Field Experiences
Here you will learn about my field experiences at El Sistema.
Field experience no. 1
For this field experience I visited El Sistema in London. El Sistema is an after school program that is run by volunteers and a small number of paid staff. El Sistema was founded in Venezuela in the year 1975. This is a not-for-profit organization where students starting at age 6 can take group music lessons for free. Lessons run Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 4:15-7:00 with dinner included halfway through the night. Each student is in an instrumental ensemble (instrument provided) as well as being in choir. At the London location has only taught choir and orchestra until last year when they introduced winds and brass. The school takes place at on old church on William St.
During my experience I observed the junior choir (ages 6-11) that was run by Ben. This class included 24 rambunctious children who were roughly 50% boys and 50% girls. The room had nothing in it except a piano so the only real distraction was their fellow students. This behaviour can be expected since it is after school and it’s so close to Christmas. In this particular rehearsal they were getting ready for the Christmas concert by singing the song Hot Chocolate. To be fully honest this was the first choir rehearsal I have sat in on so their warm up routine was either really unique or very generic for children’s choirs, I am not fully sure. Nonetheless, Ben had the class use different parts of their voice by pushing their range, creating different textures and what really impressed me was his motorcycle warm up. He would have the students pretend to hold the handlebars of a motorcycle and rev its engine while making a motorcycle sound. When going faster they would go more nasally then back down again. The kids absolutely loved this warm up! I thought it was so cool how it was not musically different to what adult choirs would do.
It was really cool how Ben had the students practicing for a performance without them really knowing it. They knew the concert was coming up but he made sure they were always facing forward and singing to the back of the room. Being that these kids were so young and wild behaviour management was about 50% of what he did. You could tell that Ben was getting tired and a little agitated at times but not once did he raise his voice or get upset with the kids. I had tremendous respect for his level of patience. My favourite attention grabber was the classic clapping on, 1 2 3+4 but instead of clapping they would vocalize different syllables. Examples include Ku, Ke, Fe, Toh, or Shh. I thought this was a genius way to get their attention because a), it worked, and b) it helped them with vocal skills at the same time. Talk about two birds! Ben also used incentives like, “If we sing this perfect you can all sit down”. Funny enough this one really worked and when they sang sitting down (on the floor not chairs) there were fewer behaviour problems. He was constantly trying new ways to keep their attention and have them on task. Sometimes this included separating friends but when that was the case he made it very clear that this is choir, not social time. If they wanted to hang out and talk with their friends dinner was not too far away.
Despite their attention not always being 100% engaged it was clear that the students were having lots of fun. Their attention was the best when they were singing the more difficult parts, I am assuming because the more challenging parts can be a lot of fun. I was so impressed how at 6-10 years old these kids were singing in two different parts. The two different parts had contrasting lyrics and slightly different pitches. The fact that they had harmony going on was unbelievable! Ben wasn’t afraid to push the kids but in order to do so he had to make sure they all understood how to do what was asking. He always had a new way of teaching a concept. For example, at first their diction wasn’t great so he stopped to focus on the articulation of the words. Instead of using the word articulation he said, “sassy” and they all sung it like ‘valley girls’. They loved this approach and it really worked! Except for one time I noticed he never talked about intonation. In the one instance some kids were going way too high and some were going too low on a leap, and that’s what he told them. The note was played on piano and they mated the pitch almost immediately. Although he did not mention tuning he was constantly reinforcing good diction because when their diction improved so did every thing else, i.e., tuning, energy, dynamics, and a little bit of tone.
Besides his patience what I was most impressed with was his energy. It was overwhelmingly positive but with the utmost control. He always portrayed the energy he wanted to receive from their music. Near the end of rehearsal he stood at the back of the room on a chair and conducted the choir. While conducting he mouthed the words very clearly to help keep them on track. In doing this it reinforce the practice of watching their conductor.
