The current pandemic has thrust the global population into a period of uncertainty unrivaled in recent history. Music students at universities around the world are being forced to abandon the structure that has helped to frame their success and are now required to adapt their habits to fit [...]
As I watch the education world move to an all online learning, I’m struck positively by several things. First, I love how people are embracing this opportunity to explore new learning platforms! I find it amazing that so many companies have made materials free for teachers during this [...]
(Note: this post will continue to be updated with resources as they come in) As I write this post, I am looking at a dozens of text messages from other teachers in my school district. We just received news that we would be closed for at least [...]
Will and I go way back. I still remember the first time I heard his Philly-based band, East Hundred, in 2008 and fell in love with the song "Slow Burning Crimes." I was playing in a band at the time and female-fronted groups were hard to come by [...]
At what point in the music-learning process can creativity be introduced? Maybe when the D-major scale can be played in-tune? Or, could we begin tapping into musical exploration from the first baby steps of plucking strings? A classically-trained violist, I took over 15 years to take the terrifying [...]
For this installment of our music beyond the classroom series, we caught up with master-of-all-trades, Sami Slovy. In 15 years, Sami has built a name for herself as a well-respected person in the music industry. She's worked as a tour manager (Neko Case, Trombone Shorty), production manager (Beach [...]
Are you a songwriter? Do you want to be a songwriter? I've thought a lot about songwriting this past year. Last spring, I taught a course at Temple University for undergraduate music education majors called collaboration and creativity. One of the assignments was to write a song. For [...]
The start of corona It would be extremely difficult to turn on the TV, radio, or even YouTube without seeing some form of announcement or article about the novel coronavirus -- not so lovingly called “corona” for short by some of us who have found ourselves closest to [...]
I still remember the day that my graduate advisor casually mentioned that Britt Daniel was her step brother. My jaw must have dropped on the floor as she responded, "What? Do you know him?" DO I KNOW BRITT DANIEL? If there was a soundtrack to our home, it [...]
Background This past year, I spent a lot of my time investigating and researching student perceptions of composition projects that they were completing in their band class. This research was for my master’s field project but the entire process was incredibly enlightening and informative. The research showed [...]