This summer, I'm looking for funding to purchase music keyboards for my classroom. Many of my students want to learn how to play piano, but cannot afford or find transportation to a piano teacher. My kids love it when I give them time on the piano, but one piano for classes of twenty or more … Continue reading A Closer Look At The Four Artistic Processes: Responding
Music Education
A practical guide to planning, teaching, and assessing music instruction.
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
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
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 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
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