Week 9 - Zoom H1N Recorder

This week in the Butler band room we are gearing up to head into our home stretch of concert series. Next Thursday begins our BUSY season, as we present a concert at Butler on Saturday we will present a concert at the Phi Beta Mu Invitational Concert at Male High School and the following Tuesday we will play at our annual District Assessment festival at Atherton. As we are gearing up for this crazy set of performances, we turn to our technology to help us prepare. Every rehearsal is crucial for getting our music prepared and finding time outside of rehearsal to maximize rehearsal time is imperative. The tool I use to help me utilize my time outside of rehearsal is the H1N Zoom Recorder.

This recorder is one of the handiest tools I have ever purchased, because it can be my ears when I am working. I usually record the entire rehearsal this time of year for multiple reasons. The first reason is the obvious one is to record the band's progress and to listen to it outside of rehearsal to plan the next rehearsal. Another reason I record the rehearsal is so I can listen to my own teaching and reflect on what analogies, illustrations and stories worked in the lesson and what took too much time. This feedback is important not only for my reflection on my teaching, but it also allows the students to immediately hear their performance and analyze how to make it better.  Without this technology I would not be able to maximize my teaching.