Readings #12: Webb

MUSIC 23241: MUSIC TEACHING AS A PROFESSION

Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, Assistant Professor

Kent State University School of Music

Fall, 2011

CRN:  200910 – Section number: 001 – Class Days: TR 7:45a – 8:35 am - Classroom: SOM E202

Office: Band Office - 330.672.2965 - Telephone: 330.672.2965 (Kent Campus) - E-mail: mneiman@kent.edu

Office Hours: TR 9:00 – 9:55 am (Additional hours available by appointment)

---

BlackBoard and Text Readings

Submitted by:  Ryan Critchfield

Submitted for: Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, lecturer

Date: 11/29/11

---

Webb, Jeffery L. May 2007. Promoting vocal health in the choral rehearsal.

Music educators journal, Volume 93, Issue 5 Pages 26-31.

Summary of the Article: Webb’s article deals with the importance of good health for a singers voice, and ways to reduce risk factors both outside and inside of the practice room. On top of health issues, it points out issues that might arise from rehearsal spaces, like acoustics and the humidity in the air. For the performers and conductor, water is very important to both parties, so water should be readily available if possible. He mentions many more different scenarios and distractions that can take away from the class and cause unneeded strain on both student and teacher.

            For the actual health portion of the article, he suggests that reducing stress reduces physical tension and can hinder the singers. Also physical health is as important, and sickness should not be taken lightly because of the spread of diseases. Another good thing to be aware of is a routine warm up exercise process, so that the choir does not wear out their voices immediately.

             

Personal statements: This article provided great information to me from a vocal perspective, which is a perspective I am all but familiar with. I don’t exactly plan on teaching a choir, but as I had stated in a previous post, it very well may happen, so I took this article seriously when considering what can hinder the human voice from being at its full potential. As a conductor you have to be aware of anything that can be causing a problem, and knowing how to correct it, if it is actually within your power to correct. Sometimes with personal issues with students, there is little you can do to help them out, if not just offering some encouraging advice to not strain themselves and get through the day alright.

Readings #12: Smith

MUSIC 23241: MUSIC TEACHING AS A PROFESSION

Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, Assistant Professor

Kent State University School of Music

Fall, 2011

CRN:  200910 – Section number: 001 – Class Days: TR 7:45a – 8:35 am - Classroom: SOM E202

Office: Band Office - 330.672.2965 - Telephone: 330.672.2965 (Kent Campus) - E-mail: mneiman@kent.edu

Office Hours: TR 9:00 – 9:55 am (Additional hours available by appointment)

---

BlackBoard and Text Readings

Submitted by:  Ryan Critchfield

Submitted for: Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, lecturer

Date: 11/29/11

---

Smith, Gary R. Who told you you could sing?

TRIAD, Volume 52, Issue 4 Page 1.

Summary of the Article: This is a very short article about Smith’s very personal experience with singing in the schools. He started as a very timid boy who did not have the hopes to sing in the upcoming play until his music teacher encourages him to audition. With the private audition, he was able to get the spot in front the play, and had very high self esteem of his abilities. The following year however, when a new music teacher listens to his audition for another musical. He is apparently a very experienced teacher, but new to children who are so young. He asks Smith “Who told you you could sing?” After that encounter he became shy and timid all over again, and did not sing for years.  

Personal statements: This article may have been the shortest one I have read all semester, but it is one of my favorites. I always believe success is derived from confidence, and if you can instill confidence and drive in a student they will learn as far as they can. But with the case of the second teacher in this story, he erased all progress that had been made, and slowed it for years. In the case of the first teacher, the confidence took minutes to achieve and erased so many doubts the young man might have had. But it took six words to destroy a boys confidence in his abilities, and even at the time he wrote that article, Smith still remembers the second experience most vividly.

Readings #12: Freer

MUSIC 23241: MUSIC TEACHING AS A PROFESSION

Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, Assistant Professor

Kent State University School of Music

Fall, 2011

CRN:  200910 – Section number: 001 – Class Days: TR 7:45a – 8:35 am - Classroom: SOM E202

Office: Band Office - 330.672.2965 - Telephone: 330.672.2965 (Kent Campus) - E-mail: mneiman@kent.edu

Office Hours: TR 9:00 – 9:55 am (Additional hours available by appointment)

---

BlackBoard and Text Readings

Submitted by:  Ryan Critchfield

Submitted for: Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, lecturer

Date: 11/29/11

---

Freer, Patrick K. September  2008. Boys’ changing voices in the first century of MENC journals.

