Musical Activity Reflection

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.