With December upon us, many of you will soon go into high gear with concert preparation. While you are well along in rehearsals, there is still much to do, and with each passing day, it can begin to seem like time is running out on you. With may directors, it is almost cliche to say … Continue reading Concert Season is Here: How to Stay Calm and Not Drive Your Students Crazy
Music Education
A practical guide to planning, teaching, and assessing music instruction.
Revisiting 21st Century Skills in Music Education
As we began this century, it was understandably popular to discuss what skills students would need to succeed in the 2000s, and to consider in light of those identified skills in what ways, if any, education needed to adjust to possibly new demands the times would make on students as they transitioned into adulthood and … Continue reading Revisiting 21st Century Skills in Music Education
Sight Singing Tips for Music Teachers
Although I am pretty well versed in music theory, and although for the most art I enjoyed music theory classes in college, ear training was a different story. I struggled with dictation, and struggled with sight singing, although much to my teacher's amazement, I always managed to end on the right tonic pitch. I didn't … Continue reading Sight Singing Tips for Music Teachers
When Is A Performance Ready to Present?
By now, rehearsals for winter concerts are well under way. Typically, these rehearsals progress in stages which begin with sight reading, continue through error correction to musicality and expression, and finally on to "polishing" as the concert date draws near. If all goes as intended, everything comes together in time for the concert. If we … Continue reading When Is A Performance Ready to Present?
Views of Music
Is music an object or an experience, or both? All views have filled pages of scholarly writing, and the answer that any music educator settles on will perhaps influence how s/he teaches music more than anything else can. If you believe that music is an object, then you will teach about music, and have your … Continue reading Views of Music
Music Is Becoming More Relevant Than Ever
I'm fairly certain we can agree that music conveys, expresses or evokes feelings and emotions. We've all experienced mood and emotional change while listening to music, and the relaxing or exciting effect music has not only on our emotions, but our bodies too as our heart rate increases, and we physically respond to music to … Continue reading Music Is Becoming More Relevant Than Ever
Managing Parent Contact for Music Teachers
As teachers, we all know that good communication with the parents of our students is important. Parents are interested in their child's education, and want to be informed on how thier child is doing in your class. They want to hear the good as well as the problems, and they want to do what's best … Continue reading Managing Parent Contact for Music Teachers
Working the Scheduling Kinks Out
Every year as I prepared to return to school, the foremost thing on my mind was what my schedule was going to look like. A schedule can make or break and entire year. I've had schedules in which for one or two days, I've taught seven classes straight through with only a lunch break, I've … Continue reading Working the Scheduling Kinks Out
Concerts as Assessments
For many years of my career, my instructional manager (principal) used my concerts as my teacher evaluation. As far as she was concerned, that is what I did, and how well my students performed was a reasonable measure of the quality of my work. Because my concerts were consistently of high quality, and honestly because … Continue reading Concerts as Assessments
Language in Music Teaching
Learning is a process of inquiry, thought, and discovery. A person is faced with an unknown, which begins a line of questioning and searching. Thoughts, ideas, and hypotheses are formed from thinking through the questions, and further searching and thinking leads to discovering new knowledge. The searching and thinking includes exploring similarities and differences between … Continue reading Language in Music Teaching
