Orchestra With Desiree Van Zee

Dear me,

I hope you are fairing well. This is your last blog to yourself and it is being typed on a german keyboard. That's right, you typed this when you were in Berlin on choir tour.

School is out and this is overdue but I think it's very important to remember this information. My diary here in Europe is one that I'm always going to keep and it's the same with these music education related notes I take. So here I type.

Jeph and I walked inside CJMS and felt familiar with our surroundings because we had been in there several times before observing the band. We were led to the orchestral room and sat in the back of the room like usual.

The students filed in at random and each knew what was expected of them. They ook out their instruments and Desiree helped them tune them if needed.

What I liked most about this class was that Desiree picked out great repertoire. There was a Hebrew dance song that was very fun and different from what you normally would here in a Middle School concert I think. She choose an easier piece that they enjoyed playing, a more challenging piece, and they were just starting another one that was maybe somewhere in the middle.

She was very good at being short and concise with her directions to the class. I thought the posters and decorations could use a little help. The one describing key signatures was falling down. 

If I ever have to teach anything involving orchestra, I'm definately going to call her up when I have questions or need ideas.

Signing off for now,
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