blog post 2

The article by professor Schneider was great. Especially for beginner music teachers, this article can apply to any band class, choir, orchestra, or even theory class. Professor Schneider started his teaching carrier with “no band” and in five years created a band that could do things my high school band couldn't even think of doing. But how is something like this accomplished?

I agree with professor Schneider that a lot of school ensembles are “repertoire machines” pumping out a cliché list of tunes year after year. I also agree that this style of ensemble leaves out many other important standards that are critical to becoming a musician, and playing with expression.

Professor Schneider was not satisfied with an ensemble that just read what was given to them and then play it. He wanted to make the students better musicians. In order to do this he had to add (Dicaplin, theory, technique, and composition to his class.) Professor Schneider wanted to make sure he didnt have students just going with the motions. He wanted to make sure that if you weer a flute player you could pick up someone else's music, transpose if needed and play the part. He also wanted to have his students perform by ear and repeat a song after listening to it. Applying theory and aural theory into every rehearsal definitely helped the students. Not only are all these skills important to learn but they also create more fun activities for the music class which also increases the students skills and make the students want to come to music class.

It can be hard to determine if some one is a good musician. As mentioned before and in the article. Some students just go through the motions, they can read and play music well, but are they good musicians? Although it is true that one of the first things to look for in a good musician is if they actually play well. The next thing you want to look for is versatility, and technique. Can the musician play the song in a different key, Tempo, or in a different style. And One more thing to look for is a musicians character. Does the musician look like they are having a good time? Is there good posture? Does it look the the musician is playing cause they want to be their or because they have to be their.

Article: http://leadingnotes.org/2012/02/06/schneider/