Ben Maynard

MUSE 250
11-1-16
Middle School Brass Observation
I had the ambitious opportunity to observe a middle school band class at Burris
Laboratory school. This class is comprised of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students and is
taught by Mrs. Mulcahy. Considering that this class included students that were just beginning
and students that were in their third year of playing, I observed a different outlook on how to run
a middle school band classroom than I am used to. We are currently learning how to teach and
deal with certain scenarios for beginning brass players in Brass Tech. Therefore, this experience
was eye opening in the sense that it expanded my knowledge about different scenarios that band
directors will experience. I noted many details about executive skills, pedagogy, and rehearsal
technique after watching the hour middle school band class.
One of the most noticeable and obvious aspects of a band are the executive skills. Are the
students sitting up straight, do they have their feet on the ground, are they holding instruments
correctly, are they puffing their cheeks when playing? The students playing brass instruments in
this band had a decent understanding on how hold their instruments, minus a few. I noted that
one out of the two horn players had her hand too far into the bell and had the outcome of a
muffled sound. Additionally, I observed a few trombone players that wrapped their left hand on
the bar connected the bell to the rest of the instrument, and players that used their whole hand to
move the slide. Out of the whole brass section, I only notice one bad embouchure case which
was a students puffing her cheeks out when playing. Mrs. Mulcahy was reminding the students to
maintain appropriate posture after many students were slacking. I experienced many worries of
executive skills that were mentioned in class and how a teacher might deal with some of them.
Every teacher has minor differences in their pedagogical approach to brass playing. I find
it very interesting to become familiar with other teachers pedagogical thoughts to help expand

Ben Maynard
MUSE 250
11-1-16
mine. During this bands rehearsal, the teacher mentioned breathing but didnt go into much
detail and didnt exercise it for a warm up. On a different note, the teacher asked the students to
hum the tuning pitch before playing it and kept the class engaged by asking various questions
about tuning tendencies. Mrs. Mulcahy used the phrase more air or tighten embouchure when
referring to fixing notes with flat tuning tendencies. She then moved on to some articulation
comments when rehearsing music. The students were playing a passage in their music that Mrs.
Mulcahy wanted to be played more lightly. Her technique consisted of singing the passage in a
really heavy style followed by the light style that she envisioned. Similarly, she referred jazz
articulations in a Charlie Brown Christmas song such as: Dot, Da, Du, and Dit. She sang a
passage in the music with these articulations, and then asked the students to do so which resulted
in the students playing the music more stylistically. I am refreshed after observing that teachers
are definitely using these pedagogical techniques that we are learning in class in the field and
getting good results from them.
Rehearsal technique is another characteristic of teaching band that is effective to observe
to improve my own. To begin the class, the students played scale exercises different in mode and
rhythmic intensity. Mrs. Mulcahy mentioned breathing and then the students took a tuning note
before they began working on sheet music. As I observed the rehearsal, I noticed that the director
never really conducted the ensemble. If she wanted something to be played a certain way, she
would yell out over the students playing. Additionally, the teacher never took time to rehearse
individual sections, and instead relied heavily on individual practice. Mrs. Mulcahy basically
started from the top of the pieces and then stopped whenever the ensemble fell apart or she heard
something that she didnt like. Last but not least, the teacher but the rehearsal plans up on the
board so that it was visible to the students. After observing and reflecting on the class that I

Ben Maynard
MUSE 250
11-1-16
observed, I was opened up to many ideas when referring to pedagogy, rehearsal technique, and
also several ways to manage a classroom with players at the beginner and intermediate level.