Contest Rating Preparation

Overview and Background: Unit: Contest Rating Preparation

Name: Travis Johnson

Cheney School District

Title:	Contest Rating Preparation
Topics:	Understanding elements that affect contest ratings.
Time Frame:	10-12 weeks
Start Date:	1-5-04

Other Designers:

Summary: Students will gain a greater understanding of how contest ratings are awarded.

Print Materials Needed: Ratings Criteria Graphic Organizer

Resources:

Concert Band Recordings (audio & Video)

Canadian Brass Video

Resource Attachments:
Internet Resource Links:

Notes:

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

State:

Title:

Band

Standard(s):

Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.

Evaluating music and music performances.

Understandings: Mental preparation for a performance is essential to the success of the ensemble. Knowing the core areas that are important to contest success, will lead to a better performance at any concert.

Essential Questions:

What is the difference between good and bad: Quality of Sound, Technique, and Musicality?

How do these affect the quality of a performance?

What are the elements that make up these areas (ex. Technique – rhythm & precision, articulation, and facility)?

Knowledge and Skills:

K: Students will know:

q Correct way to produce a “quality” tone on their instrument

q In tune and out of tune

q TRIANGLE of sound for proper balance

q How to distinguish between correct and incorrect rhythms

q Notes and fingerings on their instruments

q Stacatto, Tenuto, Accents

q Seven major scales from memory

q Interpreting the style of a piece of music

q Effective use of dynamics

q Using expression and phrasing

S: Students will be able to:

q Identify factors that contribute or hinder the overall performance.

q Assess the level that the ensemble is performing at while the rehearsal is in progress.

q Adjust their individual performance to enhance the performance of the ensemble.

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

Assessment Summary:

Judge our performance of a concert band piece.

Assessments will include the rating rubric and evaluation sheet.

Student Directions: Rate a recording of our performance as if you were the judge at contest. Give the band a score for each topic listed above. Include at least three complete sentences that justify the score for that area. Use the music terminology and concepts that we have discussed in class for your justification.

Rubric: Contest Evaluation Sheet

Other assessment evidence to be collected:

Fill out one portion of the graphic organizer on a bi-weekly basis after two weeks of class discussion over that topic.

Journals (notes) over the topics and terminology discussed.

Daily “intonation” journal

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction

Learning Activities: What sequence of teaching and learning experiences will be used?

Hook: Present the “Band Goals” to the students. Receiving a I rating at contest was a goal of 85% of the students. If it is important to us, we need to understand how to get to our goal. High ratings at contest are not “magical”.
Overview and expectation: To prepare the band mentally for superior performances through group evaluation.
Teaching Activities, Assessments & Rethinking opportunities in order: Introduce the four areas and their sub-categories that make up a “contest rating.” Brainstorm possible definitions for each as a class using small group strategies (Kagan).
In depth discussion (with worksheet) over quality sound production. This worksheet will follow the “Canadian Brass” video and the topics discussed in the first 30 minutes of the video.
Classroom examples of how tone affects intonation and blend using the trumpet section. We keep a daily intonation (with tuner) journal, but other factors such as tone affect the intonation and blend of each section. Students will be given a hands on opportunity to experiment with the intonation in their own section.
In small groups (mixed instruments) experiment with intonation of unisons and chords. Students will be given instructions and examples of the pitch tendencies for chords. Students will take notes in their journals, and the experiment in their small groups.
Discuss with the students what is important when buying a car stereo (naturally they will say “the bass”). Students within my ensemble are already familiar with this topic, but a quick review will be given of the “Triangle of Sound” as described by Edward Lisk. These will allow the students to write down a few key points in their journals. During band warm up time, give the students the opportunity to hear excellent balance within our ensemble. Coach the students until they are playing “within the triangle.” During class point our times when they fall away from this technique, and bring them back to a well-balanced sound.
Bi-Weekly assessment of our performance or a recorded performance. Students will fill out the top portion of the evaluation sheet (“Quality of Sound”). They will be asked to provide a score and three complete sentences over the tone, intonation, blend, and balance of the performance.
“One Band One Sound” from the movie Drumline. Play the clip (not the movie) that correlates with this phrase. Discuss how this relates to the “techniques” of the band, and why it is important.
Brainstorm in small groups (Kagan) what rhythmic precision is and why it is important. In essence notes played at the wrong time are wrong notes. Give playing examples to the band using unison patterns of good rhythmic precision.
Write the four main types of articulations on the chalkboard. Using call and response (I play / you play), let the students match your sound and attack for each note. Also demonstrate to the students that each of these can be played at different dynamic levels. Listen to playing examples of recorded rehearsals and have the students evaluate their own performance. Immediately have them play the same passage correctly.
Facility is the ability to play passages on an instrument without a great deal of difficulty. This is accomplished through many hours of repetition. Have the students discuss ways to improve facility within their small groups (Kagan). Play examples of instrumentalists with excellent facility. Discuss their definitions and how it relates to what they heard in the recordings.
Bi-Weekly assessment of our performance, or a recoded performance. Students will fill out the middle portion of the evaluation sheet (“Technique”). They will be asked to provide a score and three complete sentences over the Rhythm & Precision, Articulation, and Facility.
Play several popular movies for the students, and have them listen to the music that is being used in the background. Choose a variety of styles that use dynamics and have a great deal of expression that impact what is being seen on the screen. Discuss as a large group what was seen and heard, and why the music was important to the movie. This section has a lot to do with individual preference, and the object of the next three lessons is to “get the student to form and opinion.”
Play three or four listening examples for the students that are similar to the style of piece being played for contest. Have them write a few key words for each describing the interpretation and style of the piece. Ask the students to use these words to inspire their performance during a “run through” of different sections of our contest music.
Five minutes before class starts, begin playing a recording of heavy metal music “too loud” over the speakers in the classroom. Do not turn the recoding off until the first five student complain (do not choose Top 40 music). This is a great lead in to why dynamics are important. How does one volume level affect the listener? Relate the discussion to the previous classroom discussion and the movie examples that were played.
Phrases are musical sentences, usually lasting for 4 to 8 measures. Hand out a written musical example and have the students mark the phrases in their parts. Play a recording of this piece to the band and compare their phrase markings to what they are hearing.
Bi-Weekly assessment of our performance or a recorded performance. Students will fill out the middle portion of the evaluation sheet (“Musicality”). They will be asked to provide a score and three complete sentences over the tone, intonation, blend, and balance or the performance.
Final evaluation using the entire graphic organizer. Students will watch a performance on video tape, give a score, and justify each score with three complete sentences.