Like many other music teachers, I am in the strange position of being a (sudden) virtual teacher. On March 12th, 2020, the governor for our state of Pennsylvania held a press conference in which he announced the immediate shutdown of all schools in Montgomery County, the county in [...]
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, [...]
(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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
“I’m so shocked.” My previous principal spoke that phrase nearly 20 times when I told him I was leaving the school and the profession. I couldn’t help but wonder, “How can he be shocked?” None of my coworkers were. Though many expressed authentic gratefulness for my time and [...]