Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Law
Essay of Standard 4
Music teachers must have skills in listening, analysis, describing, and performing music.
In my time at K-State, the main curriculum has been about listening to, analyzing, describing,
and performing music. In private lessons and in ensembles, I have learned how to perform
music, rehearsing every day and learned from teachers here to become the best performer I can
be. I have performed both solo and ensemble literature ranging from jazz solos, big band
playing, unaccompanied trombone works, concertos with full orchestra accompaniment, chamber
wind, and large ensemble music. In those experiences I have developed a full understanding of
how to perform and how to teach performance. In the music theory and music history classes, I
have been taught to analyze and describe music in the way most commonly practiced by modern
musicians and scholars. I have analyzed a full orchestral piece identifying the chordal structure,
the form, the melodic structure, and the emotional aspect of the piece giving a presentation to my
peers communicating to them what I learned. In aural skills classes and my own practice, I have
learned how to listen to music, identifying scales, modes, form, and transcribing chords, melody
and harmony from listening to a piece of music. The best example is when transcribing a piece
of music for jazz combos and jazz solos needing to identify the chords, melody, and harmony all
In classes my students will learn the skills that I have developed through individual
practice and scaffolding exercises that will take them step by step through a process. For
example, my students will listen and analysis music to better their understanding of music we are
playing in the class room. They will transcribe, music by listening analyzing the chord
progression of the and find ways to transfer what they learned in that exercise to the rehearsals in
class. They will also perform music at many different venues. Through my experience
performing everywhere from world class stages to patios and private parties, my students will
learn through discussion and trial how to perform anywhere they want to.
Skills in listening, analyzing, describing, and performing music are essential to becoming
a well-rounded musician. Through my education process I have used and am still developing
skills in all of those areas. In the classroom, my students will begin the process of those skills to
become the best musician they can, to fulfill their need for music in whatever capacity they need.