At this point in their rehearsal schedule they had the music completely memorized. I’m not sure if they started off with lyrics but not a single person had them when I came to visit. This was so great because it allowed them to just focus on the music. When I was in elementary school our music teacher would always project the lyrics on the wall. It was so great to see kids who were younger than I was singing without them.
Ben and assisted by a piano player. The player, Jeff didn’t have a lot to do with this class (he runs the orchestra) but was still able to help out. I was quite impressed with his subtle help. For example, before the kids would sing he would play a small V-I tonicization. I am not sure if the students knew what he was doing but it caused the choir to come in on key.
Ben and Jeff worked together with crowd control. There were smart about when to take breaks. Around halfway through the hour class they took a stretch break. Ben got the kids to pretend they were puppets by bringing their head up like it was on a string, while slowly raising their arms. They would then spin around and stretch their legs, torso, and neck. I was happy to see them do this because there is nothing like a good stretch to keep you focused. Back in October I watched a guest lecture from renowned tuba player, Patrick Sheridan creator of the, Breathing Gym. One of he biggest points about effective practice was there must always be joy while practicing. If you are losing joy in the practice room (or in this case the rehearsal space) take five minutes to step out, clear your head, and have a good stretch. It poses the question, would you rather have 20 minutes of a not great rehearsal or take a 5 minute break and have a fantastic 15 minutes? I was so pleased to see this being introduced with young kids because they are all there to have fun, not get stressed out about that minor 6th leap at the end of measure 29.
To conclude I was quite happy about the opportunity to see Ben conduct his choir. I had zero choral background in my musical journey so this was very insightful. As a future educator I have realized that I will definitely be put in front of a choir at some point in my career so I need to get as much experience like this as I can. It was obvious that Ben has a choral background and was very experienced in his field but that does not mean I cannot do what he was doing. I do have a large background in music and that is what I can bring to the table. This experience showed me how beneficial observing other teachers can be. Whether it is getting inspiration on a lesson plan or a motorcycle warm up routine.
During my experience I observed the junior choir (ages 6-11) that was run by Ben. This class included 24 rambunctious children who were roughly 50% boys and 50% girls. The room had nothing in it except a piano so the only real distraction was their fellow students. This behaviour can be expected since it is after school and it’s so close to Christmas. In this particular rehearsal they were getting ready for the Christmas concert by singing the song Hot Chocolate. To be fully honest this was the first choir rehearsal I have sat in on so their warm up routine was either really unique or very generic for children’s choirs, I am not fully sure. Nonetheless, Ben had the class use different parts of their voice by pushing their range, creating different textures and what really impressed me was his motorcycle warm up. He would have the students pretend to hold the handlebars of a motorcycle and rev its engine while making a motorcycle sound. When going faster they would go more nasally then back down again. The kids absolutely loved this warm up! I thought it was so cool how it was not musically different to what adult choirs would do.
It was really cool how Ben had the students practicing for a performance without them really knowing it. They knew the concert was coming up but he made sure they were always facing forward and singing to the back of the room. Being that these kids were so young and wild behaviour management was about 50% of what he did. You could tell that Ben was getting tired and a little agitated at times but not once did he raise his voice or get upset with the kids. I had tremendous respect for his level of patience. My favourite attention grabber was the classic clapping on, 1 2 3+4 but instead of clapping they would vocalize different syllables. Examples include Ku, Ke, Fe, Toh, or Shh. I thought this was a genius way to get their attention because a), it worked, and b) it helped them with vocal skills at the same time. Talk about two birds! Ben also used incentives like, “If we sing this perfect you can all sit down”. Funny enough this one really worked and when they sang sitting down (on the floor not chairs) there were fewer behaviour problems. He was constantly trying new ways to keep their attention and have them on task. Sometimes this included separating friends but when that was the case he made it very clear that this is choir, not social time. If they wanted to hang out and talk with their friends dinner was not too far away.
