After studying Connected Learning and it's parent theory- Constructionism-, I started to wonder what a music ensemble classroom would look like if the conductor stepped away from the podium and let the musicians "tinker" with their learning. Without repetition, lecture instruction, and rehearsal protocol, how would the classroom function?

Head-scratcher!

Let's assume that some bright, over-acheiver (probably a trumpet player or tenor...) steps up and takes the conductor's place. What might happen? The student would have to

a) deconstruct the director's score to make sense of all the moving parts

b) communicate to the other students what they will practice and how

c) listen to other instruments or voices he/she hadn't experienced before

d) ask questions of himself, classmates, and the director

All of this is a much more active style of learning and would require a great deal of problem solving. Most likely, the student will come with solutions to problems that the director had never thought of. He/she might take different approaches to the literature than a trained, habitual conductor would. In turn, the students in the ensemble would have to change, adapt, and problem solve themselves. All of these adjectives point to a constructionist model at play.

How else could we, as conductors and educators, allow more constructionism in our music ensembles? I challenged myself to come up with three examples of projects/problems to facilitate learning in the rehearsal space. I invite you to think of your classroom and comment below with additional suggestions.

1. Invite students to develop a coding system to mark their music during rehearsals. They might use a color-coding system, symbolic annotation, or record feedback from the director on an audio device. Each person should develop his/her own and stick with it throughout the semester.

2. Delegate your "concert hassle" to the students. Students will need to think backward from the concert to the very first rehearsal and plan the concert setup, audience arrangement, programs, concert time and location, rehearsal time needed, assign literature, devise a seating chart and dress code (yay! It's finally out of your hands!), and answer all the pesky questions about the dress code.

3. Have students "tinker" with a tuner and their instruments (voices too) to discover how to tune their instruments by pulling out slides, lifting soft palates, etc.