Janelle Harris

I had a total of 8 practicum experiences in Sp' 19. I reached across an area of a community group, a jazz group, and mostly a percussion class. 
If I could pick one instrument technique class that I feel the less adequate in, it would be percussion techniques. It's the instrument I have the least experience in and the least knowledge about. Which is why me observing/teaching in a percussion class was extremely important for me, even if I was uncomfortable with it. Observing this class gave me a lot of insight of what I need to know and what I will have to be prepared to teach in the future regarding percussion. I found that the students of the class I was observing were a lot more skilled with percussion than I was, so I thought "How am I supposed to teach them?" Although my percussion skills are only mediocre, there is still a lot I can offer musically. Those students may have a better buzz roll than me, but I can improve their ability to comprehend complex rhythms. I can still teach them how to read notation, and I'm also able to teach how to play a scale correctly. 
In the classroom, it seems that educators are not "winding things back" enough for the students. Instead we fault students for not understanding the content faster. Although it's important to challenge students so that they can continue to grow in their playing abilities, this is very hard to accomplish when the foundation they're given is not sturdy. When observing/facilitating/teaching in my practicum placement, the thing I noticed the most was students failing to notice or correct themselves in their mistakes. Rhythms were being played wrong and notes were being missed. The immediate response from the director was to continue repeating either an exercise of excerpt and somehow that would magically make it better for the students. I gather 2 things from this.
1) It's important for students to put in individual work.
2) If a teacher is finding that a method isn't helping the student, than that teacher should find a new method. 
This is something I found was a problem with my own teaching. Once I finally had the chance to work with the students, when things didn't go the way I expected it, I became scatterbrained and lost my sense of structure. I kept resorting to teaching by rote and repetition, but the more I asked the students to play, the more I realized my "sequence" was not helpful for the students. 
I am much more comfortable teaching in front of my peers for numerous reasons:
1) They know who I am and I know who they are.
2) I know their playing abilities, making it easy for me to prepare for them.
When it comes to teaching at a school and with students I am not familiar with, those two factors are gone. Teaching, then, becomes much more difficult for me. I hope that as I gain more experience and grow more consistent with a group, I may better prepare for my teaching because I will have a better idea of what environment I will be in. 

JMUke is essentially an informal music making experience where anybody can come and learn a few chords on the ukulele, and then strum and sing along to some popular songs. James Madison Univeristy's music education courses 273 and 372 join together in constructing and planning JMUke events. We provide the ukuleles and the slides (which include the chords and lyrics). For our particular event, we held our JMUke jam session at the Court Square Theater located in downtown Harrisonburg. 
The purpose is to bring people together to make music. Whether you consider yourself a musician or not, if you are a music lover then you are more than qualified to participate at a JMUke event. 

         This was my first time conducting a JMUke event. I have participated in events before and they were always a wonderful experience. There's just something magical about a bunch strangers singing and strumming to their favorite songs together.
The Event and the Community
           At the Court Square Theater, when we began our event, I fully expected the JMU students to be the only ones singing along at first, but I was pleasantly surprised when everyone in the theater began singing along to our first song, "Wagon Wheel." We even had a few people sing their own extensions which really added to the whole experience. It was a completely comfortable and informal environment, it was a safe space to make mistakes but sing your heart out. I even heard a grown man completely jamming to "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift. A few people approached me before the event saying they had attended JMUke events before and it made them want to participate in future events, even if it meant going past their bedtime. A few other people brought their own ukuleles and brought friends whom they could teach a few chords to. Every time someone walked in, I would say "Would you like a ukulele?" and they would respond, "I've never played before." which then I responded, "Even better!" and would shove a ukulele in their hands before they could object. But from walking around and observing the participants, I didn't see any discomfort. Of course, there were a few who were still trying to hash out the chords, but the point was that they were not embarrassed or uncomfortable to try, and I think that was really our goal. 
How I Contributed
           The MUED 372 students were in charge of facilitating this project. We had four jobs:

• Content Developer produced initial slides for MUED 273 students to reference. They would edit and ensure the quality of the slides making sure they were comprehensive and consistent. 
• Curricular Developer decides how the MUED 273 students were going to the contribute to this event. They were the messenger between our class and their class.
• Project Administrator was in charge of making sure the rest of the group was carrying out their tasks. They did any other work that needed to be done. 
• Community Liaison was in charge of creating the flier and advertising. Their job was to be in contact of the venue and scope out the place. 