Despite their attention not always being 100% engaged it was clear that the students were having lots of fun. Their attention was the best when they were singing the more difficult parts, I am assuming because the more challenging parts can be a lot of fun. I was so impressed how at 6-10 years old these kids were singing in two different parts. The two different parts had contrasting lyrics and slightly different pitches. The fact that they had harmony going on was unbelievable! Ben wasn’t afraid to push the kids but in order to do so he had to make sure they all understood how to do what was asking. He always had a new way of teaching a concept. For example, at first their diction wasn’t great so he stopped to focus on the articulation of the words. Instead of using the word articulation he said, “sassy” and they all sung it like ‘valley girls’. They loved this approach and it really worked! Except for one time I noticed he never talked about intonation. In the one instance some kids were going way too high and some were going too low on a leap, and that’s what he told them. The note was played on piano and they mated the pitch almost immediately. Although he did not mention tuning he was constantly reinforcing good diction because when their diction improved so did every thing else, i.e., tuning, energy, dynamics, and a little bit of tone.
Besides his patience what I was most impressed with was his energy. It was overwhelmingly positive but with the utmost control. He always portrayed the energy he wanted to receive from their music. Near the end of rehearsal he stood at the back of the room on a chair and conducted the choir. While conducting he mouthed the words very clearly to help keep them on track. In doing this it reinforce the practice of watching their conductor.
At this point in their rehearsal schedule they had the music completely memorized. I’m not sure if they started off with lyrics but not a single person had them when I came to visit. This was so great because it allowed them to just focus on the music. When I was in elementary school our music teacher would always project the lyrics on the wall. It was so great to see kids who were younger than I was singing without them.
Ben and assisted by a piano player. The player, Jeff didn’t have a lot to do with this class (he runs the orchestra) but was still able to help out. I was quite impressed with his subtle help. For example, before the kids would sing he would play a small V-I tonicization. I am not sure if the students knew what he was doing but it caused the choir to come in on key.
Ben and Jeff worked together with crowd control. There were smart about when to take breaks. Around halfway through the hour class they took a stretch break. Ben got the kids to pretend they were puppets by bringing their head up like it was on a string, while slowly raising their arms. They would then spin around and stretch their legs, torso, and neck. I was happy to see them do this because there is nothing like a good stretch to keep you focused. Back in October I watched a guest lecture from renowned tuba player, Patrick Sheridan creator of the, Breathing Gym. One of he biggest points about effective practice was there must always be joy while practicing. If you are losing joy in the practice room (or in this case the rehearsal space) take five minutes to step out, clear your head, and have a good stretch. It poses the question, would you rather have 20 minutes of a not great rehearsal or take a 5 minute break and have a fantastic 15 minutes? I was so pleased to see this being introduced with young kids because they are all there to have fun, not get stressed out about that minor 6th leap at the end of measure 29.
To conclude I was quite happy about the opportunity to see Ben conduct his choir. I had zero choral background in my musical journey so this was very insightful. As a future educator I have realized that I will definitely be put in front of a choir at some point in my career so I need to get as much experience like this as I can. It was obvious that Ben has a choral background and was very experienced in his field but that does not mean I cannot do what he was doing. I do have a large background in music and that is what I can bring to the table. This experience showed me how beneficial observing other teachers can be. Whether it is getting inspiration on a lesson plan or a motorcycle warm up routine.
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Field Experience no. 2
For My second field experience I went to El Sistema to observe their junior orchestra. The class was run by, Jeff (who played piano last time). This class had half of the students from the choir, The Dorians. At El Sistema they divide the kids up into to two different groups. This is a great way to control class sizes. For choir both the groups were together (Phrygians and Dorians) and for orchestra they split up. My observations were on the Dorians. This class consisted of 1 cello (because 3 were missing), 3 violas, and 8 violins making 12 children in total, with 7 girls and 5 boys. Even though there were only 5 boys it sure felt like there were more. There were 3 in particular that were particularly rowdy. Whether it was hiding behind the chairs or doing the complete opposite to what Jeff asked.
