Was The Re-Presentation Of My Ten-Minute, Eighth Grade General Music Lesson On Louis Armstrong More Successful Than The Initial Iteration?

Exactly one month ago, I presented a ten minute lesson on Louis Armstrong, geared towards an eighth grade general music class. My peers in Professor Brant Schneider's Music in the Secondary School (MSED 544) class served as the students in this hypothetical middle school environment. The first section of the initial lesson consisted of students learning "When the Saints Go Marching In", a gospel hymn of American origin, whose specific composer(s) and/or lyricist(s) is not known. The song was first recorded on May 13, 1938 by Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra. I decided to teach the tune in a call and response manner, using only "scat" syllables ("ba", "da", "be", "bop", "spa" and "spwe") before introducing the lyrics. My goal in making this choice was to have students connect and latch onto the melodic and harmonic content of the selection before concerning themselves with words. My colleagues handled this rather easily, although the comment was made that the manner in which I chose to break up the phrases was somewhat awkward. My aim was to not interrupt any of the individual ideas until they were complete. Throughout the course of my own musical education, I have had numerous teachers tell me that when it comes to phrasing, articulation and transitions, the goal should be to have as much continuity, cohesion and connectivity as possible. This allows the average audience member to follow a melody from beginning to end, without any hiccups in-between. I wish that I had more opportunity to receive feedback from my classmates on what about the phrasing confused them, but I think that a sizable portion of the problem may have been the fact that they already knew "When the Saints Go Marching In" and were being left "metaphorically" hanging in limbo, anticipating each subsequent phrase after I had sung its predecessor. I attempted to incorporate as much enthusiasm and outright joy in my vocalization as possible, which the class responded well to. I posed several questions to the group such as, "What do you think of when you hear 'New Orleans'?", "What is the style of 'When the Saints Go Marching In'?" and "Do you know anything about brass bands?" I briefly touched upon the major role that the "brass band" plays in the culture of New Orleans and had my colleagues march while singing "When the Saints Go Marching In". I had the class eating out of the palm of my hand so to speak, but from there I made the decision to sit them down and brought up a Prezi on Professor Schneider's laptop, which was connected to the classroom SMART board. I spent a good deal of time compiling this component of my lesson and was pleased with the results upon viewing them on my own home desktop computer. For any number of reasons, it did not occur to me that such a drastic change of pace in my "teaching" would suck the energy right out of the room. I fell back on the "lecture" or "stand and deliver" model of instruction that so many of us grew up exposed to. People of my generation and above find comfort in constant talking and excessive verbal explanation. In the Prezi, I tried to include as much biographical and discography-based knowledge on Louis Armstrong as possible. I augmented the text with several audio clips of Louis Armstrong performing songs such as "When the Saints Go Marching In", "West End Blues" and "Hello, Dolly!". I also included numerous images of "Pops", which I found to be particularly compelling and complimentary to the written material within each "slide". One thing that I neglected to take into consideration when planning the first incarnation of my ten minute, eighth grade general music lesson on Louis Armstrong is the fact that not everyone will "geek out" over the biographical, discography-based and historical details of the life and career of "Satchmo" to the extent that I do. Eighth graders in 2015 are probably going to know little to nothing about the life, career, music and significance of Louis Armstrong within the development of modern music as we witness it today. Consequently, even in a full forty-five or ninety minute eighth grade general music class, there must be one clear objective for a lesson on Louis Armstrong. Less talking is always ideal, because the current generation is not programmed to receive constant lecture positively. The average attention span has waned significantly, and as such students need continual interactivity and hands-on participation-based tasks. Transitions can be a music educator's best friend or worst enemy, depending upon how they are used. Although I did not read directly from the text that I had on each Prezi slide, I based the majority of my "lecture" off of this reference point. My speech was a bit rushed and frantic, in an attempt to cram in all of the details that I felt were relevant to the subject of Louis Armstrong. Even with cohorts of my generation, above and below in the class, I was amazed by how lackluster the environment was as I finished just when Professor Schneider called "time". The video clip below is the original May 13, 1938 Decca 78 rpm recording of "When the Saints Go Marching In" by Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra, featuring Louis Armstrong on trumpet and vocals, Shelton Hemphill on trumpet, J.C. Higginbotham on trombone, Rupert Cole on clarinet and alto saxophone, Charlie Holmes on alto saxophone, Bingie Madison on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Luis Russell on piano and also as the arranger, Lee Blair on guitar, Red Callender on bass and Paul Barbarin on drums. 

