Audiation is hearing and comprehending music for which the sound is no longer or may never have been present. Audiation occurs when we anticipate what will come next while listening to music, anticipate what music we are reading will sound like while performing from notation, think of what we will play next when playing “by … Continue reading Ways of Developing Audiation Skills in Music Classes
Month: September 2014
Why Are Some Ensembles Good and Others Great?
Yesterday afternoon, I watched the annual Mum Festival Parade in my home city. I enjoy going to local parades, because there are always four really good marching bands that perform. They were all at the parade yesterday, and none of them let me down, but one impressed me for a reason I hadn’t thought about … Continue reading Why Are Some Ensembles Good and Others Great?
What Is Musical Ability?
What is musical ability? This question is not as easy to answer as first appears. It is tempting to define musical ability in terms of performance skills, and those are typically made manifest in public performances. Restricting a definition of musical ability to performance excludes non-performance musical behaviors, or musical behaviors that are needed to … Continue reading What Is Musical Ability?
What Can You Do With A Free Piano Keyboard App?
For several years, I have wanted a piano lab in my general music classroom for my seventh and eighth grade students. Many of them want to play piano, and with just one acoustic instrument, I just don’t have the resources to teach many of them, and certainly not during a class with only one instrument. … Continue reading What Can You Do With A Free Piano Keyboard App?
The Tension Between Expediency and Rigor
Realizing that the world isn’t perfect, and that music directors sometimes do things they feel they have to do but don’t really want to do, I thought it would be useful to explore the tension that often exists between expedient and rigorous. First, I should define my terms. Expedient is training an ensemble to play … Continue reading The Tension Between Expediency and Rigor
Responding to Music in the Core Arts Standards and Beyond
Responding to music has been among our music standards from the beginning of the first standards. In its original context, responding was primarily a standard for non-performing students, and was most utilized in music appreciation classes, or listening units in general music sections. As it is now presented in the Core Arts Standards for music, … Continue reading Responding to Music in the Core Arts Standards and Beyond
Philosophical Musings on Art and Music
What do humans do? What are we made for? If we look at our educational institutions, we would conclude that we think and reason in words and formulas, create works of art that utilize mathematical relationships and perhaps words, but which express emotions and feelings, figure out how things work through scientific inquiry, and design … Continue reading Philosophical Musings on Art and Music
What Your Students Will Tell You
As I taught my pre-kindergarten three year olds today, several of them were really good teacher's helpers. I don't mean they shared a snack, or helped a friend put on a jacket, I mean they helped me teach them their music class. Children will tell you a lot about how to teach them if you're … Continue reading What Your Students Will Tell You
Two Realms of Childhood
The Core Arts Standards for Music specify standard and/or iconic notation for planning and making musical works, but do not mention using notation of any kind for responding to music. This may be an attempt to keep responding to music accessible to students who have limited music reading skills, but avoids an opportunity to build … Continue reading Two Realms of Childhood
How To Ease Musical Transitions
I expect that all of us have found from our own performance and from directing our performance ensembles that transitions always need extra practice; those measures in a musical work where the composer moves from one section to the next, or one theme to the next. Everything is going well, and then we arrive at … Continue reading How To Ease Musical Transitions
mister a music place 
You must be logged in to post a comment.