Thinking in Music from the Very Beginning

Abstract

This article describes a collaborative clinical field experience initiative conceived to provide meaningful fieldwork for preservice music educators, musically engage underserved students in a high-poverty school, and include instruction on composition and improvisation. The author chronicles the planning, implementation, and subsequent revisions to “Band Project,” an after-school instructional program. Successful outcomes of Band Project include collaboration between school and university, increased music education student confidence and preparedness for teaching diverse students, the ability of participating band students to begin to identify as musicians through creating their own compositions and gaining confidence in performance, and the formation of positive relationships between the band students and their young teachers.