Robyn Lawrence

Ms. Lawrence is nice to you if you are good, and only when speaking to her on an individual level. She often gave a negative vibe on the podium, and while she only wanted to act this way towards students who did not put in the time or effort and were just a distraction to the class, it would come off as if she did not want to be with anyone in that room. She always would criticize our performance and would fail to appreciate it when we played well. She is a nice person when you go to her yourself (unless you are one of the few students who did not care), but she is not the best at rehearsing. Quite a few of the students were bad, and they didn't put in the effort, but she could've been doing things better. She often would not manage time properly, both on the macro ad micro level. Sometimes we spent far too much time warming up. I remember one particular instance where it was one day before the concert, and for many students, it was the first time playing the march (the woodwinds, percussion, and brass often rehearsed separately during band class). It was a frustrating rehearsal for everyone. Many instances like these occurred throughout the year. The lack of proficiency and skill in the ensemble's playing is evidently seen in the ratings. There were times when she would say things like "you could get away without slurring or tonguing where you were supposed to in 7th grade, but you can't do that anymore in 8th grade. " It was shocking that she was okay with students playing with improper technique after having already played the instrument for a year. The lack of expectation from students was very evident. She also failed to teach certain concepts such as intonation and balance. Much too often you would have trumpets and flutes out of tune and all she would say is "listen" which was not helpful at all. With balance, you often only had one tuba, who had not been taught to play confidently enough, and various other issues scattered throughout the ensemble, like the baritone saxophones playing far too loud at all times. However, Ms. Lawrence was great at conducting. She conducted in clear precise motions, making it very easy for students to comprehend. Overall, she was a nice person, but had a negative attitude which I don't think she meant to have, had low expectations, causing students to constantly underperform, had bad time management skills, and failed to address key issues in rehearsals.