HIGH SCHOOL BAND—1/28/19

Mr. Alexander Meek

Prior Knowledge/Skills (What do already know and can do?):

Having played through Sleep by Eric Whitacre, the high school band students already have an understanding of how the piece is structured. Prior
rehearsals have isolated independent musicianship skills, including tone production, precise entrances, releases, and timbre. Students also know
that Sleep was previously a choral piece, which uses a poem as the basis for its text.

Rehearsal Objective (What will your student’s be able to do as a result of this rehearsal with you?)
Students will demonstrate a correlation between Charles Silvestri’s poem and the musical inflection of Sleep by Eric Whitacre.

Assessment of the Rehearsal (How will you know if your students can do what they need to?)
The objective will be assessed informally, by both student and teacher feedback. Students will answer the following questions:
 Where is the climax of this piece?
 Given the poem and its context, what is represented by the climax of this piece (rehearsal markings D-F)?
 How many people have a better understanding of this piece?

Relevant Contextual Factors: Instructional materials needed:

 High school band takes place during first block every other day.  Sleep poem by Charles Silvestri
Students are often groggy and reluctant to jump in at the (http://www.charlesanthonysilvestri.com/sleep.html)
beginning of class.  Projector
 A majority of rehearsal time has been devoted to other pieces
up to this point, which are more technical in nature.
 The students have not yet established a connection to this piece.
They struggle to demonstrate strong musical skills because they
have yet to find meaning in the music.

National Standards Addressed

 MU:Pr4.2.E.5a Demonstrate, using music reading skills where appropriate, how the setting and formal characteristics of musical works
contribute to understanding the context of the music in prepared or improvised performances.
 MU:Pr5.3.E.Ia Develop strategies to address expressive challenges in a varied repertoire of music, and evaluate their success using
feedback from ensemble peers and other sources to refine performances.
Rehearsal Plan
Time Activity Description
3 F Remington Students will be split into two
min. groups. Group 1 will sustain a
concert F, while group 2 will
complete the exercise as
written. Students will be
encouraged to listen at all times.
3 Run through rehearsal Students will play from D to F
min. markings D-F of in the piece. This section
Sleep contains the climax.
2 Discussion Students will be asked
min. questions like, “What is this
piece about?”, and “What
happens at the climax?”
3 Poem reading Four students will be selected
min. on a volunteer basis to read the
poem projected onto the board
(8 stanzas total, 2 stanzas per
student).
6 Lecture The emotional intent behind
min. Whitacre’s piece and Silvestri’s
poem will be explored.
5 Rehearse D-F of The ensemble will play through
min. Sleep D-F.
2 Discussion/ Questions asked in the first
min. Assessment discussion (and in the
assessment section) will be
explored again.
Plans for the Future:
 Explore the emotional context of each section of the piece, while defining expressive and technical considerations that make
them possible.
 Isolate each stanza of Silvestri’s poem and explore how they relate to the corresponding section of the music (structurally,
musically, etc.).
Purpose of Activity
This warm-up serves two functions:
 To help students practice
tuning, blend, balance, etc.
 To continue our unit on
dissonance, a classic component
of Whitacre’s music.
To both get the ensemble back into the
correct mindset and to serve as a pre-
assessment for the lesson.
This is to see what the students’
preconceived notions about the piece’s
intent/context are.
The purpose of this is to establish a
framework for Sleep’s meaning. The
backstory and future lessons will
revolve around this poem.
Students will be encouraged to connect
the piece’s backstory to their own lives.
This will be done so the students have
an opportunity to connect the previous
activity to Sleep, and begin to make
parallels between the poem and the
music.
To find out what impact the poem/story
made in the students’ musical
understanding.
Assessment
This exercise will be marked as a
success if the students play out the
dissonant intervals rather than shy away
from them. I also expect tuning, blend,
and balance to improve throughout the
activity. Feedback will be provided.
The ensemble’s musicality and
expression will be monitored, as well as
their attention to blend.
I will use the results of this discussion to
determine how in-depth we need to
explore Sleep’s meaning.
N/A
N/A
If any changes in musicality or
expression are made, I will deem this
activity successful.
Students will correctly identify where
the climax is. They will also contribute
to a brief discussion showing their
musical interpretations.