 10. Again ask the students what the function of beat four measure 3 is. The answer in this case is that it leads into the next measure. Provide the students with enough verbal and modeling examples as needed. Make sure to incorporate that the students should sing the piece in their head as they play. Answer any questions the students might have about the section. Then have students perform the section again before moving on.
• Have the students perform measure 35 to 38. Concentrate on the technical problem of fingerings in this particular section. Reinforce the reason for playing the warm-up; stating the warm-up was the scale motion used here in the piece. Also listen for pitch placement, expression, rhythms, and intonation. If you notice something could be played differently, prompt the students to play the measures different with the correct fingering, pitches, rhythms, and intonation. If there is room for improvement, ask students what they think should be different and have them demonstrate. Provide feedback and models if necessary. Then have students perform the section again and lead into measure 43 to 53, the next point of discussion.
• The next section measure 43 to 53, focus the students on the concept of blending and instrumental entrances. Ask the students to listen for who has the two-bar phrase and tell them to make sure not to overplay covering the melody. Involve the students with other questions and provide answers on pitch placement, expression, rhythms, and intonation as the problems occur. Make sure to play the entire section in context before moving on.
• Make sure to reinforce the concepts of phrasing, musical understanding, fingerings, pitch placement, intonation, blending, and instrumental entrances. Have the students play the whole piece from the beginning to the end. Provide last minute feedback and answer any questions.

 

Assessment Strategies:

• The students understood a better musical understanding of music repertoire, in this case Anasazi because they learned phrasing and how it is used in melodic ideas. They achieved this by performing from measure 3 to 10 and focused on the phrasing.

• The students concentrated on the technical problem of fingerings by first implicitly playing a warm-up on a concert Bb scale then altered the concert Bb scale by inserting a concert E instead of a concert Eb and playing the correct pitches. Then by performing from measure 35 to 38 and focusing on the technical problem of fingerings.
• The students learned how to blend in an ensemble setting and listen for instrumental entrances by listening for intonation, hearing when pitches are out of tune. The students achieved this by performing from measure 43 to 52 focusing on blending, intonation, and instrumental entrances.
• The students were provided reinforcement, models of concepts, and involvement through questions from the teacher.