The Musician Before the Music: Teaching Orchestra in a Post-Pandemic Environment

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on lives worldwide, changing the way life moves forward. As society settles into their new normal, educators would be amiss if they didn’t ask, how should we teach differently in a post-pandemic world? Using an Awareness/Inquiry/Response (AIR) Framework (Dirks 2023), I will bring awareness to current mental health and academic concerns, inquire what portions of educational practices should be altered, and respond to the presented information with strategies of how music teachers can modify pedagogical techniques in the orchestral classroom (Smith 2020).

I have taught beginning orchestra to third-fifth graders for twenty years and currently teach at an affluent public school in Maryland. Out of the almost seven hundred students enrolled in grades K-5 at my school, 39 percent of our students receive free/reduced meals, 86 percent are minority populations, 13 percent are English Learners, and 14 percent are enrolled in special education services (Howard County Public School System 2024). Approximately 150 students enroll in orchestra classes and are pulled out of classes to attend 60 minutes of orchestra instruction per week.

Prior to COVID-19, the major focus of my teaching was curriculum-based, devoting instructional time toward mastery of curriculum-based skills. March 2020 came and life as we knew it slammed to a halt. As I witnessed the devastation COVID-19 had on my students’ quality of life, I realized how important playing an instrument was to them. For some, it was the only opportunity of joy in their bleak world. I write this article to share how my teaching transformed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and encourage the reader to reflect upon and re-assess their own practices to meet the current needs of their students.

AIR Framework

The AIR framework, developed to evaluate music teachers experiences with student mental health issues, shows how teachers can adapt and modify current teaching practices and methods to better reach their students and increase their students’ chances of success in the classroom (Dirks 2023). In this article, we discuss all three aspects of this framework and provide strategies for application. Through awareness teachers can educate themselves about the specific areas of concern in the field of education. Through inquiry, research will illuminate the areas of concern, and as response, I discuss strategies to work toward improvement in those areas. Though the strategies listed have been developed through my experience teaching beginning orchestra, most can apply to all orchestral classrooms including private studios.

Current Mental Health Concerns in Education

Awareness

The pandemic had a dramatic impact on mental health, with UNESCO estimating that 91 percent of students worldwide were affected by school closures in 2020 (Smith, Thompson, and Maynard 2022). People suffered from a multitude of disorders including insomnia, burnout, life management difficulties, emotional isolation, and much more (Ferwana and Varshney 2024). Children were experiencing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and social phobias while spending vital formative years in isolation (Dirks 2023). The increased amount of time spent using technology and social media contributed to an elevation in anxiety, depression, and suicidal attempts (Dirks 2023). With societal closures at the height of the pandemic came high rates of sudden unemployment, lack of physical contact, and inadequate resources for medical responses, resulting in a decline in overall mental health (Fayed and Cummings 2022). The World Health Organization estimated 30–50 percent of the population suffered from diverse psychological distress (Fayed and Cummings 2022). The University of Maryland Baltimore’s The State of Mental Health in America 2024 report stated “only 60.5% of youth ages 6-17” (Reinert et al. 2024, 21) are flourishing while over 3.4 million youth nationwide reporting serious thoughts of suicide (Reinert et al. 2024) and 20 percent of youth ages twelve to seventeen experiencing “at least one major depressive episode in the past year” (Reinert et al. 2024, 9). These facts indicated our students as a whole were not okay. They were facing challenges other generations could not imagine experiencing during their youth.

“The Awareness, Inquiry, and Response (AIR) framework, developed to evaluate music teachers experiences with student mental health issues, shows how teachers can adapt and modify current teaching practices and methods to better reach their students and increase their students’ chances of success in the classroom (Dirks 2023).”

Inquiry

By understanding the change in mental health concerns our youth are facing, teachers need to ask whether their teaching practices reflect these changes? How should the orchestra classroom change to address possible student mental health concerns? A reformation of teaching practices which reflects student needs in the current climate is imperative (Hendricks 2023). As orchestra teachers it is our responsibility to use lessons learned from the pandemic to improve our teaching practices to meet the needs of our current students, rather than requiring these musicians to learn the way we are most comfortable teaching.

Response

Focus on the musician

Most of the strategies listed will focus less on the music and more on the musician. First, take time from the first day of the school year to get to know your students and their families. Learn about your students’ strengths and weaknesses, as well as their likes and dislikes, using care and compassion to guide your lesson planning and musical choices for repertoire (Hendricks 2023). At the beginning of the school year, my students complete an All About Me worksheet where they share information they want me to know about their personal lives and musical preferences. I work in a community with a large population of Spanish-speaking students, so having copies of written activities in both English and Spanish allows for more of my students to feel comfortable participating right away, taking away a language barrier that might interfere with participation.

