Day Book: Practicum # 3

Period 1: Vocal Music, Grade 9-12

Feb 9, 2015

-listening (7yo girl and man (harmony), guitar: using head voice vs throat voice)
-intro to proper mic use
-conducting (5 mins)
Sing at First Sight (book)
-Pg. 1 Rhythm exercises: clap, hands apart on rests, say rhythms first using ta and
rest, then saying 1234
-pg. 1 # 7-10: sing do, re: say do, re or note names
-last 10 mins of class: decide what they will perform on Friday, independent work
time

Feb 10, 2015

Mrs. Jobin:
-discussion, announcements
-solfege warm up (do-do, do/re/dodo/re/mi/re/do, do/me/re/fa, etc.)
-solfege sheet (#1-10)
Me:
-intro, a bit about myself
-breathing: explanation, in for 4 out for 4, in for 3 out for 3 exercise, hissing exercise
-posture: sitting and standing
-Sing At First Sight: pg. 2, #7-10
What worked:
-breathing exercises
-posture
-building rapport: students seem to be accepting of me
What didn't:
-delivery: know what I am going to say before I say it, know what key
points/concepts I want to cover
-conducting: be clear with when I want the students to breathe.
Next time:
-tell students to breathe on beats 3 and 4 during intro bar
-breathing contest: who can sing "la" the longest?
-review what I want to play on the piano (don't sight read!)
-Tomorrow: theory: note names, rhythms, give time to work on theory sheets and
walk around and offer help

Feb 11, 2015

I did not teach at all today.

Warm up:

Solfege sheet (back)

Saying poems into mic

Tomorrow:

Sing O Canada

Theory: notes on the staff (treble and bass clef)

Rhythm tree

Say/clap rhythms

Rhythmic dictation

Feb 12, 2015

I started the class off today with a listening activity:

Played "cry me a river" as performed by Uwin Jazz Ensemble

Students responded to this using the elements of music

Beginner Theory:

Mrs. Jobin took the more advanced students (6 of them) and worked on more
advanced theory

I taught the rest of the class theory

Note names on the staff (treble and bass)

Rhythm tree

Wrote rhythms on the board, asked students to clap them

Began to introduce dotted notes

Last 10 minutes of class students worked independently on their theory

sheets while I walked around and offered assistance
Next time:

Be more prepared. I thought that I wouldn't need much/any preparation for

teaching a very basic theory lesson, but I ended up not quite knowing what to
do after teaching the concept (in regards to exercises to check student
understanding).

I should prepare a few examples for each theory concept ahead of time

Teaching dotted notes ended up being more difficult than I expected. I wasn't
clear enough when explaining and demonstrating dotted notes.

After I teach each note and it's value, I need to teach how to count that note.
For example, "A quarter note receives one beat. When counting it, we say 1
and."

Take examples from their worksheets and follow the layout of their
worksheets. Or, give them a separate worksheet for each concept rather than a
bulk package

Feb 13, 2015

Student performances:

Students had to choose a song and sing it in front of the class (with
accompaniment)

Gave them a mark out of 20 using TACK

One student played the guitar as her accompaniment

Feb 17, 2015

TOMORROW: P.1 Grade 11's need to go to the Co-op presentation

Ask Erica to sing O Canada at game tomorrow night (Feb 18)

-I started out the class today
-Asked about their weekend
-Discussion about performance and audience etiquette
-A few more students sang their performances, still have a few more to do
tomorrow.
-Shrove Tuesday: explanation, then students ate pancake and sausages for the rest
of the class
Tomorrow:

Warm-up

Listening activity: analyze a piece of music, have them write it down

Solfege sheets (#1-20)

Sing at First Sight books, pg.3

Feb 18, 2015

-Solfege warm up
-solfege sight reading sheet

On Friday, do a test on individual lines from the solfege sight reading sheet
(#1-10?)

