S04.E19: Music Class

[chitowngirl]

Barbara and Gregory are in over their heads when they find themselves in new roles at Abbott Elementary.
 

Airdate March 26, 2025 on ABC, next day Hulu

[Galileo908]

It's only been two days since the last ep?!

Knew it, Gregory is interim principal now. And lol, not only is he doing the announcements, he's making up for lost time. (2021-22?!) Of course he's TOO meticulous, a far cry from Ava's...lack of it. And turns out Dia is just sick of her job, it wasn't just dealing with Ava (but it certainly didn't help). 

Why am I not surprised that Jacob's second favorite song is "the entirety of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack"?

And here I thought everything Ava had said about her life was a lie. That the raggedy building with the PO Box WAS her house, that Abbott was her only source of income...and then came the Life Coach seminar TEB Talk. I'm dying at "Edamame arms" (and Gregory thinking it was about Jacob lol) I really need to know more of how Ava's mind works. A filing system based on contestants of Survivor? I never would've thought of that. I do love how much Gregory and Melissa got into Survivor. Loved the callback of Melissa pouring all the seasoning in her popcorn.

Edited Yest. at 01:17 AM by Galileo908

[Annber03]

Of course Ava would get involved in that new line of work :D. It really does fit her and she's clearly got a showmanship about her. I loved how she described her former coworkers when reassuring the woman who wanted to find her soulmate XD. 

And of course Janine would be going all out to fight to get Ava her job back. I like seeing Gregory in the principal role - his struggles with Ava's wacky filing system aside, he's taking to it rather nicely. LOL at him and Melissa getting invested in that "Survivor" episode :p. 

I hope we get to see more of the music cass, I'd like to see what else the kids could come up with. 

[kathyk2]

This is going to be an unpopular opinion, but I don't like Barbara she's annoying. I would have dropped the music class if I were the kids. It was nice to see how much Ava and the staff missed each other.

[possibilities]

I wonder who is teaching Gregory's class. When Janine was at the District, the subs were all terrible.

One of the best parts of popcorn is being able to load it with seasonings.

If her job at Abbott was insignificant for her income, that means Ava was there because she loved it.

[txhorns79]

43 minutes ago, possibilities said:

If her job at Abbott was insignificant for her income, that means Ava was there because she loved it.

I think she was there for a variety of reasons.  I don't know that she loved the job, so much as she liked being in charge.  I did appreciate that during her visit, we saw her steal two reams of printer paper for herself. 

[Galileo908]

52 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I wonder who is teaching Gregory's class. When Janine was at the District, the subs were all terrible.

Hell, who was teaching Melissa's class during all this?

6 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

I did appreciate that during her visit, we saw her steal two reams of printer paper for herself. 

And the badge lol

[peeayebee]

There were some things I enjoyed in this ep, but overall I didn't. I used to like Barbara, and I know we're supposed to find her personality amusing, but I just don't find it entertaining.

How would you describe her personality? A perfectionist? A egotist? (More and more I have difficulty finding the right words.)

And I just don't know about Ava. I generally like the character, and I love all her one-liners, but I think I prefer her in small doses.

She certainly knows how to take charge of a room. She can be a captivating speaker. But she didn't really say anything all that helpful. All I heard was a bunch of empty platitudes. Lots of showmanship.

I'm glad Janine realized that she was pursuing the appeal for her own sake -- wanting to fix things for others, not wanting to let go. 

What I did like:

Dia. She just cracks me up.

The kid sitting next to Jacob who told him to chill when Jacob was so excited about Barbara, and then saying, "Dude," for basically the same reason. 

I always like Jacob.

Oh, and I was also wondering who was watching or teaching Janine and Melissa's classes. They were gone a long time at Ava's TEB Talk, not to mention Melissa staying in the principal's office watching Survivor. 

[Annber03]

11 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Why am I not surprised that Jacob's second favorite song is "the entirety of the Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack"?

Oh, tha'ts what he said :D? I missed that part.

Ha, that's great. 

[Seelouis]

1 hour ago, peeayebee said:

Oh, and I was also wondering who was watching or teaching Janine and Melissa's classes. They were gone a long time at Ava's TEB Talk, not to mention Melissa staying in the principal's office watching Survivor. 

I thought this was all happening after school at the same time Barbara was teaching the extra curricula class 

[txhorns79]

3 minutes ago, peeayebee said:

How would you describe her personality? A perfectionist? A egotist? (More and more I have difficulty finding the right words.)

I think Barbara is someone who thrives with structure.  She's an excellent kindergarten teacher because she gets to follow a lesson plan, and the kids all have mostly similar abilities when they come into class at the beginning of the year. She also has the experience to know what works and does not work for children that age.  

The music class has a lot less structure and the kids are all different ages and abilities.  Rather than taking the pulse of the class to see what they had been doing and what they needed, she went ahead with plans that made more sense for a beginning music class.

