Reprinted from the Rutgers Music Education Newsletter, Spring 1995 issue
Giving Students Responsibility
by
William Berz
Last December, I attended the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago. Among the many exciting concerts and clinics, one session stood out: an amazing clinic on empowering students by John Whitwell, Director of Bands at Michigan State University. Prof. Whitwell had been a very successful high school band director, first in Jackson, Michigan and then in Ann Arbor, Michigan. His bands, especially in Ann Arbor, were at a national level having performed at many of state, regional, and national conferences. Some New Jersey directors might like to read my interpretation of some of the ideas presented.
Whitwell's central point was that we should expect more from our students in a number of different ways. He began by outlining his student officer organization in Ann Arbor. John did not take credit for establishing the system; his predecessor, Ed Downing (now at Interlochen) started the student officer system. Students took care of most of the administrative duties, many of which are often done by band directors in other programs. Students set up chairs for every concert band rehearsal, handed out band uniforms, made sure that instruments were handed out and maintained correctly, and performed countless other duties. In this way, Whitwell was freed to do those things that only he could do: study scores, plan for rehearsals, choose music for study, teach lessons, and the like. In addition, as in many band programs, band parents also took major responsibility for administration of the band. John stressed that directors should do what they do best: teach music!
While many directors assign students to do these kinds of activities, Whitwell took several additional steps in expanding expectations on students.
Music educators are constantly encouraging their students to practice. Yet Whitwell maintained that many conductors do not really encourage them to do so, because much of our rehearsing is really supervised practice. If we do not truly hold our students responsible for preparing for rehearsals and lessons, they probably won't. We directors need to find ways to hold our students accountable for preparing/practicing for rehearsals, sectionals, etc. Whitwell did many things to encourage practicing, including having playing tests for grades. But the real trick, was simply assuming that students prepared. In contrast, I think that most directors assume that students don't practice. Whitwell encouraged his students to take responsibility for their music making.
Probably many of these issues can be reduced to motivation. Do the students want to be the part of a good program or is it easier to fall into bad habits? We directors need to channel our energy into teaching music in rehearsals in exciting ways. It is not enough to simply concentrate on selling the program through excessive performance. When we teach by rote due to the pressure of impending performance, music teaching suffers. I certainly understand pressures of preparing for performance--I fall into this trap myself quite often. Quite honestly, my teaching is much better when I forget about the quality of the performance and think about the quality of teaching and learning; I might add however that this is difficult to do.
If we motivate our students toward excellence, the quality of our performances will steadily improve. If we insist that students take responsibility for both musical and non-musical actions, our programs cannot help but improve. This is of course a difficult goal. It does seem however, that most truly excellent programs try to achieve this objective.