For orchestra the group would go to the basement. Rehearsals took place in a medium sized room (similar to our class) with a baby grand piano in the corner. The room was completely plain and had no decorations around. All the students would stand except for the cellos. A neat feature to the room was instead of the cellos bringing an endpin anchor or an old piece of carpet they cut out tiny grooves in the floor. They were so small I never would have noticed unless the cello player put her instrument in one. Afterwards I tested it out and it was surprisingly sturdy so I’ll definitely take that for my own classroom. Since there were no chairs the students kept their cases with them at all times. This way when they were not playing there was a safe place to store their violin/viola. Attached to this room was a smaller room with a closed door that was used for games/moving exercises (great for instrument protection).
When it came to interacting with the students Jeff had an exceptional amount of patience. Similar to choir rehearsal he used a call and repeat “Shh” on 1 2 3+4. This worked pretty well with the students although it usually took a few tries. For encouraging good behaviour and listening he would keep points each class. If he had their full attention before 3 tries they got a point. If it took more than 3 tries he got a point. This was kept track on a little white board and the front of the room. By the end of class if he had more points they would rehearse all the pieces one more time but if the Dorians did they got to play a game. For the most part this really kept the kids on track but near the end those 3 boys thought it would be funny to cheer on Jeff. Even I’ll admit it was a little funny but the other students certainly did not and got upset with their fellow classmates.
When it came to nonverbal communication Jeff was really good at demonstrating good technique. He kept his viola with him and always stood up straight with a very relaxed position. It did not work with every kid but the ones who were very engaged definitely watched and learned from him.
There were definitely some behaviour problems in the class. Similar to the choir rehearsal I observed it felt like the boys were just tired and needed to blow off some steam. Something that really helped with this was dinner break. Orchestra started at 5:00 and went to 5:30, at this time they had dinner until 6:00. They would return to orchestra from 6:00-7:00. Having a dinner break was super beneficial and I definitely noticed a difference in behaviour afterwords. If behaviours are a serious problem on a particular day there is a ‘cool down area’ around the corner. This consisted of a comfy chair and some colouring books. I absolutely loved this because it was not a time out - something that can really make a student feel bad about themselves. This is a way for students to take a minute for themselves and actually cool down. Come back to rehearsal refreshed and recharged.
From my one time observation it felt like the goals were to first and foremost develop a love for playing music, but also how to play music in a group. An activity that reflected this was, Circles, Squares, and Triangles. This activity took place in the side room to avoid instrument damage. Once the students were in the side room they gathered in a circle and would start with the ‘square’ pattern. This consisted of clapping hands and stomping feet on beats, 1 + 2 + 3 +4. Next, they did ‘circles’ which was stomping on the down beat (1, 2, 3, and 4) then clapping on e+a. The ‘triangle’ partner was stomping on quarter not triplets then clapping on the last beat. At first they would do each pattern together. Once this was solidified they split up into two groups where one group would do triangles and the other would do squares. He would mix up the different combinations for a few minutes then split them into three groups. Now each group plays a different shape creating a polyrhythm. The fact that he had 6 year olds stomping and clapping out polyrhythms blew me away. They had so much fun with this activity and were completely engaged.
Another goal of this program is to provide children with quality music education. The teachers at El Sistema were all high caliber players/teachers. Jeff, the orchestra teacher is currently doing his DMA in viola performance. The cellos were pulled out for some private instruction with Adrian Wright, a professional cellist and professor at Western University (my cello techniques professor) and after studying with Adrian for only 6 weeks I can tell these kids are extremely fortunate to be studying with such a great educator and player. The coordinator of El Sistema London is Maxime Crawford-Holland who is currently doing his masters in music education here at western. After talking to him about the program he talked about recruiting from Western.
