Today in orchestra, I decided to have a taping party. We’re working on Tchaikovsky’s String Serenade, and there are just a lot of pages. Yesterday when we played outside, these pages ended up scattered across the school campus. To prevent further mishaps and increase efficiency within each rehearsal, I decided that they should all tape their pages together into booklets ready for page turns. It would not be helpful at our concert if their pages suddenly fell off the stand and could not be quickly recovered! Our time spent taping pages was doubly useful: we listened to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th movements of the String Serenade while taping away.
It was a learning experience for some. Not all students have been brought up in the ways of tape and paper. There was tape on faces, the floor, and some on the music. One student taped his mouth shut, then asked via hand motions if he could use the restroom. What they really learned from the experience, though, is that taping music in an effective way takes planning and a bit of spatial reasoning. After we started playing through the piece, a couple students (10th graders) found pages out of order. There is still work to be done! 
Next time, they will not be outwitted by the tape. They will conquer.
