.: Making the Most of Rehearsal
Time
The season is upon you, marching band season ate up a huge
chunk of time, then the holidays cut into rehearsal time,
and now it's "crunch" time. You desperately want
to finish the show and give the kids the best advantage at
a performance level. Keeping your sanity at this time of year
as an instructor suggests a master plan and good organization.
Remember that finishing the show is a paramount priority.
Establish your list of things to do, and be methodical in
completing them. At the same time, never sacrifice your technique
program in order to jam more "stuff" into the show.
You never stop reinforcing technique, but it takes on a changing
focus as it is first learned, then applied to the show vocabulary,
then cleaned and refined. It might help you to consider this
theory: Training begins from the inside and works out: This
means that it must first be understood mentally and comprehended
by the student and then the training becomes physical when
the theory is applied and done. The instructor should answer
the questions: how, what, when, where and why relative to
each aspect of any move. Cleaning works primarily from the
outside in: The work is first observed at a physical level,
then corrected, refined and developed to a new level of understanding
internally (mentally).
Teaching Tips
Visualize
The ability to visualize is an important tool for the student.
This is a significant step in internally (mentally) understanding
the specifics of what is being asked. It has been proven in
many sports and dance communities that strong focused visualization
of the physical effort has many of the same qualities as the
actual physical performance of the given effort. This can
improve performance at a physical level.
Repetition
Repetition of each exercise is important because it reinforces
the techniques the student will need and is the means whereby
muscle memory is established. It is the patient patterning
process that will make the heightened movement seem natural
and beautiful.
Clarity
in Teaching
Clear accurate instruction will make your job much easier.
Be sure to demonstrate each step clearly. Explain body position,
initiation of each effort, what part of the body will work,
what muscles will be called upon, the function of the effort,
point out focus, concentration of weight, etc. (ask how, what,
when, where, why). Take the students through the learning
process in three steps:
1. Demonstrate each count of the move identifying each effort
and muscle focus. Have them do the exercise in a controlled
(slower) time frame still demonstrating in front of them.
Run the exercise at full tempo and step out and observe any
irregularities. Make corrections right away. Be specific and
detailed.
2. Isolate the problem and identify the cause.
3. Repeat the exercise again and again and again so the students
understand it fully and begin to get a sense how their body
feels when the move is done correctly.
Independent
Study Program
This is the final subject in a technique program. An independent
study allows the students to take ownership of the material.
Please be assured that unless the members of your unit invest
time in work outside of rehearsal, your job will be compounded
many times and the rate of growth for your group will be slowed
significantly. Here is how it works:
- Each individual must commit to 2 hours a week. This is only
15 to 20 minutes a day to review the material given in rehearsal.
- Students keep a weekly rehearsal journal in which they record
when they rehearsed, what they covered, problems encountered,
how they handled these problems, any successes they met, what
they did differently, etc. This is an informal opportunity
for them to tell you all kinds of things that may have impacted
on their learning. It lets you know the student better and
in a more individual way.
- The journal is turned in to the instructor on a specific
day each week. The instructor reads the material, makes comments
as appropriate and returns the book to the student. College
blue books are ideal for this.
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