When I told my students I was interviewing Drew Alexander Forde for my blog (AKA ThatViolaKid), their jaws dropped. One even said, “Wow. You’re not a boomer!” Drew, a dynamic personality and incredible musician, has won over music fans with his engaging social media presence. A Juilliard [...]
As a native Philadelphian, I love the opportunity to celebrate the good things that are happening in my city. Teachers like Courtney are what make our urban school succeed. When I saw that Courtney was a semi-finalist for the Grammy music educator award for 2020, I asked [...]
Concert season- it’s one of the most exciting, nerve wracking, busy, and fun parts of our jobs as music educators. It never falls at a good time of the year and is guaranteed to be at least a little stressful. In every year of my career so [...]
Have you taken the enneagram test? It’s basically a personality test. The idea underpinning the test is that each person has certain personality traits that are inborn, and can be boiled down to 9 specific types of personalities. I took the enneagram a few months ago thinking it [...]
For the next installment of our Music Beyond the Classroom series, we caught up with Bend Gundersheimer, affectionately known as "Mister G" to all his fans. Ben is a true entrepreneur and manages his performing career with a successful writing career while he continues to tour and record. [...]
If you had told my 20-something year old self that I would walk away from my “dream job” at the age of 30, I never would have believed you. When I was 23 years old, I was so fortunate to land the job of my dreams. Teaching high [...]
Theresa Thomasulo In recent years, it has become increasingly common for choral teachers to have transitioning and gender-fluid singers in their choirs. A quick online search will reveal some excellent literature centered on vocal pedagogy and transitioning voices. However, we should also consider the statistics [...]
While we are in the business of selling eBooks, it doesn't mean that we don't love our physical books! During my 12 month teaching sabbatical last year, I had more time to read, discover, and write. I've taken some of my favorite books and placed them on [...]
This week, we're highlighting Jose Valentino Ruiz in our music beyond the classroom series. Not only is Jose one of our authors at F-flat books, he is an incredible musician who wears many hats. University professor, Latin Grammy and Emmy-winning producer and engineer, multi-instrumentalist, dad, husband---these all [...]
There was a subtle but noticeable change when I received my PhD. I was not treated the same. I noticed parent emails were slightly more forgiving, and my opinion seemed to be more valuable than before those three letters followed my name. I noticed a similar change with [...]