When it came to repertoire Jeff had the students playing a D major scale as well as Jingle Bells (in D major), this is the piece they would play at their final concert. He structured the lesson like this; The students first walked in and put their instruments on the floor. He had them open the cases but leaving everything in it (or he got a point). They first took out the bow and did some warm ups. This included reviewing his bow rules, 1) Bent thumb 2) spaced fingers 3) Curved fingers. The students all knew this quite well. They then did a bow race! This is when you hold the bow in your right hand and using only your fingers you move up the bow and all the way back down. He then lead some pinky push ups. This is done by pushing the bow down with your pinky. Once they picked up their instruments he led a D major scale. They played it with different patterns such as “pepperoni-pizza” (1e+a 2+). They then went into the other room to play the shapes game. By this time it was dinner! Dinner break was 30 minutes and they had rice and chilli. The fact that they provided the kids (and me) with food was amazing. This way they can go much longer and when everyone came back I noticed a huge difference in their attention span. Once they returned they ran through jingle bells as a group, first with music then by memory. Although their sheet music was not actual notation, it had symbols for each note. If it was F# it would be D2, second finger on the D string. Some of the students were sill having trouble with the memory aspect so he played the piece backwards (section by section, not note by note) and it really helped. Jeff was very observant of all kids and where their difficulties lied. In this case it was the ending. After he ran through it a few times it he gave them some personal practice time at which point he traveled around the room to provide individual instruction. At this time myself as long as a few volunteers also went around and helped with some tricky sections. This was a ton of fun! I couldn’t believe how fast some of these kids picked up the piece as well as some very difficult aspects to playing the violin/viola. Some of these kids had a really great ear and just needed a little extra guidance with how to play the tricky sections.
This entire experience really reminded me how much I love teaching strings. It was also a huge eye opener. So many places restrict their students to only singing or recorders but at El Sistema they have 6 year olds playing in an orchestra! To be frank, they were doing a lot better than lots of middle school orchestras. These kids were such musical sponges. If there was one thing this experience showed me was to not hold back on little kids. If you show them what they are capable of they love the opportunity to impress you.
For orchestra the group would go to the basement. Rehearsals took place in a medium sized room (similar to our class) with a baby grand piano in the corner. The room was completely plain and had no decorations around. All the students would stand except for the cellos. A neat feature to the room was instead of the cellos bringing an endpin anchor or an old piece of carpet they cut out tiny grooves in the floor. They were so small I never would have noticed unless the cello player put her instrument in one. Afterwards I tested it out and it was surprisingly sturdy so I’ll definitely take that for my own classroom. Since there were no chairs the students kept their cases with them at all times. This way when they were not playing there was a safe place to store their violin/viola. Attached to this room was a smaller room with a closed door that was used for games/moving exercises (great for instrument protection).
When it came to interacting with the students Jeff had an exceptional amount of patience. Similar to choir rehearsal he used a call and repeat “Shh” on 1 2 3+4. This worked pretty well with the students although it usually took a few tries. For encouraging good behaviour and listening he would keep points each class. If he had their full attention before 3 tries they got a point. If it took more than 3 tries he got a point. This was kept track on a little white board and the front of the room. By the end of class if he had more points they would rehearse all the pieces one more time but if the Dorians did they got to play a game. For the most part this really kept the kids on track but near the end those 3 boys thought it would be funny to cheer on Jeff. Even I’ll admit it was a little funny but the other students certainly did not and got upset with their fellow classmates.
When it came to nonverbal communication Jeff was really good at demonstrating good technique. He kept his viola with him and always stood up straight with a very relaxed position. It did not work with every kid but the ones who were very engaged definitely watched and learned from him.
There were definitely some behaviour problems in the class. Similar to the choir rehearsal I observed it felt like the boys were just tired and needed to blow off some steam. Something that really helped with this was dinner break. Orchestra started at 5:00 and went to 5:30, at this time they had dinner until 6:00. They would return to orchestra from 6:00-7:00. Having a dinner break was super beneficial and I definitely noticed a difference in behaviour afterwords. If behaviours are a serious problem on a particular day there is a ‘cool down area’ around the corner. This consisted of a comfy chair and some colouring books. I absolutely loved this because it was not a time out - something that can really make a student feel bad about themselves. This is a way for students to take a minute for themselves and actually cool down. Come back to rehearsal refreshed and recharged.
