The orchestra classroom is a complex, multi-layered, ever-evolving, mystical place in the midst of a school. In many cases, it is the only room like it in the entire building. The activities students engage in within its walls are entirely unique to that room. There is no other place like it.
Within that mystical place it can easily be overwhelming for the orchestra teacher to successfully juggle all of the complex needs required by the program, the administration, and the students. It can be challenging for that teacher to know where to begin.
In my experience, the beginning of every journey in the classroom begins and ends in the same place: KNOW THY STUDENTS.
a bronx tale
In the founding year of my strings program in a Bronx Middle School, I had pretty good recruitment in the 6th and 7th grade. 8th grade was lacking, as one would expect, because students were already enrolled in other programs. To fill out my schedule, and my numbers, the school assigned me a bunch of students in a 12:1 setting who had no other place to go.
EDU-SPEAK TRANSLATOR: 12:1
An IEP (Individualized Education Plan) may require a ratio of 12 students to 1 teacher/adult when a particular student needs more than the typical level of individualized attention. It typically means that the students' special needs are greater than can be met in a general education classroom.
FUN FACT:
While IEP's typically spell out a 12:1 requirement for academics, arts classes are frequently not mentioned in the IEP. This gives the administration license to "mainstream" these students during electives, which is often not in the best interest of the students. Want to fight it? You have to be in the annual IEP meeting for each student and insist that the arts classes be named in the document as requiring a 12:1 ratio. Of course, the principal might be mad at you after that.
Within that 8th grade class I had a student with an IEP that simply would not engage in anything we did. In fact, he would frequently fall asleep! How one can sleep in a music class, I do not know, but he managed it. For months I tried every trick in the book to get him to do something - ANYTHING. He was unresponsive, even refusing to answer direct questions.
Finally one day in April, in exasperation, I asked him why he was there. What made him sign up for violin? He finally told me, "You know that commercial with the guy in the fancy restaurant with the bow hair all broken? I wanna play like that."
(See Geico 2010 Commercial below)
I said, "You mean like this?" and I riffed a little on Boil Them Cabbage Down. (Shock and amazement) "I can teach you how to do that. Come at lunch today and I'll show you."
Not only did he come at lunch that day, he came almost every day at lunch for extra practice. He stopped sleeping in class. He started working with his stand-partner & peer-mentor. He even took his violin home to practice a few times! We had a great Spring Marking Period, which culminated in him successfully playing in the Spring Concert with his classmates. I'm sure that he did not pick up the violin again after that. But what he did experience in that mystical orchestra room was far more important.
He learned that if he was struggling to do something and allowed his frustration and fear of failure to cause him to withdraw into sleep (his defense mechanism), he would fail. But if instead he chose to apply himself with a little effort, he could be successful. That Social-Emotional Learning is something he carried with him into the world that could make him successful in anything he chose to do.
Reflections
It was easy for me to dismiss this student as "impossible to work with." We spent months with him ignoring me, and once he fell asleep, me ignoring him. He received failing grades for 3 marking periods. How might our experience have been different if I just STARTED the whole year by asking him (and the other students) why they were there? What were their goals? Inspirations? Aspirations?
I went in with my agenda for a particular curriculum and assumed everyone in the classroom had signed up for my agenda. I thought I was being culturally responsive for my students because I had programmed some blues, jazz, and hip hop. I assumed that was what my students had signed up for. How was I to know a black kid from the Bronx was interested in bluegrass?!! Well obviously, I needed to stop making assumptions and ASK!
PEDAGOGY SIDEBAR
It is easy to turn anything into a fiddle tune by using just two simple techniques:
The Shuffle: This bowing pattern is commonly used in many genres (including in the Suzuki Twinkle Variations), but in bluegrass we call it the "shuffle" or "single shuffle." Applying this bowing pattern to any melody will automatically make it sound bluegrass-y. I introduce this as "DOWN, shuf-fle, UP, Shuf-fle." Using this speech pattern accentuates the direction of the bow and automatically addresses bow distribution, as students will automatically put the first "shuf-fle" at the tip, and the second "shuf-fle" at the frog. Air-bow the pattern before trying it on open strings, then apply it to an open string, and add left hand fingerings last.
Double-Stops: We often wait to introduce double stops, but I like to introduce them ASAP. Forcing students to play open-A while using fingers on the D-string automatically shapes the left hand so students are arching over the string. If the left elbow, left thumb, and left wrist are out of alignment, the finger cannot arch and the A-string will squeak. Any song that has notes only on the D-string can be used with an open-A double stop, but of course "Boil Them Cabbage Down" is a classic. Combine the shuffle AND the double stop for some fancy fiddling!
for your consideration
How well do you know your students? Can you articulate their goals and aspirations?
What assumptions might you be making? How do you know?
What can you do to get to know your students better?
How can you support your students' in reaching their goals while continuing to move the curriculum forward?
If we begin by knowing our students well and care about helping them to achieve their aspirations, we can stop many problems before they begin. I hope you find this story and what I learned from it helpful in your own practice.
Keep fiddlin'!
For more surprising trends in student music preference, check out this blog: "Six Recent Studies Show an Unexpected Increase in Classical Music Listening."