Summative PDA Reflection (Submitted after completion of 15 PDA hours) Name: Drew Michael Brennan Semester: Spring 2013

Please provide evidence (written commentary and/or video) of what you learned about music teaching, learning or leadership as a result of your PDA experiences this semester. Consider: Musicianship skills (e.g., use of piano, modeling, conducting skills, knowledge of literature) Planning and implementing instruction (e.g., working toward objectives, instructional process, use of warm-ups, promoting critical thinking, student centered learning, assessment, helping students become independent, room set-up, teaching concepts through the rehearsal process, music literacy) Creating a positive learning environment (e.g., communication, engagement, motivation, student interactions, developing an environment for risk taking, love of music and music learning) Leadership or management skills (in your self or for students).

REFLECTION:

This semester I had the opportunity to teach vocal lessons at the Cambridge school in Pennington, New Jersey. This proved to be an absolutely wonderful experience for me. It is my aspiration to have a studio of my own so this was an experience that I will hold to dear for the rest of my life.

When I first arrived at the school, my nerves were high, and I was waiting to meet my first student. In comes this 13 year old boy, named Jake. Jake was an awesome student. He had an abundance of natural talent, and loved to sing. Teaching Jake was quite a workout. He reminded me of myself when I was a kid. Endless amounts of unfocused energy. The first thing Jake and I did was get to know each other. I asked him about himself, his family, his interests, and why he had decided to start taking voice lessons. In return, I told him a bit about myself. After that we headed over to the keyboard and did some vocalize. The first thing I wanted to do was establish a range. I played through scales to determine what sort of repertoire we would work on throughout the semester. Once we established his range, I had him perform for me music he typically enjoyed singing. By doing this I was able to observe his talent, and assess some tendencies he might have while singing. After he sang through a few songs for me, I asked him what he thought he had trouble with. Knowing the struggles that were important to him I began to incorporate vocalizes that would specifically help certain areas of the voice he believed to

be an issue. I spoke with him about the voice change that boys go through and, began to explain that certain difficulties go away with age.

Working with Jake was an absolute pleasure but it was quite a challenge. The first obvious challenge was keyboard skills. I quickly realized how debilitating it is to have a voice teacher not have proficient keyboard skills. I learned early on that if I wanted to an asset to Jake I was going to have to prepare everything in advance. Keyboard skills, was not only an issue for me. I found that language was a huge thing that was quite difficult to simplify. I would begin to explain certain functions to Jake and it would go not understood. I had to learn how to use language that was relevant to his life. This took a bit more time than I wanted to. It required me to listen to the way Jake spoke, and to try to understand what things were important to him. In order to have a meaningful experience occur I had to make sure that the methods I used meant something to him. I began to craft my lessons in a way that would be useful for him. For example, I found out that Jake enjoys playing baseball. I decided to use the analogy of a baseball to explain the usage of air. He completely understood, and did exactly what I asked him to do. This was a great moment for me, because it reaffirmed me personally as an educator, and helped him sing freely. Other challenges we faced were keeping focused. This was, actually my largest difficulty. I found it very easy to talk for fifteen minutes, and end up singing for only ten minutes during a half an hour lesson. This was something I

had to be very aggressive about in myself. In response to this difficulty I began to prepare written out lesson plans that would outline the thirty minute lessons. This proved to help our direction and goals for each lesson. We still allowed time for discussion whether it is about the art of singing, or not. I believe it is in these discussions that true discovery is made on the educators part. I valued the dialogue created between him and I, and it helped me understand who he was. This eventually crafted the way the lesson was structured. My experience at the Cambridge school did not end with just Jake. I also worked with another student whose name is Alexis. Alexis was an absolutely fantastic student. Her interest in the art of singing seemed endless. She was very inquisitive, and worked very hard. With Alexis the challenges and triumphs were very different than with Jake. This, of course is to be expected, considering we are dealing two different human beings. It was never a worry of mine whether or not an assignment would be completed. Alexis consistently practiced, and tried to conceptualize all the things I taught her. What is even more exciting is that she was so inquisitive that we ventured into the realm of voice science. With Alexis I was challenged in my assumption of eighth graders. I came into the situation believing that we would be working on elementary repertoire and incredibly basic technique. Although that is where we started, we did not spend much time in that area, for her hunger and thirst to learn pushed us.

My perception of this age group changed quite a bit. There are quite a few children who do in fact love to learn and are incredibly self-motived. This was probably one of the biggest lessons I learned from Alexis. Of course we did have our challenges. This was by far the most complicated, and confusing case I had encountered. The goal of the first lesson was to establish an awareness of a low breath. This was quite a challenge for Alexis. One of the big factors was that she studied dance for 11 years. This means that her abdominals would naturally be incredibly stiff. When studying dance, you are taught to keep the core incredibly tight. In singing, however, that is not the approach we take to achieve a low breath. No verbal instruction helped her comprehend the low breath. I then decided to have her go into bhujanga asana (Cobra pose). This pose stretches the abdominals and allows there to be an awareness of that area. With an awareness of this area one now has the ability to focus the breath lower and breathe into that area. This exercise proved to bear great success. However, later in our lessons I discovered that her abdominals were so tight from her dance lessons that it created discomfort to breathe there. I decided then, that we would put our focus on a breathing system that suited her needs as a singer, and honored the rest of her activities. This moved the concentration away from lower abdominal breathing and toward a more relaxed system of breathing. Toward the end of these lessons I decided that it would be good for me to ask them exactly what they are taking out of these lessons. I asked, What is one of the most important things you have learned from taking voice lessons?

My heart filled with joy at their response. They replied, One of the most important parts of singing is a low breath, and another is good alignment. It was my job to not develop a virtuoso singer, but rather give them tools that would help them sing with freedom. Upon hearing this, I was satisfied with the work I did with them.