From my one time observation it felt like the goals were to first and foremost develop a love for playing music, but also how to play music in a group. An activity that reflected this was, Circles, Squares, and Triangles. This activity took place in the side room to avoid instrument damage. Once the students were in the side room they gathered in a circle and would start with the ‘square’ pattern. This consisted of clapping hands and stomping feet on beats, 1 + 2 + 3 +4. Next, they did ‘circles’ which was stomping on the down beat (1, 2, 3, and 4) then clapping on e+a. The ‘triangle’ partner was stomping on quarter not triplets then clapping on the last beat. At first they would do each pattern together. Once this was solidified they split up into two groups where one group would do triangles and the other would do squares. He would mix up the different combinations for a few minutes then split them into three groups. Now each group plays a different shape creating a polyrhythm. The fact that he had 6 year olds stomping and clapping out polyrhythms blew me away. They had so much fun with this activity and were completely engaged.
Another goal of this program is to provide children with quality music education. The teachers at El Sistema were all high caliber players/teachers. Jeff, the orchestra teacher is currently doing his DMA in viola performance. The cellos were pulled out for some private instruction with Adrian Wright, a professional cellist and professor at Western University (my cello techniques professor) and after studying with Adrian for only 6 weeks I can tell these kids are extremely fortunate to be studying with such a great educator and player. The coordinator of El Sistema London is Maxime Crawford-Holland who is currently doing his masters in music education here at western. After talking to him about the program he talked about recruiting from Western.
When it came to repertoire Jeff had the students playing a D major scale as well as Jingle Bells (in D major), this is the piece they would play at their final concert. He structured the lesson like this; The students first walked in and put their instruments on the floor. He had them open the cases but leaving everything in it (or he got a point). They first took out the bow and did some warm ups. This included reviewing his bow rules, 1) Bent thumb 2) spaced fingers 3) Curved fingers. The students all knew this quite well. They then did a bow race! This is when you hold the bow in your right hand and using only your fingers you move up the bow and all the way back down. He then lead some pinky push ups. This is done by pushing the bow down with your pinky. Once they picked up their instruments he led a D major scale. They played it with different patterns such as “pepperoni-pizza” (1e+a 2+). They then went into the other room to play the shapes game. By this time it was dinner! Dinner break was 30 minutes and they had rice and chilli. The fact that they provided the kids (and me) with food was amazing. This way they can go much longer and when everyone came back I noticed a huge difference in their attention span. Once they returned they ran through jingle bells as a group, first with music then by memory. Although their sheet music was not actual notation, it had symbols for each note. If it was F# it would be D2, second finger on the D string. Some of the students were sill having trouble with the memory aspect so he played the piece backwards (section by section, not note by note) and it really helped. Jeff was very observant of all kids and where their difficulties lied. In this case it was the ending. After he ran through it a few times it he gave them some personal practice time at which point he traveled around the room to provide individual instruction. At this time myself as long as a few volunteers also went around and helped with some tricky sections. This was a ton of fun! I couldn’t believe how fast some of these kids picked up the piece as well as some very difficult aspects to playing the violin/viola. Some of these kids had a really great ear and just needed a little extra guidance with how to play the tricky sections.
This entire experience really reminded me how much I love teaching strings. It was also a huge eye opener. So many places restrict their students to only singing or recorders but at El Sistema they have 6 year olds playing in an orchestra! To be frank, they were doing a lot better than lots of middle school orchestras. These kids were such musical sponges. If there was one thing this experience showed me was to not hold back on little kids. If you show them what they are capable of they love the opportunity to impress you.