[marceline]

When I was growing up back in the 1900's, after school activities were called "clubs" not "classes."

A class has a curriculum but this was clearly a music club just like the garden goofballs or the golf group.

I agree that the version of Barbara in this episode didn't sit right with me but I did like how the one student was really interested in learning the fundamentals. It's a good reminder that no one thing works for everybody.

I don't usually like Ava's casual cruelty but her calling Janine "bobblehead" absolutely landed for me because Janine was being dense and pushy.

Have we seen Jacob and Ava interact much since the school board budget meeting where Ava declared him her enemy? Because her getting fired is a direct result of Jacob's action at that meeting.

And as always, the kids on this show are so good.

Edited Yest. at 02:56 PM by marceline

[dmmetler]

As a music teacher, I’m glad to see Barbara struggling. Specials classes and grade level classes are two different  animals, with different skill sets. And being a good singer doesn’t mean you have a clue how to teach music. Barbara was approaching it more like a high school music theory class…which generally assumes that students already have had years of music reading while playing an instrument or singing.

 

 

[Empress1]

4 hours ago, peeayebee said:

She certainly knows how to take charge of a room. She can be a captivating speaker. But she didn't really say anything all that helpful. All I heard was a bunch of empty platitudes. Lots of showmanship.

That’s like 75% of what being an influencer is. (Granted, the rest is business acumen.)

1 hour ago, dmmetler said:

And being a good singer doesn’t mean you have a clue how to teach music.

The worst teacher I ever had was my high school chemistry teacher. He’d been a researcher before. Brilliant but he could not teach. He lasted a year. Kids who went on to become doctors got Cs in his class and the curve was crazy. Being good at something doesn’t mean you know how to teach it, just like being good at something at work doesn’t mean you’d be a good manager. They’re different skills.

Barbara does seem to be a good teacher,  but I agree that this seems to be a club, not a class, so it’s less structured and had kids of different ages and skill levels. I don’t think there are benchmarks to hit in the same way there are for classes. She was clearly thrown.

I do not understand Ava’s filing system, but I laughed when Gregory asked how many Survivor episodes there were. Aren’t they like 20 years in?

[chitowngirl]

57 minutes ago, Empress1 said:

I do not understand Ava’s filing system, but I laughed when Gregory asked how many Survivor episodes there were. Aren’t they like 20 years in?

Oh, it’s worse than that-they do two seasons a year!  They are currently airing season 48. 

[DearEvette]

13 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

 I did appreciate that during her visit, we saw her steal two reams of printer paper for herself. 

First thing I noticed!  I loved how casual yet blatant it was. 

13 hours ago, Galileo908 said:

Hell, who was teaching Melissa's class during all this?

The majority of this ep took place over various days after school had let out since so much of the action was contemporaneous with Barbara's music class.

5 hours ago, peeayebee said:

She certainly knows how to take charge of a room. She can be a captivating speaker. But she didn't really say anything all that helpful. All I heard was a bunch of empty platitudes. Lots of showmanship.

I have to admit, I was not expecting that crowd.  But I also think that is the hallmark of those types of talks/gatherings.  You have this person with their headset on saying all types of platitudinous things that is really nothing bit word-salad affirmations and their audience eats it up with a spoon.  There is a personality type that will go to a talk like that in the middle of the day in a 2-star hotel conference room.  And they tend to be prey for that brand of snake oil salesmen. 

But seeing that crowd and the look on Janine/Gregory's faces made think the overall theme of this episode... and again a recurring theme on the show is how little they really know about Ava. She really keeps her personal life locked down.  What they do learn they tend to learn by accident (e.g. her father).

1 hour ago, Empress1 said:

The worst teacher I ever had was my high school chemistry teacher. He’d been a researcher before. Brilliant but he could not teach. He lasted a year. Kids who went on to become doctors got Cs in his class and the curve was crazy. Being good at something doesn’t mean you know how to teach it, just like being good at something at work doesn’t mean you’d be a good manager. They’re different skills.

Barbara does seem to be a good teacher,  but I agree that this seems to be a club, not a class, so it’s less structured and had kids of different ages and skill levels. I don’t think there are benchmarks to hit in the same way there are for classes. She was clearly thrown.

So much this!  I know the saying 'Those that can, do. Those that can't teach' is supposed to be derisive toward people who teach, but frankly it is misleading because teaching is a very specialized skill that is hard!

I agree if it was a club then it should have been more loose and fun.  If it was a class, she was correct they needed to learn the fundamentals, but she was approaching it in a way that was too advanced, imo, which sounds weird since she is a kindergarten teacher.  

I do like the role reversal a bit that Jacob was trying to (gently) guide Barbara on how to teach that age group.  And yeah, I loved that the one kid liked her method. 

