I am a music education college professor who teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses. I also keep a foot in the schools by teaching one day a week at a PreK–6 Montessori school. What you are about to read is my specific response to the crisis in which [...]
The guiding principle of the Kodaly philosophy is that only the best is good enough for a child. When virtual learning becomes the best delivery method for instruction, educators look for innovative ways to maintain quality music education. We land on our feet, and re-imagine some aspects [...]
This has been an interesting year for me. I just started at a new school this year with the goal of establishing a performing arts program. Prior to this year, they really had nothing...one ‘music’ class was offered that was just basically a hodgepodge of students that had [...]
Tiktok from a Freshman orchestra student Social media for school has always scared me a little bit. I grew up on social media- in high school, Facebook was new and all the rage with Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and so many more to follow. I watched friends, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Virtual Education When I tell people I teach music at a virtual school, they often have a hard time wrapping their heads around how it all works. My school has no physical school building. All of the teachers, students, and staff go to school via computer. Yes, I [...]