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
Instrumental Music
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
What Learning Golf Has Taught Me About Teaching Music
This spring, I began the arduous task of learning to play golf. It was twenty years since I last played, and even then, I was never very good, never breaking 100. But now, as I look at retiring in 2-3 years, the idea of playing golf appeals to me, so I decided to start working … Continue reading What Learning Golf Has Taught Me About Teaching Music
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 Benefits of Doing a Yearly Musical Theater Production
Last night, my students had their opening night for "Shrek The Musical Jr." If you're not familiar with the Broadway Jr. series of musicals published by MTI, then I highly recommend you look into these shows. The songs are transposed and edited into ranges friendly to young voices, and the scripts are edited down to … Continue reading The Benefits of Doing a Yearly Musical Theater Production
How It All Works Together
When you teach a child to play an instrument, what is the goal of doing so? This may seem like an odd question, because we are inclined to answer that the goal is to lead the child in gaining proficiency on the instrument. There is nothing wrong with this goal; it can be defined, growth … Continue reading How It All Works Together
Why Do We Make Music?
One of the pitfalls of doing anything over a long period of time, is that we can wake up one day and realize we've forgotten why we do what we do. We've been doing it for so long, it has become a habit, a lifestyle, a part of who we are. Chances are those of … Continue reading Why Do We Make Music?
Describing Music and Teaching Music
If you are a music reader, want you to pretend you know nothing about music notation. If you don't read music, you're all set. Now take what I'm about to write absolutely literally. "A quarter note gets one beat, and a half note gets two beats." Just from that description, do you know that the … Continue reading Describing Music and Teaching Music
The Twists and Turns of Music Theory
When my students learn what intervals are in music, they first learn the interval name, a second, third, fifth, and so forth, before they learn the kind, major, minor, perfect, and so on. It is one of those strange things about music theory that a number represents some distances between notes, while a word represents … Continue reading The Twists and Turns of Music Theory
How We Describe and Write About Music We Hear+
Asking students to describe music you play for them has several benefits. Most obviously, descriptions tell us what the student though about and experienced from listening. We may learn how the music affected his or her emotions, what musical elements were noticed, or what and when certain musical events occurred. For the most part, when … Continue reading How We Describe and Write About Music We Hear+
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