Princeton High School Music Theory Class, March 23, 2016

     The last class that I observed on March 23^rd was Mr. Crawford’s music theory class, directly after the junior varsity choir, from 10:50 until 12:05. This class only has 8 students in it, but they were all very attentive. I think the fact that the class was so small made the students more comfortable when speaking up about concepts that they didn’t understand. I think that’s a really important aspect especially when it comes to music theory because it is a hard class but it is also crucial that you understand every concept because they all relate and build off of each other.  That day the class was focusing specifically on part writing when they were given the soprano and bass lines. Mr. Crawford explained the concept of how to properly double voices, and when asked to do exercises in their workbook, he did them along with them on his own copy. Then he would go around the room and ask each student to take one problem and do it for the class. This allowed them to ask questions if they were confused and show him that they understood once they got the concept.

     While teaching, Mr. Crawford sat at the same table that the students were sitting at and I think that allowed the students to feel more comfortable asking him questions when they needed clarification on certain things. It did allow the students though to get easily distracted by striking up a conversation with Mr. Crawford that may not be music related. I also probably would have taught more with examples on the board so that the students could see the process happening, instead of describing it and hoping they can apply in to their work. Someday, I’d like to be one with the students like Mr. Crawford was so that they feel comfortable asking me questions when learning. This concept of learning is different than the learning process we do in performance based classes such as band and choir, but similar to what we do with concepts such as those in mathematics.