Beyond the Music – Part 1
As the doors close on our middle school Band room, you will hear……well, let’s just call it, “a joyful noise”, as class begins. To some folks it sounds like chaos; to musicians it should sound like warming up; Band parents might think it sounds like a miracle, depending on what they have been listening to at home. Students learn to read and play music in Band; they are also immersed in a workshop of practical knowledge. They inadvertently pick up a tool kit of life skills that will serve them long after they’ve decided to put the instrument back into its case for the last time. Here are a few of the most valuable skills students learn in music rehearsals—it goes WAY beyond the music!
Teamwork and Interdependence –
In Band, no one sits the bench, everyone plays. Band is “Us, we”,.not “I, me”.
Music is created out of individual contributions from each musician working to the best of their own abilities. Stronger athletes on a sports team may dominate playing time during the game, while other players have to sit the bench and wait to play– sometimes waiting until a win is all but guaranteed. Band teaches teamwork, along with interdependence and working with others. Musicians learn to listen to the group, while simultaneously creating their own sound. Less experienced players will follow and play along with what the stronger musicians play, refining skills as they go. In that same moment, stronger players know that by helping others, they are building the future of the ensemble and that everyone deserves a chance to grow. Multi-tasking and collaboration like this is difficult to recreate in a traditional classroom setting but happens daily in Music rooms.
Delayed Gratification and Breaking Things Down
In today’s world, we really don’t have to wait for much. We can order just about anything, and have it quickly delivered to our front door. We stream our favorite tunes, instead of having to wait by the radio. We can google just about anything and have a reasonable answer almost instantly. We can even binge watch a season’s worth of a TV series and resolve all of the “what happens next” cliffhangers, without having to wait until next season (or even next week)!
Living in an era of instant gratification makes it difficult to allow ourselves time to process newly learned skills. We cannot “download” the ability to play an instrument for example, it takes time to learn the fingerings, to play with a beautiful tone, and you have to put in the time and effort to develop music reading skills along with building your ear and the embouchure (lip) muscles. There is only ever one “first day” in Band; starting with day two, persistent, incremental progress is required to build skills layer upon layer. Sometimes a musician who is struggling might need to isolate a phrase, break it down into smaller pieces, and practice it until they finally nail it–SWEET VICTORY–gotta love that dopamine hit of earned success!
(Stay tuned for Part 2 next month)
