Windy's Totally Uninformed Response to Restrictions

Well, we're going back home again.  What does that mean for music?

No change.  Students will still be expected to play their instruments at home.  It is also my understanding that we will likely stick to our regular school schedule, and therefore band classes (and after school band classes) will continue.  So I'm planning each of my classes with that in mind.

Today and tomorrow I will be polling students to get a feel for what they want moving forward.  We have to be playing instruments, but we may be able to discuss some unique ways of doing so to keep it interesting, challenging (but not too challenging), relevant and fun.

My current plan looks like this for every class;

1. Have everyone log in and turn on their cameras and microphones, with the ability to see them playing their instruments.
2. Give them the musical goal for the day. (5 minutes)
3. Switch into breakout sessions by sections (flutes in one session, clarinets in another, trumpets in another, etc.). (30 minutes)
   1. Mr. Windsor jumping between each session to see how we progress. (5-7 minutes each session)
4. Have students record themselves, or play for Mr. Windsor directly (15 minutes)
5. Recombine as a full class and see what we've accomplished together. (The rest of class)

This is of course a plan without having any idea how ZOOM will handle this, and may need to change.  However, I have already streamed to the band classroom from home when I was ill for a few days, and I have high hopes that this will remain successful.

This plan will also be used for Strings, Stage Band and Steel Pans.  I am currently working on solutions to having students who use drums, pianos, bass guitars or steel pans still have access to the tools they need.

What you need to do to enable
​your students' success at home

Students will need to take all their musical equipment home; wind instruments, string instruments, steel pans, mallets and sticks, amplifiers, sheet music, folders, books, everything.  They have 2 days to get everything packed, along with their other equipment.  If parents are coming to help pick up equipment, parents need to know that they cannot enter the building, and the students will need to take the equipment out to your cars themselves.

At Home, students need the space and tools to feel successful.  You can help them with the following;

1. Students need a working instrument.
2. Students need a working video camera, either on a computer, webcam or cellphone.
3. Students need a working microphone (bass guitar players will be sent home with a device that combines their bass guitar with their microphones).
4. Students need headphones.
5. Students need an armless chair, like a chair from the kitchen table, to sit on in order to have the best posture possible (this is a health issue ... we don't want high chiropractic bills).
6. Students need their webcam pointed at them in a way that Mr. Windsor can see their face and fingers in order to truly support them.
7. Students need access to Google Classroom, ZOOM, and MusicFirst.
8. Students need to feel comfortable playing in their own home, potentially making mistakes, free of judgement.

• This is of crucial importance.  Students grow and develop when they feel safe to make the strange sounds that sometimes come from their instruments without judgement.  The music classroom is that safe space.  Now your students' at-home practice room needs to emulate that.
  You might feel like your house is already that way.  In these unusual circumstances, students might still feel self-conscious, no matter how supportive you are.  Please have a conversation with them to reinforce how much you value their educational safety as they learn their instruments.  I know you do, but sometimes a teenager still needs to hear you say it.

This can be a challenging circumstance, but with your continued support, we can still find some great successes with it.

The Title says "Uninformed Response".
​What does that mean?

That means that if you hear a different instruction from our school administration or division administration, their instructions take precedence.  If anything they send out later today contradicts what I've just said, then I will send new instructions out at that time.

Your Kids are Important to me

I will do whatever I can to make this transition and this next month as valuable and meaningful to them as I possibly can.  This will require some patience on my part, your part, and your students part, but if there is a group of kids that I know can and will collaborate well with a teacher through challenging times, its music students.

You have awesome kids.  Never gonna give them up.