I’ve Got a Modern Band Class...

Now What?

Rachel Cassidy Davis

The personal viewpoints expressed in this session are solely those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or views of Music Will.

Think, Pair, Share

• How is your current Modern Band Class structured?
• How often and how long are the classes?
• What do you spend that chunk of time doing?
• Quick percentage, how much time do you spend doing group playing, independent practice, writing, other general music lessons, etc?
• What about the way you structured your class this year is working and what about it isn’t?

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If you don’t have a Modern Band Class yet, what are you thinking about how you’d structure your day, week, months, year?

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Rachel Davis

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• 14th Year Teacher

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• 6-12 Choir, Theatre, and Modern Band at a Title 1 Public School in Southwest Denver

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• Modern Band trained since 2019

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• Finally starting to figure it all out

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Norms

1. Take Space & Make Space
2. Take care of yourself
3. Reflect on your own practice
4. Grains of salt
5. Anything else?

Agenda

• Look through my current Modern Band course structure and timeline
• In real time, reflect on what worked and what didn’t
• Time to work out the 2025-2026 school year calendar and how you’d like to structure your class this year?
• Share Out

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Modern Band Syllabus

6 - 12 Grade

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Rachel Davis for KCAA

@mrs.davis.sings

rachelcassidydavismusic@gmail.com

Table of Contents

Slide 4 - Schedule and Dates

Slides 5-8 - Detailed Rounds

Slide 9 - Project Choice - Solo Venture

Slide 10 - Project Choice - Creative Collaboration

Slide 11-13 - Project Choice Requirements

Slides 16 - 28 All Slides in Spanish

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For more information and resources, look in Google classroom

First Two Months

Week 1 - Basic Routines / Rituals / Relationship Building / Surveys from students / Intro to Musical Elements

Weeks 2 & 3 - Keyboard

Weeks 4 & 5 - Guitar

Week 6 - Drums

Week 7 - Bass

Week 8 - Ukulele

Week 9 - Production / Electronics

Full Year Schedule & Dates

August 19 - October 18 - Intro Weeks on every Instrument

October 21 - January 24 (Round 1)

January 22 After School Rehearsal

January 23 WINTER CONCERT

January 27 - March 21 (Round 2)

April 1 - May 16 (Round 3)

May 14 After School Rehearsal

May 15 & 16 SPRING CONCERT

May 19-30 (Round 4)

October 21 - January 24

Ensemble Experience

• Pick an instrument that you will play all of our group songs for the January Concert on.
• You may not change after the deadline.
• Set a goal for your instrument playing
• Exit Ticket in Daily Journal

Project Choice

• Pick a project to work on during independent time.
• Solo Venture or Creative Collaborations

January 27- March 21

Ensemble Experience

• Pick an instrument that you will play all of our group songs for the March Concert on.
• You may not change after the deadline.
• Set a goal for your instrument playing
• Exit Ticket in Daily Journal

Project Choice

• Pick a project to work on during independent time.
• Solo Venture or Creative Collaborations

April 1 - May 16

Ensemble Experience

• Pick an instrument that you will play all of our group songs for the March Concert on.
• You may not change after the deadline.
• Set a goal for your instrument playing
• Exit Ticket in Daily Journal

Independent Practice

ALL INDEPENDENT PRACTICE TIME SHOULD BE SPENT ON GROUP SONGS FOR CONCERT OR SKILLS ON INSTRUMENT.

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NO EXTRA PROJECT DURING THIS TIME.

May 19 - May 30

Final Performance

• 1 or 2 instruments
• Fill Out Skills Sheet
• Play for Mrs. Davis
• Fill Out Reflection Sheet
• Extra Credit - Play for the whole class

Final Project

• Solo Venture
• Ambassador or Producer
• Turn in to Mrs. Davis
• Fill Out Reflection Sheet
• Extra Credit - Present to the whole class

Project Choices - Solo Ventures

Ambassador

Share your knowledge of musical artists and genres we should know and celebrate

• Artist Spotlight
• Content Creation
• Genre Project
• Vibes Curator (make a playlist)
• Song Comparison / Analysis

Performer

Develop your ability to play and compose music on an instrument

• Learn Your Instrument
• Compose a song

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Producer

Use Music Technology to Create and Record Music

Sound Trap

• Create Beats
• Write Songs
• Record instruments

Project Choices - Creative Collaborations

Ambassador (no more than 3)

Share your knowledge of musical artists and genres we should know and celebrate

• Artist Spotlight
• Content Creation
• Genre Project
• Vibes Curator (make a playlist)
• Song Comparison / Analysis

Performer (up to 5)

Develop your ability to play and compose music on an instrument

• You’re a Band
• Quickly agree on a song to learn
• Spend some time independently learning your parts
• Practice together
• Repeat

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Ambassador Requirements

• Turn in completed project(s) by the end of the round
• Keep track of the work you complete each day
• Journal - audio, visual, written, video
• The work is never ‘done’. If you feel done early, check in with Mrs. Davis for next steps

Performer Requirements

• Use resources to gain skills on your instrument
• Keep a journal of your practice
• Written, audio, visual, or video
• Make sure you can prove that you’ve learned something new by the end of the round
• Play/Perform for Mrs. Davis at the end of the round

Producer Requirements

• Export audio at the end of each class and save as the ‘date’ in a folder to turn in at the end of the round
• Keep journal of what you get done each day
• Written, audio, visual, video
• Keep track of time you spent learning how to use the software, not just getting something recorded
• The work is never ‘done’. If you feel done early, check in with Mrs. Davis

Plans per week / per class

• Themed Days helped me plan my Do Nows faster
• Monday, set a goal
• Tuesday, Listening
• Wednesday, History
• Thursday, Theory
• Friday, goal reflections
• 1 Hour Class
• 5-10 minutes on Do Now/mini lesson
• 5-10 minutes on instrument set up (gets faster as we move through the year)
• 10-20 minutes on independent practice
• 20-30 minutes playing together
• 5-10 for clean up and reflection

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Reflection

What worked this year?

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What am I already thinking of changing for this coming school year?

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Work Time

• Here are some digital templates for 2025-2026 calendars with dates
• Add any concert dates you may already know
• Vaguely map out how you want your class to be structured this year

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https://tinyurl.com/25n64zmp

Think, Pair, Share

• What are you thinking about?
• What resonated with you?
• What new ideas sparked for you?
• How do you feel right now?

Music Will will make all presentations available after the conference.

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The personal viewpoints expressed in this session are solely those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the beliefs or views of Music Will.