concert season. Am I right?
You're listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tarbet, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher at the elementary music summit each week, Bryson and his guests will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher, and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show Notes and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at that music teacher.com.
Welcome back to the podcast. This week, we're gonna be doing a little bit of a progress report talking about performances this month in the podcast, we've been talking a lot about the role of performances, how we can make sure that students are getting what they need to get out of performances, but also making sure we're doing it in a way that sets us up for success for students up for success, while also kind of understanding and juggling the varying opinions and thoughts of all the different stakeholders, which is not easy. It is there's so much news to the performance side of things when we're thinking about, you know, what has been done in the past? What is What did what does the community expect? Is that, is there any difference between that and what I what the community thinks that the students should eat, and what is the music educators thinks that they should need, and this is to juggle, and I we've had been having some great conversations after the podcast, a lot of you have responded to my emails or replied to me in the DMS. And we've been having a lot of conversations. One thing that I've noticed is one, we're not alone, if you're thinking that programs are a little bit stressful, and you're kind of over the chaos of it. But another thing that I noticed is that a lot of people seem really frustrated with the fact that we as the music educators don't necessarily get the final say sometimes, which again, is an incredibly nuanced discussion. And there's a lot of different pieces that go into it. The bottom line is music performances are incredibly public, that's kind of a whole point. There are a lot of stakeholders that get to see what is happening in this performance. And if those expectations aren't all met, it is very likely you're going to make someone upset. That's just it's just kind of how it goes. And, you know, that might not mean that they are like super like mad, or they're going to call for your resignation. But it might be as simple as they're going to communicate with with the principal and say, Hey, I this, I think this XYZ or maybe it's the administrator saying, Yeah, that's not the way we've done it. And I get it, I understand that. Take education and musical performances are kind of a part of just that elementary school experience a lot of the time. But the reality is, they are music performances based in music, education, and that should be coming from us as the music educators, I'm incredibly thankful that I have administrators that understand that I know what I'm doing. And they trust me in when I try something new, or when I go against the kind of the norm of what's been done in the past. But I know that's not the case everywhere. I've gotten a lot of communication from you guys talking about how your your principal says that you have to have this giant, you know, Christmas performance every year, or you know, fourth grade always is going to a hole on musical. And, again, there's nothing wrong with that there's nothing wrong with doing those types of performances. If that's what brings you joy, that's what bring your students joy. It's when it's forced upon us, that becomes an issue. And I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past few weeks, since I've recorded those episodes. And since we've had started to have some communication back and forth. And the reality is, is we we have to figure out when to pick our battles, because sometimes we're going to have to put on a performance that we think is not necessarily the best thing for this time, this this specific point in time. But with having a bigger picture in mind understanding that Alright, well if I do this, I'm going to have communications, I'm going to advocate and do XYZ so that the next time this runs around, we can have something that is more in line with me and my expectations and my educational goals for students. But at the same time, it'd be really doing that performance. It can be really easy to get burnt out and to get really resentful. And one thing that I do want to caution you is you can be upset with your administration you can be frustrated with your community The that is forcing you to do something you might not necessarily want to do or will do on your own. But we need to make sure that we're really being clear that the script didn't have a partner that, you know, if we are being tasked, you know, other duties, other duties as assigned to put on a Christmas performance, you can, you know, you can say no, you can say, No, I think this is inappropriate, because XYZ or I think this could be better XYZ. But at some point there, if you get a directive that says, This is what's happening, we need to do what's best. And again, think about the future. But in that moment, how can we make that the best for our students at that moment. And if we're going in there grumpy and mad, and really just not feeling it, the students are going to read upon that, they're going to get that they're going to be able to feel that negative energy. And that's going to come off in the performance, and the students are going to not enjoy it as much, the students aren't going to feel as bad that joyful music making. So I want to caution you that if you are in a situation that you are being asked to put on a performance that you don't necessarily enjoy doing. Takes us take a step back and try to leave the frustration at the door. When you begin a rehearsal. Obviously, we're going to have rehearsals where things are going crazy, and we get a little frustrated. But when you're getting ready for performance, I think the more that we can fit on, alright, this is the music making that's happening. And then work on maybe changing things for next year, or the next performance or down the line. But whenever we're in front of the students, we are there to help them be the best that they can be and have the most fun and be the most supported in that specific kind of frame of reference. Which is said than done. But I think it's important. And I guess I know that these episodes or these like progress report episodes are usually a little bit more of a stream of consciousness, because literally, we don't have a topic. When when we made the go to the calendar, it was just like, Alright, what's going on? What are some things that's been going on in the past? You know, since I've recorded the previous month's episodes, and that's what's been on my heart a lot is these these conversations about performances. And I think that's something that we need to do more as music educators, is seek out those conversations. If you have an administrator that says you have to do this performance every single year, see if you can get more information of the why behind it. Because sometimes it'll just be well, we've always done that. And sometimes they might say, well, I want to make sure these students have this experience. And if you're able to say, well, I can give them that experience. And I could do this check connected in here. And this would be better, because XYZ, sometimes that's enough to start shifting these conversations into what you're trying to build in your program. Sometimes it won't, I'm not gonna lie. But starting with a place of these conversations, and I think it when whenever we're able to come from a place of seeking information rather than trying to change minds, I think that is a great way to start these conversations and to kind of understand where the other person's coming from the other stakeholders are coming from, but also being like, hey, you know, I hear where you're coming from, thank you for sharing. But I feel like this. But again, these conversations they need to continue happening. I think we've had we've been having a lot more conversations within the music ed world about what performances are and what they should look like. And, you know, what is the goal of music? What is the goal? What are all these performances, and I think that in general, has already been a lot of good. And I think the more that we can continue that is really going to be what sets our students up for success. And what creates more, more stability and careers, but also more, we're just feeling like we're fulfilled and we're not as stressed out at least, because we're not going from performance to performance to performance. We're just putting up some showcases here and there of what actually is happening in our classrooms. But whatever your performances look like whatever your music education looks like, that is their eyelid forms of music, Ed. And I think that that's important for us to remember to thank you so much for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please sure to follow or subscribe wherever you're listening to this podcast. If you're enjoying it, it would mean the world if you were to leave us a review on Apple's Apple, iTunes, Spotify wherever you happen to be listening. Leaving a review helps us understand what kind of episode you're looking for, while also making sure that we are getting before more music educators out in the world around you to help make a bigger impact in the world of music education. With that being said, I hope you have a wonderful week and I will talk to you next time.
