Name That Tune--Concert Prep

For our last small group before a concert, we'll often play "Name that Tune."  First we rosin bows as I walk through the call time and concert details with the students.  Then, for "Name that Tune" I'll play a note or two or three of a part of one of their concert pieces.  Once someone correctly identifies the piece, I have students pull out their music to find the measure number(s) of the excerpt, and then we play the whole piece together and touch up whatever needs touching up.

A variation on this game is to make it rhythm only, and I'll clap a distinctive rhythmic pattern from each of their pieces.  Another variation (challenge) would be to include an excerpt or rhythm pattern that a different instrument plays--not a part that the specific kids in that small group play.

I'm often surprised by which students are quickly able to identify the concert piece--they're not always the strongest players--and the students like the game aspect of it (though we do not keep score in any way or recognize winners or anything).  It's also more of a fun way to review the different concert pieces than just playing through everything once more before the concert.

When we play through concert pieces on this day, I like to play a different instrument's part along with the students (like I'll play cello with a violin group or violin with a bass group etc.).  It helps to develop their chamber music skills and makes students more aware of what another instrument is doing while they're playing their part.  And there are always students surprised that I know how to play a different instrument than they're used to seeing me play :)  I also get students who look at the white board when they arrive and ask which song is "Name that Tune"...

At the end of this small group, we'll use a cloth to wipe the rosin dust off our strings and instruments so they're totally set to go for the concert, we'll get our music in concert order, and then I always ask which piece they're each most looking forward to performing at the concert.

What kind of lesson plans work well for you as you approach a concert?

Playing Checkups

From time to time, we have checkup days in small groups, where each student plays for me individually and then I can give some one-on-one feedback to each student.  I prefer to emphasize the value of the individualized feedback, talking about what's going well and where there is room for improvement, rather than calling it a playing test and emphasizing the grade part of it.  I do enter grades from these checkups, but I don't think that's as useful to students as the one-on-one mini-lesson part of it.  I try to keep the atmosphere relaxed, low-key, and positive to keep students from feeling too anxious or nervous.

I usually pair checkup days with compositions--I get everyone started on their compositions and then I ask who would like to play first while the others begin work on their compositions.

I've created a generic checkup sheet that can be easily modified.  I like to put the grade level and name of piece on the top.  I also add a 4/3/2/1 for each characteristic listed; it's quick to circle numbers for each bullet point.  I write in the student name and instrument ahead of time, and I have the sheets already in the order I'll be seeing students that day so I don't have to take any time writing names or digging for the right slip.

While students are playing, I will circle numbers, underline phrases, and write specific comments.  Afterwards, we have a quick conference, talking through the comments I wrote and trying out the comments I had.  It really is like a mini-lesson.  I keep the slip long enough to make a copy of everyone's for myself (to record grades into my grade book later), and then I return the originals to students hopefully by the end of the same day so they can be a reference during home practice.

My district uses achievement based grading, so I enter 4s, 3s, 2s, or 1s into whichever categories are being recorded.

Checkup sheet (generic)

• Word document

Feel free to modify and use with your students!

Name Cards

To show students where to sit each week, I use name cards.  Each name card is a full sheet of paper folded in half so it can rest on top of the stand and can be viewed from both in front and behind.  These are color-coded by instrument.

At the beginning of the year with first-year students, I use these during small groups, both so students know where to sit and because I am still learning names.  At the beginning of the day, I have the cards stacked in the order I'll be seeing kids during the day and within easy reach (on the piano bench) so that I can quickly switch name cards at the transition time.  That is an incentive for me to learn names sooner rather than later, as it takes a few moments to get those organized at the beginning of the day (or end of the day the previous week if I'm on top of things).  I do make an effort to switch up seating each week, just for variety's sake.

I also use these every week for full orchestra.  The color-coding helps kids quickly locate their instrument's section and then their own name.  Again, I do make an effort to switch up the seating each week.  I want students to experience playing in the front, middle, and back of the section and with different stand partners too.

Except for a concert seating chart (which goes into effect about three full orchestras before the concert) where the students do stay in the same spot from one week to the next, I do not write out the seating chart each week.  I just do my best to keep scrambling up stand partners and who's sitting where.  When I'm really organized, in the folder where I store the name cards, I will jot down anyone without a stand partner due to having an odd number of students so that I can make sure someone else will be the singleton next week.

Students who have forgotten their instrument and need to borrow a spare will be seated together so they can share the spare without disrupting the students around them.  If students do have to share an instrument because I can see their spot on the instrument rack is empty, I write the two (or three...hopefully not more) names on a piece of scrap paper and tape it to the case of the spare so both students know who they'll be sharing with and it doesn't take any class time for me to explain.  I also pull out the names of students who are absent that day from the stack and set up accordingly so there aren't any empty chairs in full orchestra.

Every once in a while students will walk into the room for full orchestra with no name cards out and a "Seating is free choice today :)" note on the board.  That generally happens the week after a concert.

