Blog Observations Orchestra

I did my second day of observations was with the orchestra. The students had a playing test. Each student went into a room,l hit the record button on a recorder,played though their test, and then hit stop button. It took about twenty minutes for the entire orchestra to complete their tests. While individual students were testing,the remaining ensemble members were still rehearsing. They played an Irish Dance piece, and a piece called Hop. In between these pieces, they worked on an etude out of their method book. Ms. Van Zee had a very controlled classroom environment. Ms. Van Zee had a “teachable moment” that occurred when she was conducting; her baton flew out of her hands and she caught it with her left hand. When she arrived at stopping place, she asked the students if anyone had seen her awesome move? None of them raised their hands. She then said “Well if you all would have been watching, you would have seen it.” I thought that was a great way to say “Watch Me”.