Henry T.

Law

LP 11 | Mechanism

Objectives:

1. Students will express their own opinions of Mechanism creating a story to accompany the

piece.

2. Students will develop an understanding of how Mechanism works as a whole.

Procedure:

 Goal of the lesson is to have their input to the piece. I have shown them all of the

information they need and now it is their time to tell me what is wrong. I will be using

the form sheets from a few lessons ago that included a “what does this section sound

like?”

 Hello everyone, let us begin by playing Mechanism all the way through.

o Once done, fix problems that are heard, really hitting on the ending of the piece

with all of the correct percussionists.

o Focus will be making sure everything is in time.

 Activity (Create a Story

o Pull out form sheet

o Give some time for them to write down what they think of each section. (their

sound idea).

o Have them talk about it amongst their section or area.

o Have people share their ideas with the ensemble.

o Play the section of music that goes along with their idea

o Repeat until time it out.

  Goal is to have it be their ideas and their rehearsal to make Mechanism be

their piece instead of mine.

 Now here’s why I wanted to do that. All concert block we have been working on the

sound concept that I want to hear but I am not the most educated here, nor do I have the

best musical interpretation here. We are in the final stages of this piece and I want you to

be thinking about what this piece sounds like to you and what can you do to enhance the

sound instead of throwing in the towel and giving up just because it is only UBand.

o Have students shout out ideas that they think the piece is about

 Chicken nugget machine that breaks down was decided

 Final thing of the day I would like to run the piece 1 more time from top to bottom.

Assessment:

1. Teacher facilitated but student lead through activity.

2. Teacher assessed through running the piece.

Reflection

Students
1. What did the ensemble do well?
a. Giving answers that were honest and true to what they thought!
2. What does the ensemble need to work on?
a. Changing moods with the different sections of the piece.
3. How did the ensemble respond to the instruction?
a. Well! My best lesson yet for getting them involved in the process of figuring out
what was wrong and how to fix it.
4. How did the ensemble respond to the conducting technique?
a. They responded better than they have in the past. They were more attentive
because I was showing them more than before.

Conductor
1. Was the conductor adequately prepared for the lesson?
a. No, I wasn’t in the right mindset when it started but I quickly got there.
2. What did the conductor do well?
 a. Facilitating their ideas to grow and enhance the piece.
3. What does the conductor need to work on?
a. Pacing people’s answers so the lesson’s don’t drag on.
4. Did the conductor provide clear conducting technique?
a. Yes, because my technique was there they were comfortable doing things that
they hadn’t before.