Pick #'s from a hat

-Ash Wednesday ashes were distributed during this period
-The last 6 students sang their solo songs
Tomorrow:
-warm up
-solfege sheets (choose students at random)
-Theory

More rhythm (create examples ahead of time)

Key signatures
-Listening activity: choose a song, have students respond to it using the elements of
music

Feb 19, 2015

-Solfege warm-up
-Solfege sight singing sheet (#1-10)
--> test on this tomorrow (time permitting) or monday
-"Sing at First Sight" books
--> activity # 3, # 1-10
--> clap and say the rhythms, sing the rhythms How can I make these activities
more interesting?
--> sing the sight reading as a class How can I make this more interesting?
-Theory time

--> allowed students to work on theory in groups according to their theory

level This was somewhat successful, but students did not stay on task.
Next time, maybe do peer teaching for 20 mins, then individual work for
20 mins?

Feb 20, 2015

-loaded up the truck with everything necessary for the Steak Dinner
-after this, I taught a lesson on key signatures

Started out with major keys using the Fb Cb Gb Db Ab Eb Bb FCGDAEB F#

C# G# D# A# E# B# model

Scaffolded the lesson: I started out with what is a key signature, where it is
placed on the staff, how to find sharp keys, order of sharps on the staff. I then
moved on to flats and followed the same process

Also taught minor keys using the same model

I also taught how to find the relative minor using the keyboard and the minor
third (down 3 semitones) model
-My lesson was very successful. All students seemed to comprehend the lesson
-Next time: make the lesson more fun

Do not accept as much talking

Make other students answer my questions (not the same 4 students)

Feb 23, 2015

-unloaded the truck from the Steak Dinner

-Warm-up

Scale in whole/half/quarter/eighth notes

Thirds: la bay da may, do me re fa

Chromatic on do

May me my mo moo in ascending chromatics

-Solfege sight singing test

I gave them a checkmark if they did it and were moderately successful

Got through most students, have 3 to finish tomorrow

Feb 24, 2015

-Mrs. Jobin talked a little about the steak dinner, and the play rehearsal last night
-I took over, started out with a warm-up
-finished testing the last 3 people for the solfege sight singing

Test on the back page ion Thursday

-Music Analysis: Lady Gaga- Sound of Music (live from the Oscars 2015)

Handed out a sheet that describes the elements of music and what to listen
for when analyzing music

Explained each element and gave examples

Played the music

I'm not sure if this was successful. Many of the students did not
contribute to the conversation afterwards. Next time, I should go
student by student and ask them to contribute a thought about the
song

I should also play a song with more obvious element changes


This activity took up most of the class time
-For the last 5 minutes of class, I explained what dictation is, and how to do it. I also
did a couple examples
Tomorrow: warm up, music analysis, rhythmic and melodic dictation, intervals

Feb 25, 2015

-Mrs. Jobin talked about the play
-Grade 9's left class for a presentation, but returned 20 mins before the end of class
-Started the class with a short solfege warm-up
-Went through # 11-20 on the solfege sight-singing sheet

1st time: sing with the keyboard

2nd time: sing without the keyboard

3rd time: students volunteered to sing the line individually

-Music analysis: No More Blues

Played the song and started discussing, then the grade 9's returned so I
played the song again

Asked every student to contribute an idea. They are not thinking deep
enough into the song and are mostly giving surface answers (eg.
Instrumentation, her voice was smooth, etc.)
-Started explaining rhythmic dictation (again) and steps/strategies to being
successful

Did not get to do any examples as we ran out of time

-Tomorrow:

Start with a rhythmic dictation test

Intervals (photocopy intervals "cheat sheet")

Feb 26, 2015

-Discussion about why students should choose to take music next year
-Miss. Burke's Evaluations

Same questions as practicum 2

Hala and Kayla gave me a thank you card that they wrote
-Rhythmic dictation:

Review of strategies to be successful in dictation

Mini quiz: 4 parts, each 1 measure long, 4/4 time, half/quarter/eighth notes

Played each part (bar) twice on piano

Asked students to write the answer on the board

Clapped and counted each one

-Intervals:

Handed out one sheet that explains what an interval is, and how to write
them

Handed out another sheet that has song examples for each interval,
ascending and descending

Played minor 2, major 2, minor 3, major 3 on keyboard

Went student by student asking them to identify the interval that I play (only
up to a major 3rd)
-Played my jazz bands performance of No More Blues
-Played my jazz bands performance of Feeling Good
-Thanked the class for being so welcoming and allowing me to teach them