I was the Community Liaison. I typically like to consider myself as someone who is active in the community. I volunteer at local schools, I'm from the area, and I'm also in charge of running and advertising for Clarinet Day so this job was not new for me. I had made and distributed fliers for events before, and I was not afraid to contact anybody in the community if it ever came down to it. My favorite part of the job was distributing the fliers. I had to consider variables such as:

• What kind of audience are we expecting?
• What kind of audience would show up?
• Where can I put fliers where they would see it? 

I decided that since this event was after Alex Lubet's performance brought to us by the Office of Disability Services, I would hang fliers around the music building and Forbes. I also thought that since the Court Square Theater was a free event located downtown, I would hang fliers around downtown. This involved me walking into numerous small businesses and asking them if they could hang a flier for me. This was really enjoyable for me because I got to explore and get to know the downtown area of a city I love and appreciate. Everyone was really nice, and I also got to see other posters/fliers that were distributed. I even took pictures of upcoming events that I would like to attend myself. I had never been to the Court Square Theater before then, and now it's somewhere I would want to go more often. 
What This Means for my Future Teaching
I understand the importance of structured music teaching in public school music classrooms. This could mean orchestra, band, choir, marching band, guitar classes, percussion classes, production classes, and so forth. In any music class we propose, there is some form of curriculum and structure we provide for the students (and then we decide how much we want to provide, it can vary per class or teacher). However, JMUke is not meant so much to teach as it is to provide an experience. If we wanted this to be an ensemble or teaching experience, it's no longer a jam session. JMUke does not need to be limited to only music classes. This can be done anywhere and with anyone. I could have my students lead a ukulele jam session during lunch or breaks throughout the day (study hall, recess, etc.). It's a great way to just expose music to people who don't consider themselves musicians. As a teacher, if my students are ever too stressed or overwhelmed with school or life, we could just take a pause on everything and jam. It would be a way for me to remind my students why we love music, why it's so important, and we why do it. It does not need to be complicated. It can be complicated and sometimes that's necessary, but it doesn't have to be in that moment.

For the past two semesters I have been working with a local middle school band. Before I have helped with the clarinet sections, but due to schedule conflict, I mostly worked with the 6th grade beginning brass class this semester. This was good practice for me because I was able to utilize the knowledge I learned in Brass Tech, I had more 1-1 time with the students, and it was students I haven’t worked with before. I worked with 2 students in particular, the first being a trombone player and the second a saxophone player (she switched from brass). Although I was excited to play and teach some trombone, I learned a lot from this student which tied directly into my independent research. This student was not able to practice at home because of familial obligations. When she first told me she couldn’t practice at home, I was a little dumbfounded because I had just gave a giant spiel on the importance of practice and was quick to assume that she could. However, this student was hardworking and had a wonderful spirit, despite inconveniences, she took her mouthpiece around and would buzz whenever she could. For the other student I worked with, I learned from her the importance of music learning. I asked her to play for me the short melody she was supposed to prepare. I told her to use more air (we practice by blowing a sheet a paper on the wall), then she played for me again and it was better. I then turned the music stand around, and together we broke down the short melody. After which she played it perfectly. I asked her if reading the music confused her and she said yes. Earlier in our MUED371 class, we talked about music learning methods, learning aurally. I’ve had great practice with this myself in my improv class, so when I was working with this student I was able apply some of those methods. I had us sing the melody, sing with fingering the notes, and then play, all without sheet music. Although reading music is important, in this particular student’s case, she was already behind the rest of her class due to her switching instruments halfway through the semester. I think it’s more important to have the student gain the aural fundamentals and understanding of the instrument, because those skills will make music reading and playing easier down the road. Our job is to make this process as easy and successful for the student as possible, while also providing them the tools to be successful later in life. ​

