Month: May 2018

As a reflection of my activity I have decided to get feedback on the organisational front and on the mentoring and coaching aspect. Mrs Bryce, the principal teacher of music at my school, said that I was well organised, had got spare parts in case of emergency, conducted the group professionally and was also organised before the performance as I warmed up the group and tuned before we went on. Fraser, clarinettist in the group, said ‘rehearsals were arranged on a regular basis and extra rehearsals were always made if we needed extra rehearsal time’. He also said ‘conducting was clear and tempos, cues, bars in and conducting actions were consistent between rehearsals and performances’. Cara, flautist in the group, said ‘Archie was very good at organising rehearsals each week and changing the time/day if the rehearsal time didn’t suit’. She also said ‘Archie arranged a performance opportunity for the group which allowed us to work towards something’. I think that one of my strengths as a person is organisational skills and this aspect of the activity came very naturally to me. If I were to do this again I would have arranged one or two more rehearsals to perfect some minor issues. As far as the mentoring aspect of the activity goes, Mrs Bryce said that I focused in on the finer details on the music and was successful in getting them out of the group. Fraser said ‘comments in rehearsals were always very clear and consise’ and ‘it was made sure that as a group we were always together, listening and dynamically balanced’. Cara said ‘during rehearsals effective comments were always made about the playing of the piece, initially about correcting the rhythms in the piece. Archie also highlighted the particular parts that we needed to practise at home. He also made worthwhile comments about the style of the piece, articulation and how to use articulation effectively as a group. Archie also encouraged us to think about dynamics to increase the effectiveness of the piece’. I was less familiar with mentoring a group but I was a trial and error process and I think that I learned quickly what the group responded to and what would allow them to reach their full potential. If I were to repeat this process and had more time, I would’ve spent more time at the start of the process asking what the group wanted to focus on musically.

For my musical activity I decided to set up a woodwind trio at our school as we have a strong woodwind sections and I am a saxophonist and an oboist. I  decided that we were going to work on a piece for the schools chamber concert in March. I selected three players from my school who I thought would benefit from an opportunity to play some chamber music. I also had to involve the school music department in order to secure a rehearsal space every week. I had to find a piece of music that was going to challenge the group but was still feasible. I also had to get spare parts in case anyone forgot their music. I decided that we would rehearse every week and that I would need to set up the room every week for rehearsals. I also had to organise a list of rehearsal dates that everyone would be able to make.

Here is a short list of dates of our woodwind trio rehearsals and the feedback I gave to the teacher at the end of each rehearsal.

19/9/17: first rehearsal. Good focus and enthusiasm from everyone.

3/10/17: good behaviour. Once again good focus and enthusiasm.

24/10/17: rehearsal started a bit late which was due to the pupils not being ready on time.

31/10/17: everyone was dot on time after last week’s late start. Good progress made

7/11/17: Cara the flautist forgot her music which wasn’t good however I had a spare so she could have her own.

14/11/17: Fraser the clarinettist also forgot his music! I was disappointed with them due to the lack of organisation.

21/11/17: everyone was well prepared and had practised their parts which made the rehearsal productive.

5/12/17: rehearsal was incredibly focused and everyone communicated their musical thoughts well.

12/12/17: last rehearsal before Christmas. Not as focused as previous rehearsal.

30/1/18: first rehearsal back after my prelims and Christmas and no one had practised their parts but I said that they had to practise them for next week or I would have to extend the rehearsal time.

6/2/18: afterschool rehearsal. Everyone turned up very late however I wasn’t surprised as we weren’t in our usual rehearsal space so everyone had to find the new room.

23/2/18: productive rehearsal with good focus and everyone had practised.

6/3/18: very unfocused and distracted. I had to schedule another rehearsal due to the lack of focus in this rehearsal.

8/3/18: much better rehearsal after the last rehearsal. Everyone was really into the music.

13/3/18: last rehearsal before the concert. Everyone was starting to peak at the right moment.