Going into the re-presentation of my ten minute, eighth grade general music lesson, I knew that there were a number of sections that I wanted to modify and rework. As proud as I am of the Prezi that I created, I opted to exclude this resource from the presentation, along with technology of any kind. I felt that staying "old school", if you will provided me with more room to interact with my "hypothetical" students, in a manner that was concrete and tangible for all parties concerned. I began the lesson by writing and underlining Louis Armstrong's name on the white board in Room 307 of the Arnold Bernhard Arts and Humanities Center. Beneath this, I added six keywords that I indicated "epitomize the essence" of Louis Armstrong, including trumpet, cornet, vocal, blues, swing and conviction. My classmates were definitely taken aback by this approach and I attempted to seize the moment by having them stand up to begin learning "Saint James Infirmary". The aforementioned tune is an American folk song of anonymous origin, but can frequently be found credited to Joe Primrose, better known as Irving Berlin, one of the most revered songwriters of the twentieth century in America. I opted to follow the same instructional format for this portion of my re-presentation as I had utilized in the initial incarnation of the lesson, hence using call and response and initially omitting the lyrics to "Saint James Infirmary". I wanted the students to see the parallels between Louis Armstrong the instrumentalist and Louis Armstrong the vocalist. I used a growl-like effect, as generated through a plunger when playing the trumpet or cornet, while my cohorts were learning the melodic line to "Saint James Infirmary". I simulated the in and out motion of the plunger, which would subsequently create the "growl" or vocal-like effects, by holding my hand in a cupped position in front of my mouth and moving it backwards and forwards. The class seemed to find this a bit silly at first, but followed suit nonetheless. I moved through the melody in a phrase-by-phrase manner, following this pattern when bringing the lyrics in as well. My goal remained identical to the first incarnation of this lesson, in terms of establishing continuity, cohesion and connectivity. After the class had sung through the first verse of the tune a couple of times, with and without the lyrics, both call and response and unison, I began switching between a phrase without lyrics and a phrase with lyrics. My objective for this practice was to demonstrate both the connection between the sung lyric and the played melodic phrase, as well as the strong parallels that existed in Louis Armstrong's trumpet/cornet playing and his singing. Professor Schneider's comments for this portion of my re-presentation centered around what specifically I was assessing. I would have to say that pitch recognition would be the easiest skill to assess during this portion of the lesson, but one could also justify evaluating aural reproduction during this activity as well. The concept that I was thinking of when designing this task was the idea of singing through one's horn. Jazz music is a genre where horn players are thinking of vocalizing through a saxophone, trombone, trumpet, clarinet, flute and oboe, while vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Carmen McRae would strive to emulate the likes of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. The voice is the first true instrument. We are all born with the potential to sing or use our voice in other musical ways, should we harness and train this intrinsic ability. Professor Schneider was also curious about why I chose to not include piano accompaniment during this section of the lesson. I wanted to focus strongly on developing the students' ears without the aid of an instrument. The piano can certainly be helpful for establishing a key/tonal center for students to refer to when learning a song of any type, but being that I have perfect pitch, I wanted the class to harness their own intonation through only a vocal reference point. In my opinion, this will strengthen their aural skills going forward, particularly if practiced from an early age. The picture below features Louis Armstrong and legendary trombonist Jack Teagarden. It was taken by noted jazz photographer William P. Gottlieb, some time between the years 1938 and 1948. Dig how hip "Pops" is to the gorgeous sounds coming out of Jack Teagarden's trombone. This image resonates the six keywords that I attempted to outline in my re-presentation: trumpet, cornet, vocal, blues, swing and conviction.

