MUSIC 23241
February 11, 2011
Classroom Management for Ensembles
In this article, Bauer describes all the important aspects of classroom management for a musical ensemble. He starts out by discussing the minor, yet significant, differences between a music class and a traditional class, including: the physical setup of the room itself, the students are active participants, students are encouraged to make sounds (music), and there are a variety of ages, academic standings and musical abilities throughout the class. He continues by explaining the different parts of being effective in classroom management such as: being a proactive educator, the general teaching practice, and classroom discipline. He includes many details and examples of the various sections of proper management.
In high school, my choir teacher would write the order of songs she wanted to work on each day on the front board. This helped students get their music in order so there was less searching between songs which helped keep the flow of the class moving. At my school we had three different choirs and the biggest choir had mostly students who weren't really interested in choir, they just needed the art credit. This being said, many of the students would get bored if my teacher would talk to long because of the inactivity and they would start talking and disrupt the class. I agree that keeping the teacher talking down, helps the students stay involved in the class, thus more interested and eager to learn more.
It is very important to be aware that there are several students on different levels of skill, age, and academic standing, so it is important to know what lessons should have more emphasis or what lessons you could teach less of to avoid student boredom or frustration. Also, I agree that a teacher should be very aware of their personal qualities, how they look, talk, and act, it should all be very professional. I have seen situations where a student breaks a rule but a consequence doesn't follow and it doesn't teacher the student a lesson or correct their behavior. Being a teacher, you have many responsibilities to keep the class and ensemble running smoothly and this article helps with the different ways to do so in an effective way. I really enjoyed reading this article.
Bauer, William I. (2001). Classroom management for ensembles. Music Educators Journal, 27-32.
Great statements!
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