Music educators journal, Volume 95, Issue 1 Pages 41-47.

Summary of the Article: Freers article deals mainly with how the male voice changes through adolescence and adulthood. It even touches on the discussion if the adolescent male’s changing voice would deter him from singing in the school program. She points out that the male’s voice changes over a long period time, and can continue well through the college years. It also deals with the changing identity of the male adolescent entirely as they go through puberty, and the apparent “lack of masculinity in the choral department” (pg. 42). The main idea is that boys want to do things that boys “always do,” like play on a sports team, and this can in turn lead to young boys singing the “very manly bass voice” in the ensemble as they completely ignore their upper register, even if it may sound better that their lower register.   

Personal statements: This article was very interesting because it brought up a realistic scenario that I had never thought of facing, or thinking caused a problem in choirs. As young boys go through changes, they may grow uncomfortable with those changes. They may seek other options from singing and go into “more masculine” activities, whether it is to live up to dad’s expectations, impress the girls at the school, etc. I never really looked at choir or music as being less masculine as football or basketball or other more masculine activities. To me it’s about personal interest. Some kids might rather sing in a choir than throw for the school football team, not because one was manlier than the other, but because that is what we want to do. Unfortunately this may be somewhat sort of impossible from the mentality of people. Some things are just implanted into our culture to mean certain things, and this may be one of those. The best thing to hope for is to just introduce this concept to our young boys as they go through changes, and tell them that they shouldn’t feel any pressure in the choices they make.

Readings #12: Campbell

MUSIC 23241: MUSIC TEACHING AS A PROFESSION

Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, Assistant Professor

Kent State University School of Music

Fall, 2011

CRN:  200910 – Section number: 001 – Class Days: TR 7:45a – 8:35 am - Classroom: SOM E202

Office: Band Office - 330.672.2965 - Telephone: 330.672.2965 (Kent Campus) - E-mail: mneiman@kent.edu

Office Hours: TR 9:00 – 9:55 am (Additional hours available by appointment)

---

BlackBoard and Text Readings

Submitted by:  Ryan Critchfield

Submitted for: Mr. Marcus L. Neiman, lecturer

Date: (due date available in Bb)

---

Campbell, Patricia S.  2008. Of schools, bands, orchestras and jazz ensembles.

Musician and teacher, Pages 165-186.

Summary of the Article: This article deals mostly with the evolution of the music programs that we have today. She quotes an article from E.B. Birge, who she suggests that seventy years later is still preaches the most important parts of  music education. She brings up the fact that most teachers need to teach beyond their area of expertise, like also teaching a concert band or orchestra on top of the choir. Despite what may be the teachers “favorite” ensemble, if you are going to be teaching both of them, you must show equal dedication to all of the ensembles and push each one to their potentials.

            She makes the contrasts between content and structure of school music programs, citing that “the content is largely consistant, while the structure can vary widely” (pg. 168). While any student can discover and sometimes develop a talent for singing by themselves, it is up to a music program to introduce and develop an instrumentalist, unless the parents of the student have introduced him or her to the idea. The chapter includes a graph that can be used as a guide to develop a music program from the younger years all the way through high school. She also introduces the idea that programs that only take students into music when they are very young are only going to shrink.

Personal statements: I enjoyed this article because it provoked a thought that every music teacher faces at the beginning: Am I going to be teaching where I want to teach? Most students come out of the university expecting great things and that they will be able to find a job where they only direct a band, or conduct an orchestra, or teach music theory. More times than not from what I have heard, that is not the case. Often you not only teach two ensembles that are not your area of expertise, but you cannot even teach in your area. I also liked how she dissected an example program from the bottom up, walking through what to expect at each level.  Finally, she goes into great detail about a few of the ensembles and what you can expect to see at a typical school. This is good insight since, as previously stated, a music teacher can be expected, and should be expected, to teach something out of their area, and teach it well.