Do Re Mi: Fräulein Maria as a Great Teacher.

Growing up there were a few televised movies that we watched every year. Mostly I remembered that they were incredibly long. Like…they felt like they were six hours long. But I enjoyed them. One of them was The Sound of Music. I don’t remember the first time I watched it, because it’s just always been part of my life. It’s got singing, dancing, Nazis, nuns, nuns sabotaging Nazis, hiking – it’s got it all. Mostly singing.

Much of the movie is about Fräulein Maria’s relationship with the Von Trapp children. She’s hired as their governess, and having never been a teacher of seven children ranging in age from five to sixteen, quickly feels over her head. She decides the way to reach them is through music. By following Maria’s tutelage through four songs, we see the development of a great teacher, and how she helped her students to achieve more than they thought possible.

My Favorite Things: during a thunderstorm, the children gather in Maria’s room to find comfort. All except Liesl, who’s out in the gazebo with Rolf the Evil Nazi Messenger Who May Not Be Evil He May Just Be Conflicted But He Blows That Whistle So He’s On My List. The other six children gather, and Maria comforts them by singing a song that now has somehow become a

Christmas classic – “Raindrops on roses, and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens…” You’ve heard it. Half of you have it in your head now. We’re just getting started. The kids don’t sing any part of this song with her. She’s singing for them, she’s comforting them, they recognize that she cares about them, and they care about her for the first time. She’s building a relationship so that they can move forward together. In her bedroom. Which is weird, and not recommended.

Do Re Mi: This is where we see the most immediate effects of Maria’s teaching. She starts out singing a simple scale to the seven children, and they all look at her with a look that I know for a fact we’ve all seen from our students. They don’t get it. She doesn’t move forward with her lesson, she

goes back to the beginning, starting where they’re at instead of where she wants them to be. She establishes a mnemonic device – “Do: a deer, a female deer; Re: a drop of golden sun…” After the kids have mastered this part, she explains how “you can sing a million different tunes by mixing them up.” This goes a little too far for the kids, and one of them (let’s say Brigitte) says “but it doesn’t mean anything.” She then goes on to explain how you can put one word with each note—getting rid of saying “do re mi” and replacing it with actual lyrics. The kids catch on quickly. Which is good, because they’re in a musical. She continues singing with them, riding, prancing, and dancing across Salzburg in clothing she made out of some old nasty curtains. 

 The Lonely Goatherd: The next step in Maria’s plans for the Von Trapp children is a performance for an authentic but friendly audience. So they pull out the slightly creepy marionettes and stage a song for Captain Von Trapp and the Baroness. Not the Baroness from G.I. Joe, but a love interest for the good Captain who won’t last much longer. The marionette play has sex, alcohol, and judgy in-laws. Like all good school performances. Also a tuba. And obviously, goats. Maria is there alongside the kids, she’s singing the lead, but the kids are singing the chorus and get key lines in the song. Most important is that the work of the students is on display and able to be evaluated by someone who isn’t their teacher.

So Long, Farewell: The final step for the Von Trapp children’s music learnin’ is that they’re able to compose and perform a song on their own, without Fräulein Maria’s help. The event is a boring adult dinner in the Von Trapp mansion with fancy people, and the kids surprise Maria and the Captain with their performance of “So long, farewell; au revoir, auf wiedersehen...” Maria didn’t know about the song, and the kids have evidently come up with this song all on their own, including complex choreography and an

incredibly high note that Kurt hits. Well done, Kurt. Unless you’re Friederich. I don’t even know. The point is, the students have mastered the material. They would be able to help other children learn how to sing and dance and turn curtains into lederhosen. 

This pattern would be a good one for any teacher, teaching any subject. The movie is The Sound of Music, but it could as easily be The Sound of ELA or The Sound of AP Biology. So many of us stop after we’ve taught them the rote “Do Re Mi,” because that’s what’s on the tests. We don’t feel like we have the time to carry them forward to stages where they’re creating themselves, sometimes we don’t have the expertise to do it, and we’re afraid to ask for help from colleagues who may be able to help us.

By the end of the movie, Maria has married her World War I Austrian U-Boat captain, and is fleeing for her life across the Alps. Isn’t that what we all want for ourselves and our students?