A Closer Look At The Four Artistic Processes: Performing

On July 9, I wrote about the artistic process of creating as it is presented in the Core Arts Standards (A Closer Look At the Four Artistic Processes: Creating). Today, I will write about the artistic process of performing. As far as the standards are concerned, creating is one side of the coin and performing is … Continue reading A Closer Look At The Four Artistic Processes: Performing

How “Market Driven” Should Music Education Be?

Some years ago, the district music coordinator I worked for had one guiding principle that she seemed to bring up more often than any other. It was the idea that we, the music teachers, should not be spending our precious class time teaching our students music they were already familiar with, but instead music that … Continue reading How “Market Driven” Should Music Education Be?

A Closer Look At The Four Artistic Processes: Creating

The National Core Arts Standards are written around four artistic processes. For music, these processes are creating, performing, responding, and connecting. How do these four artistic processes translate into what music teachers and students are to do in a classroom? I will take each process and, using the framework (see my post from July 8) … Continue reading A Closer Look At The Four Artistic Processes: Creating

Highlights from the National Arts Standards Framework for Use in Music Curriculum Writing

Any curriculum writing that music educators do going forward need to be grounded in the core arts standards for music. These standards were intentionally written to be highly compatible with the common core standards while maintaining crucial distinctive for arts education. The major emphasis is on the four artistic processes of performing, creating, responding and … Continue reading Highlights from the National Arts Standards Framework for Use in Music Curriculum Writing

What Is The Difference Between Standards and Curriculum: A Primer for Music Curriculum Writers

Some of you who are music educators will be doing curriculum writing work over the summer, while others will be planning for the coming school year. In either case, it is important to understand the distinction between standards and curriculum. With the presence of common core in many states, standards have taken on a renewed importance in planning … Continue reading What Is The Difference Between Standards and Curriculum: A Primer for Music Curriculum Writers

Making Music Classrooms More Student-Centered

Don't forget to visit my request for my classroom at DonorsChoose.org: Keyboards For Kids, Music For All  Give to my classroom by June 28, 2015 and your donation will be doubled thanks to DonorsChoose.org. Just enter the code SPARK on the payment page and you’ll be matched dollar for dollar (up to $100). The longer I … Continue reading Making Music Classrooms More Student-Centered

Can Encouraging Creativity Include Correcting Errors?

Today, as I attended the fifth biennial Symposium on Music in Schools at Yale University, I became occupied with a question that came to mind as I listened to Sebastian Ruth talk about helping students find their voice through music education. His talk and the discussion that followed included points on developing relationships with students … Continue reading Can Encouraging Creativity Include Correcting Errors?

The Other Singing Voice

Music teachers of young, primary grade children know it is important to teach children to find and use their singing voice for singing. Left on their own, most children will try to sing with the same voice they use for speaking, which is very limited in range, and usually too low to sing accurately or … Continue reading The Other Singing Voice

Student Self-Reflection on Music Compositions

In my previous two posts, I discussed reflective questions for student composers that dealt with the musical work, and with the performance of the musical work. Today I will discuss questions about musical form and about a composer's opinion of his or her own work. The most basic aspect of musical form is the balance … Continue reading Student Self-Reflection on Music Compositions

Reflective Questions for 5th Grade Music Composition–The Performance

Once a student composer has created a musical work, it is time for the work to be prepared for presentation, and then to be performed for an audience. This can be an extensive learning experience in itself for a young composer; it is one thing to write down musical ideas, but it is another for … Continue reading Reflective Questions for 5th Grade Music Composition–The Performance