Annotation

This is the plan for my one hour presentation on Spectral Music in a Graduate Level Composition Seminar taught by Robert Cogan. The document begins with a contextualizaiton statement, is followed by my Implementation plan, then has feedback from my mentor Robert Cogan and finally ends with what I took away from the experience.

Spectral Curriculum

Implementation in seminar-

My teaching was conceived and presented in such a way so as to try the teaching style that my teacher emulates, in this setting. His seminars are modeled after those of his teachers, he detailed his pedagogical history and in so doing illustrated what it is to exist in a tradition while simultaneously not being confined by that. In fact his teaching and music does not really fit into one school, but rather is concerned with the tradition of human creativity. (By “human creativity” I mean a tradition of passing on knowledge in a dynamic and personal matter that is tied to factual knowledge but is largely impromptu in that the teacher deploys the right questions as the student reveals that they are ready.)

The Spectral Music School

My plan

• present factual information in the form of a hand out that reductively presents the information. Result – this can serve as a tool for understanding the topic for the student, also forces me the teacher to pick and choose, reduce to the core of the subject. I am reminded of the filtering process that we looked at in Lyle Davidsons class)

• Present a sheet of quotes that capture some of the person behind and in the work, so as to present the human reality. (this was very effective in that it illicited conversation and was a point of reference on the personalities that were being discussed. It is a technique that Cogan used to introduce Jarnach and I appropriated and used. I will certainly do this in the future.)

• Play music that illustrates the technical information at hand as well as gives the students a sonic morsel of what this school of composition is about.

• Relate biographical information about three main people in the school. This will hopefully contextualize the compositions presented.

• Ultimately to engage the class in a discussion and not a lecture, even though it was a presentation about material that I was the only person, outside of Cogan, that had looked into it at any depth.

What Robert Cogan pointed out

• That I bordered on advocacy a bit to much so as to not be objective

• Didn't adequately tie my presentation into the historical French tradition that has been a topic in the class. He did this by comparing Romeau and Spectralists as people looking to codify music in a way that relates to underlying scientific principles.

What I learned:

• I need a list of points that I want to cover, there were some things that I would have liked to have gotten to or I could have ordered better. (see Michael feedback below)

• Need to engage the music with questions, not just here it is. I was expecting more reaction and did not have enough material to question the students about.

• Should have been more explicit about the musical examples so they were directly tied to concepts that were on the paper, this had been my plan but was something that I expected to emerge and did not.

• I was very happy with the performance aspect of my presentation. I was relaxed and offering the material in a conversational manner that did elicit questions and discussions. Time was limited (as it always is) – but this presentation worked well . In teaching a younger less peer based audience I would be more deliberate about a plan and movement, but for this venue, this was appropriate and quite effective. Very satisfying!

• Maybe externalize more of my questions. I unconsciously assume that I am supposed to be the all knowledgeable expert, but engagement of the students could be accomplished by posing questions that I don't know the answer to. Would be good to have a list of these.

Reflection

This document contains a great deal of reflection within the last section and therefor is relatively well balanced. What I like is that in comparing this to earlier curriculums, this example is more concise and pointed in educational outcomes and methodology. This work illustrates a practical plan for strategical Implementation which supports <Principle #4: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage students' development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills.> Linked to this document, the reader should also look at the feedback from students in the Teaching Spectral Feedback document.