I want my students to be intentional and assertive with tasks, to do their best work everyday, and to boldly take on challenges. Sometimes this means they need to step out of their comfort zones and try new things. Other times this may simply mean practicing tricky musical passages or doing homework assignments with attention to detail.
I gave an assignment recently that a majority of the students turned in incomplete. A critical component of the classwork involved the students selecting two short passages (8-16 measures) in the ensemble music they find challenging and writing a multi-step plan for learning to play the parts. Many students left these questions blank or gave vague responses. During the next class, I climbed on my soapbox. I made this poster to frame the discussion and explain the expression. I’m not the greatest visual artist, but making the poster helped me focus some ideas I wanted to share with the students.