I had never done anything like this before, and I'm very grateful for the experience. I have worked with kids and taught music before on a basic level, which what I was expecting from this project. I was transferred into this project, and it offered a completely new and invigorating experience for me. This project included construction, it was a lot of tedious work and required a lot of my personal time. I had never worked with a sander before, suddenly I had to know how to function on my own with this machinery in the span of 4 hours. I cared a lot for this project. I saw these kids be discouraged yet absolutely satisfied. I used to think I was the kind of person who didn't let my emotions affect my work, but the students could sense my anxiety and it permeated them. We were stressed. When I had multiple students not following directions, gluing things in the wrong place, deconstructing their mistakes, rebuilding of parts because they could not have been recovered, I let the anxiety get to the best of the students. It was a hard lesson for me to learn. These students will probably never know the external work my colleagues and I had to do to make their instruments functional. We spent hours at JMU's X-Labs fixing or reconstructing their ukuleles. However, we don't do our jobs because we want the students to thank us, we do it because it will be a good experience for them. It took me a long time to finally get over my ego. Children will make mistakes and as teachers we must react in two ways. The first, be optimistic. Mistakes are good, they help us learn. The students made a lot of mistakes, and although it was super tempting to get frustrated, I had remember that this wasn't about me. The second, do not fix the mistake for them. Of course, teachers must be careful on how we approach this. I don't want to discourage the student by pointing out everything wrong. Instead of thinking these as "mistakes," I had to think of it as "detours to success." I had to trust that if I was able to provide the right facilitation, the students could figure it out on their own. 
I am very grateful for this experience. I was able to get to know these students on a personal level and I only hope that we made an impact on these students no matter how small. In the end, they did it. They built the ukuleles, and it helped us forget how stressful or strenuous the whole process was. 

Overall, I was very surprised by the behavior of these students. One thing that really stuck with me was what the high school band director said to his students. He told them that he truly believed they were brightest students in the school. A lot of them mumbled or insisted otherwise, from observing music classrooms (even outside the requirements of the class), there is a common pattern within music students that is extremely reassuring, they want to be there. They didn't have to have the best grades in the whole school, but the amount of work ethic, discipline, and focus to accomplish a musical goal is really impressive especially among this age group. I had been told this numerous times while grouping up that music students were the best students, and I would look around and doubt that statement. Of course there will be a few outliers, but even those, when approached with care and patience, have the potential that everyone else has. 
I also have gained a new respect for elementary school teachers. I'm not sure I will ever have the patience to work with young children, but I am so grateful for those who do because they are truly shaping not only future musicians (which is not always to overall goal), but well-rounded citizens of society. 
I really enjoyed the music technology class we observed. Ever since taking MUS150 last year I was inspired to hopefully start and run my own music technology program wherever I teach. I asked the middle school music teacher how he was able to start a program like this, some of the challenges he faced and how he overcame them, and what were the benefits. He mentioned things like scheduling, a supportive principle, funding and providing the technology. But the main thing that really inspired him to start a program like this is to providing more opportunities for students. There were many students he had who had tried band and choir and it just wasn't the right fit for them. But since developing this program, those students were able to find another outlet and strive in that medium. Not only this, but they are still fulfilling national and Virginia music standards in music learning, analyzing, and theory. As I mentioned in a previous reflection, it would be amazing if we could have a music program that practices traditional values while also encouraging new and different music making. I believe this class perfectly exemplifies that. Even though they weren't playing band instruments or singing, they still understood music making and all the aspects that goes into that sort of music-making (such as; instrumentation, blend, phrasing, structure, dynamics) while also enjoying a new medium of music. These kids are really smart and creative, and even though they're not playing an instrument or reading SATB, it doesn't make them any less of a musician. 

