Bethany actually had a binder with written out vocalises for the students to sing from. It had a fancier piano part that may have been the reason why she used it. But she only used the binder for one of the warm-ups. The rest of what she had done were similar to what she usually will start the class with.
Another interesting thing is that she does not use the number system for her attendance taking. In any other program I have only seen the attendance taken with assigned numbers for each student. Her reasoning behind this that there is so much turnover with the semester changes that it is not worth it to try to assign numbers. I believe this to be fairly sad that the students switch around so much and are not consistantly able to participate in her classes.
I led a sectional with the altos in a practice room on the song "Black Bird." The students I heard were bored with their part because they did not have words and just sang on a syllable while doing the same thing over and over again. I tried to identify with them, but also let them know the perks of singing alto. I tried to make their part seem really cool (which I think it is so it wasn't hard). And by making a couple jokes they seemed to be respond better than what I had anticipated. There were a couple students who just sat in the back and didn't really participate. But then again, if they don't want to participate I don't really have the authority to tell them they have to. I don't really think I have the right to discipline. But I don't want to be a teacher who demands respect but earns it. But there is the careful balance of trying to do this. You don't want to be a push over. There needs to be a boundary.
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