Whether you're a brand new teacher with their first roster of students (congrats!) or you've been shaping minds, voices, and fingers for a while, those who teach private music lessons know every lesson is different. You will have students of different ages, abilities, learning styles, and, often [...]
For many music teachers, this was the first school year since 2019 that ended with a "normal" concert season. And, it might be the first time in a while that you've scratched your head and thought, "What do we do now?" Concerts have ended. Competitions are over. [...]
The bell rings. I see a group of adolescents walking into my room. Under my mask, I’m smiling. But, inside, I’m anxious. I just received an email from a parent who’s upset about a situation that occurred in class the day before; I’m questioning the way I handled [...]
As a college music major with a demanding schedule, how do we begin to take care of ourselves in ways that are meaningful? In this blog, we will be navigating through what self-care is and how we can embrace it in a way that nurtures us to [...]
As a Music Education major, I am not a stranger to the extraneous workload, unbalanced and crazy class schedules, and a lack of clarity in when/how to take breaks. It can be argued that music degree programs are some of the most demanding in the University curriculum. [...]
I have roughly 200 playlists in my Apple Music library. Not the algorithmic ones that our benevolent tech overlords provide for us - my very own creations. 200 of them. Perhaps that’s more than any sane human should have. Most of them are for me. Some are [...]
I read an article by social psychologist Amy Cuddy and JillElyn Riley titled, "Why this stage of the pandemic makes us so anxious." I also heard Amy Cuddy talk about this article in an interview with Brene Brown and the term "pandemic flux syndrome." As an educator, everything [...]
The Gut Level Teacher Reflection At the end of the 2021 year, a social worker in my district passed along this article about the Gut Level Teacher Reflection. Reflection has always been a part of my life journey. It helps me pause and process my actions and [...]
Many musicians love using the word “collaboration,” a scenario that so often results in one party becoming an unpaid subcontractor experiencing minuscule gains for their sole-proprietorship for the sake of another party’s scalability and benefit. Musicians: Be wary of the words, “Let’s collaborate!” Musicians-to-musician interactions: Take time to [...]
Today’s Topic: Culturally responsive teaching with exit tickets (fostering joy) Today’s Tip: Utilize daily exit tickets for qualitative data that informs your practice. Exit tickets work! Since the pandemic started, I have been using exit tickets to gauge student engagement and understanding. It started as a [...]