Weekly Blog #6

Not a lot has been happening this week because testing is still underway. On Friday I observed my cooperating teacher subbing for the art classes.
After observing a couple of art classes I feel pretty grateful to be working with the music students. This is only a stereotype but, I feel that the majority of students in this band program are well-behaved.
The students in that art class were quite raucous. Trying to maintain  management seemed to be a struggle. There were students chasing each other the room with pencils and yard sticks. The students seem to be generally more disruptive than the ones in band class. This could also just be the result of having a sub in the class and trying to get away with something.
The jazz band had three more rehearsals until their last concert of the year. My cooperating teacher seems to think they are not quite ready for it.
Last Friday during the Jazz band hour I witnessed a great act of cooperation. Usually the drummers are goofing off, but on this day they were all working together.
As described in previous posts, there are three drummers in the jazz band that rotate playing for different songs. One plays the drum set and the other two wait for their tune to be called. Well, one student was playing (we'll call him "Josh") and he accidentally dropped one of his sticks. He proceeded to attempt playing  with only one stick. Right after the dropped it, one of the drummers on deck grabbed the stick that was dropped while the other waiting drummer handed Josh a new pair of sticks. At this point the poor kid now has three drum sticks; one in one hand and two in the other. Both hands are busy trying to keep playing so he was unable to ditch the third stick.
Drummer boy on deck comes to the rescue again. He begins playing the right hand part of the music with Josh so that Josh can use his right hand to consolidate his stick situation. Success! He sets the extra stick down and now has one per hand. Great teamwork.