My students range in grade from 9th-12th grade. The kids fall into all ability levels and music experience. I have some kids that have never taken music class and some that are in the band. Some of the kids, regardless of musical experience, are really strong and can do everything, and others never quite catch on. But the main point is that it is a general music class where we learn a lot, try our best, increase our musical understanding, and hopefully have some fun. The course is an elective and is a semester long. Most of the kids should have their fine arts credits fulfilled and are taking this class largely for fun, for credit, or hoping it will boost their GPA as they apply for colleges (more on this later).
I teach band and band lessons most of the day and this is offered only one class period during the day. The course is about 40 minutes long and it meets everyday at the end of the day. Our school is a "one to one" classroom and every student is expected to have their own laptop. The school is one of the best in the world (not kidding)! I have around 20 kids, give or take, in this class.
For instruments, we use Remo tubanos, djembes, and some auxiliary percussion. We don't have any pitched percussion..yet, but maybe some day we will! I use a projector and stereo almost everyday. (I will do a full run down of equipment in future posts).