Ashley Kyle MRD Section Leader Application

Ashley Kyle MRD Section Leader Application Essay

The role of section leader is to help teach and reinforce the show music and musical concepts. Section leaders have to be able to predict musical passages that will be difficult and work on them with the section. They also have to be able to read the staff's mind about what they will want from the music, for example a rhythm they know Mr. Rikkers is going to say something about, and prepare the section in advance on those parts. The staff can work on the macro of a piece in full rehearsal but it is the section leaders' job to work on the micro so that music is prepared for when the group returns to the macro and bigger musical ideas can be addressed.

I would like to be a section leader because I have a lot of great ideas for teaching music to the section and running sectionals, and it would also be very beneficial to me as a music education major. I have a lot of ideas for new warm ups and how to do things in sectionals in order to offer variety. Furthermore, because the section sees so much of the section leaders every day I think they are role models for the MRDs and that is something I would like to contribute to. Over the past season I dealt with a lot of personal issues that made a lot of my days difficult, and being at marching band and seeing section leaders and members and getting to enjoy a sectional always brightened my day. This past season I led a few parts of sectionals, a warm up and then improving some of the musical concepts in a couple pieces and it felt very natural for me. On one occasion I was walking through a baritone sectional and ended up leading their warm up as well. I would also work with whoever I shared a stand with when I was playing in sectionals in order to improve the music. As part of my leadership evaluations this semester I got a few comments saying that I'm very knowledgable about music which I believe means my section can

see me in the section leader position. Likewise, I have a strong musical voice that I can translate well to others. As far as leading sectionals, I have a personality that people want to listen to and inspires them. I would be one of the best choices for this position because I have learned how to teach, especially music, and I have had several opportunities to teach and get feedback on my teaching so I can improve. In high school I had the opportunity to teach a middle school class as part of Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow, and in college I have taught in my tech classes and taken several classes specifically on how to teach music. In high school I was drum major senior year so I have a good idea of how to conduct for the section and I worked on music with every section of the band as well as in full band rehearsals. As part of being drum major and also something I got a lot of practice with as a drill instructor was being patient with individuals who were struggling. My experience has also taught me that everyone learns differently and this is something I will need to keep in mind at all times as section leader, as I won't get to see necessarily who is struggling on a personal basis. I am capable of handling this though because I know how to think on my feet and problem solve as I go. This has also taught me that I am very capable of being friends with people but also cracking down when necessary which is important for making sectionals both fun and productive. Finally, as a musician I have been in some of the top ensembles at JMU but I have also had the opportunity to learn from a large variety of musicians throughout my musical career and I believe all of the things I have learned from them would be very beneficial as I put them into practice as section leader.

What I hope to gain out of being section leader is to get experience with teaching music but also to improve myself as a person and a leader. In my leadership evaluations several people mentioned that I didn't know a lot of people in the section and I think that as section leader, having to work with the whole section would force me to do a much better job with this. Also in

my leadership evaluations I was told that my personality could come off as condescending and that I was unapproachable. I want to work on how my personality comes off to people in order to improve myself as a teacher in the future. Furthermore, I want to be a more public face so that people in the section feel like they can approach me with personal problems or just as a friend because I know when I was going through a rough time this semester that helped me a lot. My hopes as a music educator are that I can be someone my students trust and look up to and I believe being a great section leader is my first stepping stone on that path.

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