The front side (that I see) includes more information such as the student's full name and teacher's name in smaller font at the bottom.  If students try to switch name cards without me noticing, a hint is that they put the card on the wrong way and I see the side with just the first name :)

To actually create the name cards without having to type up everyone's name one by one, I use the "Step-by-Step Mail Merge Wizard" feature in Microsoft Word and pull the information directly from my roster, which is saved as an Excel sheet.  I double check the document before printing and add last initials for those students who have someone else with the same first name in the same orchestra.  The document is already organized by instrument (since that's how my roster is set up), which makes color-coding printing simple.

Name card template (Word document)

Enjoy!

Small Group Learning--Creating a Rotating Schedule

My elementary orchestra students have their small group learning ("small groups") once a week for 30 minutes on a rotating basis.  Notice that this is called "small group learning" rather than "lessons."  The term "lessons" suggests one-on-one time with a private teacher, performance-based, outside the school day, and generally paid for by the student's family.  What I teach is a comprehensive musical education where students are composing, learning about history and culture, listening, writing, etc. as well as technique and musical literature.  The careful choice of "small groups" and not "lessons" helps to reflect what students are actually doing in orchestra and helps to validate orchestra as part of a well-rounded education.

Anyway, during my first year of teaching, I created a semester-long small group rotation and posted it outside the orchestra room and inside each classroom.  However, I quickly realized that field trips, school assemblies, standardized tests as well as simply getting to know the students better and changing enrollment meant that ongoing adjustments would need to be made.  I have since switched to posting a monthly schedule, which allows me more flexibility with scheduling around conflicts and modifying small group personnel as needed.

Students know to check the schedule each week to know when their small group time is that week, and at the end of the month, I simply post the new schedule.  Sometimes there are still last-minute changes such as when an assembly is scheduled after the monthly orchestra schedule has been posted or I find out about a field trip a few days before, but then I just pencil in the corrections.  I make sure that every student has a small group time each week, which means that some weeks have "combined small groups" to fit everyone in when a block of time is not open for orchestra that week.  Students get a kick out of the few times they have "giant small groups" with perhaps up to three groups scheduled at once.

These schedules can be tricky to visually decipher by students, so I intentionally label each group with a letter, spell out the month (instead of using numbers), include the day of the week, and then finally the time.  Otherwise, numbering the groups and referring to the month by its number results in a lot of numbers on the page and a bit of confusion on the part of the students.  At the beginning of the year, I coach students to check their small group letter first, then find the date, then read down to locate their small group letter and finally over to see what time they have orchestra.  My goal, of course, is for students to independently check the schedule each week and come at their scheduled time with the other students in their group.  I also cross out the day's column at the end of the day so it's easier to quickly find the current day next week.

When I figure out the rotations, instead of just moving each small group down to the next slot for the next week, I like to skip a couple of spots, usually three, so I can avoid having a student miss the same subject multiple weeks in a row.  Otherwise they may miss the first part of, say, math one week and the second part of math the next week.  Of course, sometimes this is unavoidable due to limitations of scheduling combined groups when standardized testing wipes out a few slots and then there's an assembly at the end of the day, but I do my best to keep the schedule rotating evenly.  Skipping a couple of spots also creates more variety for the students with regard to having morning or afternoon small groups rather than staying stuck on morning times for an entire month.


Things to include:

• School/Grade level (name of ensemble)
• Month
• Upcoming concert dates and other important events
• The table itself
• Small group assignments (by letter and instrument)--list students' first names and homeroom teacher
• Disclaimer that the schedule is subject to change and that students and teachers will be notified

I've also started including a picture of a composer whose birthday falls during the given month just as a way to visually differentiate between the old- and new-month's schedules and as another exposure for my students to composers.  I had been using clip art for each month, but I like the composer pictures for now.

I also color code each orchestra's schedule for easy identification by students and myself.  I teach two grade levels at two schools, and all my schedules, attendance sheets, and grade sheets are all color-coded by ensemble.  They are posted outside the orchestra room and at a designated location in each of the classrooms, which just takes a few minutes to change at the end of each month.  These are also posted on my school website as PDFs so families can access them from home, if desired.

Here is a totally generic sample small-group schedule that can be modified to match your teaching schedule:

• Small group rotation sample (Word document)

• Small group rotation sample (PDF)

• Small group rotation template (Google Doc)

Note: In recent years, I have switched to Google Docs for sharing small group schedules.  They are shared with families as view-only.  In this way, any updates I need to make mid-schedule can be viewed right away without having to print or post a new schedule.

I have been using a "master schedule" sort of planning document that has asterisks by students in advanced math classes and a corresponding asterisk for the time slot during that math class so I can be sure not to schedule those students then (or another symbol for students who I can't schedule during intervention time, for example).  But then, when I copy/paste that month's schedule into the running Google Doc for that particular orchestra, I go and delete all the special symbols so it's cleaner for students to look at and because they don't need to know all the behind-the-scenes details that I take into account with scheduling.

Enjoy!