Emily Wylie and I have created an interactive musical experience for children.  

Our goal is to have children be able to make decisions for themselves. Our project is meant to encourage students to decide what texture will match with what sound. So if they feel something slimy, what sound what go well with that? Something smooth and delicate? To a kid, what do they think would go well with something slimy? This pushes kids to think deeper about how to make connections with their senses. When kids listen to music, they don't think about these things. We want them to make decisions and be able to explain why, which is something kids are not used to doing. 

See handout below!

For our final project in music technology, we held a small music technology convention for those who were not exposed to music technology to experience it for the first time. Our projects were supposed to be creative but simple enough for people to understand but easily create music without having any background knowledge. All of the projects presented were created by students, there were projects such as: if you touched play-doh it played a note, when you drew on a piece of paper it created a loop, people created their own mixes on garageband and added on their improvisations, created a melody using computer coding, and etc. 
With our project, we had a pocket piano and the digital audio workshop Audacity set up. We asked our visitors to create a simple and short composition with the pocket piano. From what they created, we recorded them and uploaded it on Audacity. From there, we showed various different editing options they could do to make their composition more interesting. 
Our project developed into what I described above. Our original plan was to have people singing or composing a piece from the pocket piano by drawing inspiration from a single picture. My colleagues and I predicted that people would be uncomfortable singing in public (which is why we had the pocket piano), and to be completely honest, we weren't expecting too many people to visit our project. But once we simplified our project (by not so much emphasizing on the picture, encouraging people to experiement with the pocket piano) we were surprised by how many people wanted to create something from the pocket piano. We gave them no boundaries and embraced whatever creation people came up with. After showing them the many options of the pocket piano and Audacity, it was fun seeing what people (people who have never been exposed to music making) created from just a pocket piano and computer. Even though our visitors were at first self-conscious, shy, or maybe even embarressed by the little knowledge they had of music making, our project at least exposed them to a foundation of composition. If we just open the boundaries to creating music and not overwhelm early learners, more people would be interested in what music has to offer. Even after the smallest creation, we could tell that our project sparked some sort of interest for our visitors towards music, and it even helped them realize that you don't have to be a genius or a prodigy to begin developing something for music. Suddenly, by what we've created and our visitors experienced, we are breaking music stereotypes. If there is anything I learned from this course, music technology, and this experiment, it's that music isn't just for musicians and we should embrace that. We should encourage expanding the boundaries to more people, especially our students, towards what music is capable of today no matter how big or small. 

As you approach our project, you will be asked to look at a picture. From this picture, we will ask you to sing a song or create a short melody on the pocket piano (or both!) that would help portray your interpretation on that picture.
We will then record your creation on Audacity, and open the world of many editing options of you have for your composition. You will have the choice to:

• Speed up or slow down your recording
• Change the tone or pitch
• Add another layer of backbeat
• Change the sound or texture
• And much more!

We will open the many options and creativity offered by a DAW program (in our case, Audacity) and how this sort of technology is much more user friendly and accessible than what appears. Once you have given us your creation (in which we will facilitate to make sure you got the sound you want) we will add another layer of someone else's creation, compiling multiple tracks among other tracks so we create a giant composition. Our goal is not to make everyone’s tracks line up with each other or for it to even sound organized, our goal is to send this message: Despite what we identify as (musician, doctor, nurse, engineer, dancer, etc.) we all have the ability to create something. Music technology is not limited to just producers or musicians. And not only are we all able to create something great, we were able to do it by multiple different interpretations of just one picture. It just goes to prove the individuality and expressiveness music offers to each person.   

Technologies Used:
Pocket piano: A small synthesizer modeled after a piano that offers a variety of modes and sounds.
Audacity: A digital audio workstation used to record, compile and edit tracks. ​

*On Dec 15, James Madison Univerisity music technology students will set up their projects in the basement of Carrier Library where anyone avaible can come and play/experience with our projects.

Check our podcast on SoundCloud as we interview someone and take on a new perspective of how music impacts others and their family's lives.