Using Lyrics as a Springboard for Songwriting with Students Recently, I've been spending time with my five-year-old niece, who is just learning how to read, and I was struck by a comment she made the other night when she was reading one of her books to me: [...]
The Grammys have long been associated with all the glitz and glamour that comes with the music industry. But, a few years ago, it became more than that as the Grammy Foundation started including music educators in their awards show. And, while the award has had its [...]
The start of a new school year is the perfect time to create a foundation where students have a voice in the music classroom. Students are excited to start fresh and learn new things, and they are also eager to share their ideas and opinions. By giving students [...]
(This post was inspired by an interview with Jessica Grant for Afternoon Ti and Musicast) If classroom teachers are overwhelmed in the month of December, there needs to be a whole other phrase coined for what music teachers feel this time of year. In addition to our regular [...]
Re-Igniting the Spark Take a moment to think back to your undergraduate college experience. (Perhaps that was only a few months ago, or perhaps you have to reach back a bit more to access this season.) Either way, I would venture to assume that for many of us, [...]
F-flat’s Guide to Summer Professional Development Get ready, friends! In this post, we’ll share our recommendations for summer professional development that is relevant, meaningful, and fun! We are so lucky to have such a strong community of educators and authors, and many of them are busy sharing their [...]
A Music Teacher’s Guide to Soundtrap Like all good broke college students, I have a very old laptop - almost 7 years old in fact. It’s very possible that my MacBook Pro has been running on the same software update for as long as I’ve been able [...]
My focus is not to train students to just reproduce prepared material. I want students to understand what they play, not just play it. When instructing beginners or introducing a new subject — dumb it down, leave stuff out. Make it easy as possible. Once the student [...]
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 [...]