Reflection

In my series of lessons, I incorporated the process of creating, performing, and assessing

as a long term as well as a short term goal. In every session, students would plan their
arrangement, experiment with instrumentation, and perform their ending product. Following
their performance they would provide commentary on what went well and what didnt go well,
and what they wanted to learn in the next session. On a long term basis, each of the lessons was
also centered more heavily on either creating, performing, or assessing. In the first lesson,
students worked mostly on experimentation with chord progressions and arranging a pop tune
using classroom instruments. This focused heavily on creating and building a foundation for the
remaining lessons. In the second class, students worked more on performing and creating their
own mash-up of several pop songs. This performing based session also drew upon the creating
process from the first lesson and expanded upon the initially presented information. In the final
lessons, students performed a finished product, incorporating the classroom instrumentation from
the first class. Following the performance, students reflected and assessed their work and
received feedback from myself as well. By using the creating, performing and assessing process
as a model for these lessons, the students learned how to self regulate their growth as musicians.
They learned that formal assessment is not the only way to learn and that informal assessment
can be a useful tool to measure development.
Though I did not perform individually in these series of lessons, my musicianship was
definitely an important tool for my students learning. I was often able to model ideas that the
students were trying to create and could use my musical experience to motivate a high level of
musicality. In my second lesson, this was especially evident. I participated as a group member in

their mash-up and often sang musical interjections as a layering tool. Once the students
realized that was a possibility in their performance, they began to use it as a tool, too. I was also
able to clarify chord progressions and offer alterations due to my knowledge of piano. I modeled
a confident, welcoming attitude so that students would also feel comfortable in their learning
environment and reflect a similar attitude.
The environment of my classroom as a whole was very relaxed. I wanted my students to
feel unstressed and welcome during the lessons and to feel free to experiment without criticism. I
purposefully set up the working area of each lessons to be formed in a circle so that all students
could be included. I also wanted to promote the idea of student lead learning rather than
instructor lead instruction. Though I often provided directions, I sat with the students and formed
part of their circle in every lesson. This type of environment allowed students to create, perform,
and assess their music in a cyclical format and to feel like members of a group. It also allowed
me to assess and help with creating on an individual basis without stopping the progress of the
entire group. The group was also small in number which provided the opportunity for all
members to play important roles and to receive specific feedback.
Overall, I think that this type of lesson was very successful. Students were able to work
with music that they found exciting and compelling and experience music outside of choir or
band. In the future, I would increase the number of lessons for this unit and focus on specific
details of informal music making such as vocal percussion, vocal harmonization, and
songwriting. In my lessons, I had individual students who were strong in at least one of these
areas, but not all. Because of this, I would like to go more in depth with the material so all
students could be successful with varying aspects of vernacular music making.