F.E. C. J. TE Day 2

On February 15th, Shannalee and I returned to Chief Joseph middle school to work with Sallee Nelson's 7th grade clarinet section again. This time it was my turn to teach them, so after we got them settled again, I began by showing them a simple set of rhythms, and then breaking them down further and further, until I had two rhythms that were played the same, but notated differently, and the students recognized that they were the same rhythms, just written in a different way. After that, I took them through the new section of "Her Majesty's Brigade" again, working on longer sections at a time, and emphasizing working on the rhythms that I had introduced at the beginning of class. The students had a lot of trouble the first time that rhythm came up, so we spent a majority of the lesson working on that, and then when a similar but different rhythm showed up later, they played it the same as the first rhythm, so we worked on that too, until they could confidently and competently play through the entire section with correct notes and rhythms. Then Shannalee correctly remembered each students' name, and we sent them back to Mrs. Nelson. I feel that the entire lesson went well, and that the students can play that section better than when they originally started. I found out a few things to work on myself though, including keeping my students rehearsing as much as possible, and taking as little time between rehearsals as possible.