Within his feedback, Professor Schneider remarked that the activity of singing "Saint James Infimary", both with and without lyrics would have to be built up to when working with an eighth grade class. I agree with this sentiment, particularly considering that in the context of a general music classroom, the majority of the students are most likely not members of the band, orchestra, choir or jazz ensemble at a particular educational institution. When we keep that factor in mind, our approach to instruction is greatly altered, because the beginning skill set(s) or lack there of that students are working with will impact their ability to quickly absorb new material or not. I asked my classmates the question, "Was Louis Armstrong a trumpeter or vocalist first?" I wanted to see what their answers would be in an attempt to articulate that "Satchmo's" trumpet playing and vocalizing were extensions of one another. Louis Armstrong began singing before he picked up the cornet, but it is quite difficult to answer the above question, if one has not done a bit of research. When "Pops" sings, he might as well be playing the trumpet or cornet and vice versa. Professor Schneider remarked that students probably should have sat down at this point in time, because they were no longer doing any "performing", which is a valid point and one that I honestly overlooked, because of how engaged I found myself to be in the content of and responses to the lesson. I began to discuss the concept of conviction and how important it is to make the audience believe that you believe, comprehend and relate to what it is that you are playing, even if you don't know the particular selection all that well. I used the example of how Louis Armstrong invented "scat singing", which describes a recording session where "Satchmo" was singing, when suddenly his sheet music fell off of the music stand. Instead of allowing this minor mishap to completely derail the proceedings, Armstrong opted to sing using "nonsense" or "scat" syllables that he made up on the spot. This method of vocal improvisation would quickly become a staple within the modern jazz canon and was adopted by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Eddie Jefferson, King Pleasure, Chet Baker, Jon Hendricks and countless others. One of my classmates asked if the group could sit down while we were having this brief exchange. Professor Schneider remarked that transitions would impede my progress with an eighth grade class during the course of this lesson. That is something that I will have to continue to reflect upon, because although I used significantly less dialogue during the course of my re-presentation, I wonder how I might make any "down time" more productive and tranquil. The next question that I posed to the class was if anyone had ever heard of the blues scale. My reasoning for this was the fact that "Saint James Infirmary" is a song that is based almost exclusively on a concert "D" blues scale. Louis Armstrong is rooted completely within the blues traditions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I sang a concert "D" blues scale and had the class echo or repeat after me. It took several attempts for them to latch on to the altered tones (blue note) within this scale. I then sang several basic "scat"-based, improvised phrases using the concert "D" blues scale and had the class mimic what I came up with. We then engaged in a tried and true call and response activity, where I sang a "scat"-based, improvised phrase using the concert "D" blues scale and each student had to finish my idea or respond with their own creation. This worked out fairly well, although as Professor Schneider pointed out, every individual ended their respective phrase on the tonic of the concert "D" blues scale, because of course the ear is going to gravitate towards the root before any other note. If I had to guess, I would wager that other than myself, no one in class has extensive experience with vocal improvisation in a jazz context. I was about to have the group improvise vocally, using only one or two notes contained in the first chord of "Saint James Infirmary" when my time expired and ten minutes had elapsed. Below is a clip of "Saint James Infirmary" as recorded by Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra on December 12, 1928, featuring Louis Armstrong on trumpet and vocals, Jimmy Strong on clarinet and tenor saxophone, Fred Robinson on trombone, Mancy Carr on banjo, Earl "Fatha" Hines on piano and Arthur "Zutty" Singleton on drums.

Professor Schneider commented on the overabundance of concepts within my re-presentation. I think that he makes a very valid point in this statement, because I am frequently guilty of trying to communicate too much information in the context of a short amount of time. Particularly with a topic as broad as Louis Armstrong, I had a plethora of ideas that I wanted to articulate to my colleagues and I think that this overwhelmed me during the course of planning for both the initial and re-presentation versions of my lesson. The basics are an important building block for any individual, regardless of what the task at hand might be. We all have to start somewhere and why not begin from the actual beginning, at least relatively speaking. My objective was for students to demonstrate the parallels between Louis Armstrong's trumpet and/or cornet playing and his singing as witnessed through his foundation in the blues, deeply rooted sense of swing and unwavering conviction. This objective was overly ambitious and would have been much more compelling had I focused on Louis Armstrong's immersion in the blues. Professor Schneider complimented my demeanor in addressing the class, which I greatly appreciate, because professionalism, enthusiasm, joy, passion, focus and command are the principles that I strive to constantly project in any classroom that I enter. One of the final comments that Professor Schneider gave me was in the form of a question, wondering how I would respect the fact that not all students in an eighth grade general music class would be able to sing or find pitch. I would look to accompany these students on piano to give them a solid foundation and safety net to lean on. Also, I would continue the theme of "chunking" or breaking the song down, perhaps into even smaller two or one bar sections, so that the material would become more feasible and manageable for a student who struggled to maintain or even find pitch. I feel that I made significant strides in the re-presentation of my lesson, but my learning objective could have been simpler and clearer on multiple levels. These two assignments were particularly invaluable, because as Professor Schneider articulated, that was the only time where we will have the opportunity to workshop a lesson for our peers, subsequently receiving ample chance to adapt, modify, rework or downright overhaul the formatting and concepts contained therein. I intend to hang onto this lesson for future instruction, but will continue to refine and develop the layout and subsequent delivery.