Communication

Getting to know your students is a continual process, as your students and their home lives can change during the school year. It is important to keep open lines of communication with parents/guardians and make continual observations about students all year. Communicating the good as well as the not so good to parents/guardians will show you care about student well-being, not just their musical progress (Dansereau 2023). Make note of changes to physical appearances, moods and demeanors, as well as class grades. Discuss concerning aspects with adults in your students’ lives, both at school and home. Collaborate with other professionals in the school building, sharing concerning observations that can help identify changes to be addressed. This is especially important for students with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Communicate and collaborate with special education case managers assigned to each student, the paraprofessionals working closely with the student, and the students’ other academic teachers (Hammel and Hourigan 2017) on the student’s educational goals, behavior plans, and other factors relevant to your classroom. Reach out to the school counselor and other professionals for students exhibiting mental health concerns, including social workers and school psychologists, as they might have important and useful information into individual situations of which you are not privy.

Safe learning environment

Create a warm and welcoming environment where students feel the music classroom is a safe space in which to learn (Dirks 2023; Fayed and Cummings 2022). Reflect your students in all aspects of your classroom, including the physical appearance of your teaching environment. Create bulletin boards where students can post information about music and musicians they enjoy. Have a Questions and Inquiry box where students submit questions for you to answer outside of class they might not feel comfortable asking in front of peers. Have a coloring wall where students can express themselves in the moment while waiting for class changes. If you do not have time during class, invite students to eat lunch in the music room, take time before or after school for a chat, or visit one of their many after school activities like sporting events or private studio recitals. By connecting to students in your classroom and being interested in their lives outside your teaching space, you are reinforcing that WHO you teach and WHY you teach are ultimately more important than WHAT you teach. Though we are music teachers, and teaching others how to create music is an important part of our job, it is not the ONLY part. The humans we teach are more important than the music we teach.

Teacher-learner environment

Create a teacher-learner environment where the teacher is also a learner (Dansereau 2023; Fayed and Cummings 2022). Be vulnerable by learning from your students. The knowledge students contribute to your class will help create a safe, enjoyable, and respectful environment where everyone serves as both contributors and learners (Callaghan et al. 2024). This environment leads to more care and compassion, one where everyone cares for one another rather than just the teacher caring for the student (Dansereau 2023; Fayed and Cummings 2022). Allow yourself and your students to experience “vulnerability, confidence, benevolence, reliability, competence, honesty and openness” (Hendricks 2023, 14). When lesson planning, one of my less favorable pre-pandemic habits is to always have a deadline for achieving performance skills, where the students are forced to achieve a specific skill by a specific date. This gives very little compassion and grace to those that might need more time. Now, I concentrate more on the task to be learned rather than the date by which it needs to be learned (Fayed and Cummings 2022). This allows students more ownership in the goal attainment process and to move at a pace best suited for the student and teacher (Hendricks 2023).

Challenging student behaviors

Challenging behaviors by certain students in the classroom may have a harmful effect on everyone. Research indicates upward of 20 percent of student populations participating in these disruptions, resulting in hundreds of hours of instructional time lost per year (Smith, Thompson, and Maynard 2022). By using self-management interventions, students with challenging behaviors could participate in problem-solving strategies and help set goals to manage and assess their behaviors (Smith, Thompson, and Maynard 2022). Through increased student autonomy, teachers could put the responsibility back on the student to manage and evaluate their own behavior and academic progress (Hendricks 2018; Hendricks and McPherson, 2023; Smith, Thompson, and Maynard 2022).

Gender identity

What once may have been considered more of an adolescent developmental phenomenon, gender identity is currently a prevalent topic for younger children as well (Callaghan et al. 2024). Responses to affirm all gender identities can include creating gender neutral bathroom passes which can relieve anxiety about needing to take a bathroom break. Be creative with the design of bathroom passes. Ask for student input or have the students design them as a fun project. The purpose of the passes is more about accounting for students when they leave your classroom and less about gender identity.

Let’s talk pronouns and preferred names! If you are unsure of a students’ preferred pronoun, just ask. If that is uncomfortable, or not an option, try looking at official school documents. For some districts, the students and parents/guardians have the choice to select preferred pronouns and preferred names. I have created a “Music Stand Sign” for daily use. It is a piece of paper folded in half that sits on top of the music stand during class. The side facing the teacher shows the student’s preferred name and pronouns and the side facing the student has a note name/fingering chart for their instrument.

For beginning orchestra students, instrument selection is a big deal. Do not try to sway students toward a certain instrument based on their gender assigned at birth or any preconceived notions about what instrument you think they should play. Allow all students equitable access to all instruments. Provide examples of string musicians of all backgrounds for students to view before instrument selection. In addition, allow students the possibility to change their mind within a certain timeframe. Often beginning orchestra students are young and their first choice turns out not to be a good fit. Give students an opportunity to explore and reconsider their choice before being glued to an instrument they will be expected to play for the rest of their musical career.

Current Academic Concerns

Awareness/Inquiry

Staying current on national academic trends is paramount. Teachers should be aware that current national reading and math scores have dramatically declined, with academic growth still not reaching pre-pandemic levels (Fahle et al., 2024). Currently, the average students in grades 3 through 8 have lost the equivalent of half a grade level in math and one-third of a grade level in reading (Fahle et al. 2024). Schools would need to “produce 125% of the typical learning for two consecutive years in a row to return to 2019 levels of achievement—a challenging task given staffing shortages and a post-pandemic increase in student absenteeism” (Fahle et al. 2024, 2). In addition, studies have shown academic recovery rates are much slower for poor students than for their non-poor classmates, meaning the achievement gap is continuing to stretch, creating more disadvantage for those living in lower socioeconomic areas (Fahle et al. 2024).