Not as many door-to-door one liners in this one, though I did wonder why Lucy Liu had to catch a stray when Babara said her voice had been 'Chopped, Stewed and Lucy Liu'd"? LOL.

Gregory and Melissa's sub plot with Ava's filing method was fun.  I love how much they came to appreciate it and enjoy it.

[Boofish]

I have a sister like Barbara. She is a teacher. She loves Jesus. She has a phone purse.

But she is also the villain in every single family members life story but swears her halo shines brighter than everyone around her. That to me is what they are turning Barbara into - the villain. She used to be my favorite but now all she does is make nasty remarks and turn her nose up at everyone except Melissa.

[kathyk2]

1 hour ago, Boofish said:

I have a sister like Barbara. She is a teacher. She loves Jesus. She has a phone purse.

But she is also the villain in every single family members life story but swears her halo shines brighter than everyone around her. That to me is what they are turning Barbara into - the villain. She used to be my favorite but now all she does is make nasty remarks and turn her nose up at everyone except Melissa.

I started disliking Barbara in Sick Day when she put down Janine behind her back. I really hated her in Librarian when she was willing to ruin a benefit for the other teachers because she couldn't get her own way.

[DanaK]

I thought it was funny when Ava was in that room in the hotel and suddenly noticed the documentary crew’s camera and I think realized Janine or someone else from Abbott was in the vicinity 

Good episode overall, though I hope Barbara learned a lesson on the difference between teaching a music class and teaching an afterschool music activity

[dmmetler]

I went from teaching grade level K-6 music to teaching parent/child and preschool classes (and college music Ed majors) to teaching in an after school program, and they’re all very different. My after school program kids, like the ones Barbara seems to have, tend to really want to create their own stuff and less to learn skills-and their classroom indicates to me that there probably was an orff program  there in the past (truth in television-PA has multiple summer Orff institutes, and it’s the most common in elementary schools) and it’s heavily focused on kids learning to compose and improvise, and the layered digital recordings the kids were playing with would lend itself well to that approach. 
 

I do wonder….why, oh, why, didn’t Barbara consider doing a Gospel choir? They’re fairly common as extracurricular ensembles in schools here. And it would have been more in her skill set. (Think Sister Act, where Deloris is able to turn the choir around by going with the Reno lounge act songs and just changing words, or School of Rock, where Dewey is able to use the kids skills and scaffold off of them for two examples where musicians are able to teach effectively)
 

 

[possibilities]

A gospel choir in a public school? I would personally try to get her fired if she did that.

[Galileo908]

11 hours ago, Seelouis said:

I thought this was all happening after school at the same time Barbara was teaching the extra curricula class 

That makes way more sense.

3 hours ago, DanaK said:

I thought it was funny when Ava was in that room in the hotel and suddenly noticed the documentary crew’s camera and I think realized Janine or someone else from Abbott was in the vicinity 

Ava is 100% aware of the cameras 24/7. She knows that if the camera crew started following her, Janine at the very least can't be far behind.

12 hours ago, peeayebee said:

She certainly knows how to take charge of a room. She can be a captivating speaker. But she didn't really say anything all that helpful. All I heard was a bunch of empty platitudes. Lots of showmanship.

That's Life Coach MLMs to a T. So of course it's a perfect Ava side hustle.

[peeayebee]

But it bothered me when Janine, Gregory, and Melissa were impressed by her presentation. It's like WE were supposed to believe Ava gave a substantive presentation. 

[Charlemagne]

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

But it bothered me when Janine, Gregory, and Melissa were impressed by her presentation. It's like WE were supposed to believe Ava gave a substantive presentation. 

I interpreted it a different way. 

It seemed to me that their reaction was more to the crowd and the crowd's behavior/reaction.

They specifically mentioned that they thought that it would be an empty conference room so to not only see it completely full but then to also see the people increasingly eat up her words was a shock.

Because to them, Ava is a loveable annoyance but they don't think of her as an "influencer" on any credible level.

Entering that conference room and seeing that crowd's reaction probably seemed like they had stepped into an alternate reality.

[DearEvette]

1 hour ago, Charlemagne said:

I interpreted it a different way. 

It seemed to me that their reaction was more to the crowd and the crowd's behavior/reaction.

They specifically mentioned that they thought that it would be an empty conference room so to not only see it completely full but then to also see the people increasingly eat up her words was a shock.

Yeah, that was how I took it. All episode they were all very sad about Ava, thinking that the loss of the job was a huge blow. And I think the show also did a little sleight of hand for us as well, making it seem like Ava was laughing stuff off to make seem like she was putting on a braver face.  The way she'd throw off lines like 'Ed Talk' and 'Teb Talk' to make it seem like she was making stuff up.

So the reveal was as much for us and it was for them. I admit, I was shocked.