From time to time as I am writing a melody on the board that I want my students to play or sing, they will notice that I am not looking at music, and that I am singing quietly to myself (though apparently loud enough for them to notice) as I write. They are fascinated by … Continue reading “How Do You Know What The Notes Are”?
Vocal Music
What You Evaluate Says A Lot About What’s of Value in Your Program
Let me begin today by asking you a question. If you direct a large music ensemble such as a choir, orchestra, or band, how do you assign report card grades to your students? I've been teaching music for over thirty years. "Back in the day" it was perfectly acceptable to give any student that warmed … Continue reading What You Evaluate Says A Lot About What’s of Value in Your Program
Music Literacy is More Than Reading and Writing Music
Literacy is a word that is easily associated with reading and writing. It is a form of the words literature and literary. But not all literature is written down. Many cultures preserve their literature through oral traditions. In these cultures, a literate person is one who knows the literature from memory and can recall it, … Continue reading Music Literacy is More Than Reading and Writing Music
Be Positive: Teaching Kids What they Need To Know Before They Will Learn What You Want To Teach
Perhaps more than teachers of other disciplines, we music teachers tend to be highly critical of ourselves and others. Our main focus in rehearsals is often error detection and correction. We fix mistakes, shape musical phrases, and pretty much spend most of our time turning sonic chaos at the first rehearsal into a splendid musical … Continue reading Be Positive: Teaching Kids What they Need To Know Before They Will Learn What You Want To Teach
More on Learning Objectives
No matter what we do, having a target in mind is essential. If we don't know what we are trying to accomplish, nothing but sheer luck can bring our endeavor to a successful conclusion. In fact, without a target, we can't even know what success is or how to recognize we have succeeded. This goes … Continue reading More on Learning Objectives
Why Do Instrumental Music Students Have So Much Trouble With Rhythm?
When I was a band director, I often wondered why it was that drum students so often had so much trouble with rhythm. For the most part, they didn't have to learn how to read pitches, they had no fingerings to learn, no embouchure to form. All they had to do was hold a stick … Continue reading Why Do Instrumental Music Students Have So Much Trouble With Rhythm?
Conquering Stage Fright
Anyone who is a performing musician, and in fact anyone who has given a speech or presented anything in front of an audience, has probably experienced what is commonly referred to as "stage fright." At its core, stage fright is the fear of making mistakes or failing publicly. I for one have accepted a certain … Continue reading Conquering Stage Fright
Music Is To Be Seen and Heard
Amid a generation of music listeners who have rarely or never experienced live music, the sonically perfect recorded version, the product of many takes and extensive engineering, is the only kind of music they know. Recordings are so perfect that even if one hears performing artists live, they are either incapable of matching their studio … Continue reading Music Is To Be Seen and Heard
There’s Always So Much Going On Inside Music
Until I got to college and began working on my music degree, I thought music was a pretty simple thing. There were people like me who sat in a band with a clarinet, and people like the conductor who told me and all of the other players what to play, and how to play it. … Continue reading There’s Always So Much Going On Inside Music
The Importance of Echo Songs in the Early Grades
Children develop the ability to sing accurately by repeating short patterns or song fragments. As they do so, they are building a vocabulary of music patterns that they will be able to remember, sing, and eventually read, write and use to improvise. While children can learn patterns by singing them with others in a class, … Continue reading The Importance of Echo Songs in the Early Grades
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