Inquiry

How can orchestra teachers apply this knowledge to their classroom and what steps can orchestra teachers take to alter instruction? By understanding the challenges students face with reading and math, orchestra teachers can show empathy toward students who struggle with mastery of standard Westernized musical notation and offer resources to assist students with the decoding process. Allow for more processing time when teaching performance-based skills and grant more creative opportunities to practice new skills by varying the types of activities presented to practice the music. The ability to learn through mistakes in a positive setting can create a nurturing environment for all students.

Response

Musical notation strategies

Students with low reading levels, English language learners, and/or students in the special education program might need modifications or accommodations to the curriculum. Scaffolding and slowing the pace of instruction is helpful, especially before introducing the music staff. Many resources exist with strategies for how to alter the printed music to help with decoding issues. In Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs (Hammel and Hourigan 2017), the four main categories of modality, pacing, color, and size (Hammel and Hourigan 2017) are used to organize accommodations and modification to instruction. The strategies offered are geared toward students with disabilities, but can be applied to any student in your orchestral classroom.

Multiple modalities

Modeling and visual aids are valuable to many students in the post-pandemic world as they enhance student comprehension by illustrating spoken directions. Examples can include:

Visuals showing how to tighten/loosen the bow;

Visuals showing how to put on a shoulder rest;

Visuals showing proper instrument placement/posture;

Fingering charts;

Instructional videos in the online learning management system to use for home practice;

Technique modeling on instruments during class;

Proper bow hold mirroring;

Visual schedule of daily lessons/classroom procedures.

Pacing/scaffolding of instruction

Post COVID-19, my instructional techniques for teaching how to read musical notation have drastically changed. The pacing of my instruction has slowed and scaffolding has resulted in smaller steps, leading to faster rates of success at smaller intervals. Instead of teaching students how to read music and play the instrument simultaneously, as most method books recommend, I first teach how to play the instrument before teaching how to read standardized musical notation, which mimics the process of how children first learn to speak prior to reading, similar to the Suzuki method (Suzuki 1973). First, my students learn how to play the open strings by letter names, pizzicato and arco, then I teach the notes in the D Major scale by finger numbers. This provides time for students to adjust to the new sensation of putting their left-hand fingers on the fingerboard. Next, finger numbers are associated with letter names, then the staff is introduced.

Color coding

Students needing more support can use color to code notation by finger number, letter names, or string placement (Hammel and Hourigan 2017). Modified versions of this process can be used at all grade levels, particularly when introducing new skills or beginning new repertoire. Color can also be added to the instrument, such as finger tapes, to visually show finger placement on the instrument until a sound foundation of pitch is developed and intonation adjustments can be made without visual aids.

Notation size/font

Enlarging the size of printed notation can dramatically increase comprehension levels (Hammel and Hourigan 2017). I have found eliminating extraneous print on the paper and increasing the size to 110 percent helps students with reading comprehension issues and decoding impairments like those with dyslexia. My son is dyslexic and increasing the size and changing the type of font (Calibri instead of Times New Roman) substantially improves his ability to read print and sheet music.

Conclusion

Orchestra teachers should recognize the mental health concerns and academic delays a large percentage of students are currently experiencing and adjust teaching practices to meet the needs of these students. Focusing more on the musician before the music creates a safer learning environment where students feel more welcome to create music. By scaffolding instruction, slowing the pace, providing accommodations/modifications to printed sheet music, modeling and using visuals with instruction, a wider spectrum of learners may demonstrate more success.

In closing, keep in mind that every teaching environment is different, so there is not one right path. What works in one classroom might not be appropriate for another. As long as instruction meets the needs of your current students, you cannot go wrong. Consider that music teaching, even at the beginner level, cannot mimic an assembly line (Fayed and Cummings 2022). Each teacher should reflect and re-evaluate their methods and approaches frequently to help learners in a post-pandemic world. If anything beneficial came out of the pandemic, it is that we as a society are more open to creating change and those changes can make a big difference in students’ lives and learning. One’s willingness to put student needs first can contribute to an environment where more students are playing and staying in orchestra (Dray 2014).

Footnotes

ORCID iD

Patricia De Orio

Patricia De Orio (patricia.deorio@gmail.com) is an elementary orchestra teacher in the Howard County Public School system in Maryland. She earned a BMEd from Converse College in 2005, a MMEd from the University of Maryland-College Park in 2009 and is currently a student at Boston University in the Doctoral of Musical Arts program. She has been a National Board Certified teacher since 2011 and in 2014 self-published Teaching Students with Disabilities: A Resource Guide for the Strings Classroom. She is continuing her research with neurodiverse and differently abled learners in the instrumental music classroom for her doctoral dissertation.

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