Mr. Mbagwu’s ClassroomAbout
About the course
General Music at Wings Academy High School, in the Bronx.
What we do in this class
General Music is a playing class. You will hold an instrument on the first day and you will still be holding one in June.
Over the year I take you through six units: finding your first clear tone on the recorder, building rhythm out of where you are from, writing a melody and a hook that are yours, sitting in the producer's chair, using music to say something that matters, and finally putting it in front of an audience.
You do not need to have played anything before. Most of you have not. Every lesson starts from where you actually are.
How I run a lesson
Every lesson on this site follows the same eight parts, so you always know what is coming next:
Greet · Do Now · Warm-Up
I meet you at the door, you write one line, and then we get the body and the instrument ready.
Target
One sentence: what you will be able to do by the end of today.
Make
The longest part. Hands and voices on the music.
Talk · Prove · Pack-Down
You talk and I stay quiet, you show me what you can do, and we put the instruments away properly.
Why the lessons are on this site
I put every lesson here for three reasons. If you are absent, you can open the day you missed and catch up without asking anybody. If a substitute teacher has my class, they can run the real lesson instead of handing out a worksheet. And if you want to practice something again at home, it is there.
A lesson opens at 6 pm the evening before I teach it, and then it stays open for the rest of the year. Nothing closes.
Cada leccion se abre a las 6 de la tarde del dia anterior y queda abierta todo el año. Si faltaste un dia, puedes abrirlo cuando quieras.
How I grade
Most of your grade comes from what you do in the room: showing up ready, picking up the instrument, trying the thing before you decide you cannot do it, and helping the person next to you. I grade the musical work and the effort behind it.
About me
I am Arinze Mbagwu. I teach General Music at Wings Academy High School in the Bronx. I came to teaching through the industry side of music as much as the playing side, and I build this course the way I wish somebody had built one for me: connect the music you already love to the skill, the history, and the money behind it, then put an instrument in your hands.
My job is to meet you where you are. That is the whole method.