1. I observed one of Kelly Berhdal's concert bands in rehearsal during 1st period at BHS.
2. There were definitely some problems with students being unprepared and unfocused . Like Mr. Berhdal said, sometimes you just have a bad rehearsal day. I was so impressed at how quiet they got when he raised his voice. I'm sure that this style of management probably only works for some people and it probably also only works now that he knows the student body pretty well. I don't think it would be such a great option for me.
3. This ensemble was kind of in a middle stage of repertoire learning--there are definitely some notes that still need to be learned, but they were able to work on some issues of balance and blend.
4. The two main pieces that we heard them work on seemed to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. the In This Quiet Place seemed much too easy and they were definitely bored with it, however the Cowboy piece seemed to be really challenging them.
5. I think this observation definitely made me realize that kids are sometimes just difficult and things don't go very well and you just have to shrug it off and make your next rehearsal better.
Good thinking on this...also remember that the band was practicing sight reading this day, so they would have sounded better if they had been playing something that they had had for a few rehearsals.
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