Scottish Folk Music & Hebrides Suite
| BACK TO MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOL BAND |
As part of my experiences at Penns Valley Area High School, I have been working with Mr. Leskowicz and the High School Band in rehearsing Hebrides Suite by Clare Grundman. Through my work with theses students, I developed a cohesive unit of study that gives students the opportunity to explore the rich historical, cultural, and musical traditions of Scotland (specifically the Hebrides region) within a traditional ensemble setting. My unit is a cross-curricular fusion of performing arts and core academics that incorporates:
~Exploring historical documents and recordings through interactive multimedia presentations
~Listening and reflecting upon historical and current performances
~Singing traditional Scottish folk music
~Exploring the compositional and musical structure of the work
~Analyzing and critiquing rehearsals and performances
~Rehearsing in different settings and different size groups.
We started off our unit by exploring the origins of the four folk songs that make up this work. For each folk song, I developed a PowerPoint presentation that featured several performances of the folk melody in its different settings, the original text of the folk song and necessary translations, and background information and history about the song. In conjunction with the PowerPoint, I distributed a packet containing the original folk songs compiled in Marjory Kennedy-Frasier's Songs of the Hebrides. I used this packet with the students by having them sing the folk songs to have a better understanding of the style as well as have a unique musical performance opportunity. In addition, we held group discussions to talk about what we heard in the various recordings and how we can apply what we heard into our performance. Below are the PowerPoint presentations I prepared:
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We continued to explore the folks songs in our rehearsals, really digging deep to get the desired style and articulations. In addition, I spent a great deal of time working with the students on getting out of their parts and listening around the ensemble. To help them with the listening, I changed our rehearsal set-up (circle rehearsals, switching around students, rehearsing smaller groups/individuals), had students reflect and assess their listening, even had students come up to the podium to hear what I was hearing from the group.
One way I had students reflect and assess their progress was by having them complete listening journals that I had developed. Students listened to a specific instrument each rehearsal (a different one each time and one that wasn't their own) and noted what they heard and how it affects their part and performance. At the end of rehearsal, students wrote their thoughts down in their listening journals and after five rehearsals I collected their responses. Some students really grasped what I was saying and were really reflective in their journals, while others simply wrote down a few thoughts to complete the assignment. Below are a few of the listening journals from my students.
Another way I had students reflect was through watching the videos of our rehearsals and run-throughs and having them write down their own reflections and thoughts. This way I could easily see their thoughts on our work and progress and see how well they lined up with my thoughts. Here is a copy of the PowerPoint I used to help guide students with their reflections as well as a sheet that I created combining both my comments and their comments as well as the average rating they gave themselves and the entire ensemble (see below).
First Run Through Reflection | |
File Size: | 49 kb |
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I have greatly enjoyed rehearsing these students on a daily basis and am really excited to see how the final performance turns out. Below are some of my rehearsals with the high school band on Hebrides Suite over the course of my time at Penns Valley:
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