I think it is a great idea to begin a new piece of music by going through these different elements, rather than just beginning to play it. That way, when students begin to practice, they are mindful of expressive elements like dynamics and articulations even as they are just beginning to learn to play the pitches and rhythms. I think students are more engaged in a piece when they have thought about and discussed the meaning, mood, and character of a piece. 

Laura I know you have some sort of a lesson on composers. I don't know if there is anything in this lesson that could extend your lesson but you might give it a look.

What type of learner do you think would best benefit from this lesson? Why? I feel as though auditory learners would benefit best from this lesson. An auditory learner relates most effectively to spoken word. Often information written will have little meaning until it is heard. Within music lessons, although students need to be able to read music, I'm sure that listening to what their teacher expects would be a lot easier to help them achieve goals. -What do they learn about reading music? Students need to learn to read music because they need to learn the basic structures and elements before they can build upon learning more refined skills. -How does collaboration in this lesson help students learn? Team work is a huge component in concert band. Each individual needs to push to achieve their personal best, but then when working as a team they need to step back. They learn to empathize and support one another. They may all be on different levels, but all have the same ultimate goals.

-What type of learner do you think would best benefit from this lesson? Why? This type of lesson could easily benefit any type of learner. The visual materials provided by the teacher (sheet music, material on the board, material on the easel, etc.) would benefit visual learners. The focus on sound refinement, dynamics and balance would benefit auditory learners. Teacher and peer modeling also benefit these types of learners. Finally, the specific kinesthetic aspect of teaching how to play a passage on a specific instruments would benefit tactile learners. -What do they learn about reading music? This lesson focused on the basic elements of reading, melody & phrasing and articulation. The teacher also emphasized examining the key signature before the students started to read the notes. This lesson touch a bit on dynamics, but the teacher plans to work more on dynamic variation and ensemble balance in the future. -How does collaboration in this lesson help students learn? All of the students learn proper ensemble balance and blend by playing together in whole band rehearsals. In addition, older (more advanced) students end up helping the younger (less advanced) students through difficult areas of the music through peer modeling.

In my opinion all types of learners would best benefit from this lesson and this specific teacher. She is friendly, open, welcoming and knowledgable in her field. She has authentic and current music material she presents to the kids, and they seem motivated to learn in her class. These kids learn about reading musical notes, reading rhythms, melody, harmony, tonality and mood. SHe has all the kids involved "Everybody, put your finger on the key signature." Everyone is learning because they are "doing". I like how she makes all the kids play together, clap together, hum together...etc. This type of collaboration in this lesson helps students learn together and empathize with one another. A girl said it "You basically joined a team when you joined a band...cause you have your individual help that you need to do, but then with the band help you need to improve on." It creates a community of friendship and trust that is really beneficial to overall learning. Kudos to this teacher! :)