The F-flat Books Blog is a community-run blog exploring a variety of topics in music teaching and learning.
Browse posts by category or check out the most recent posts below.
Using Podcasts in Music Education
Are you a podcast listener? If so, you have probably listened to a podcast or two about music education. There are so many great examples out there. However, this post is not about music education podcasts (we'll save that for another time). This post is about using podcasts on music to create lesson plans that engage students in active listening. I've been teaching at the secondary and collegiate levels for years and have recently started incorporating podcasts into my curriculum. Now, as many of my students are attending school virtually, [...]
Musicast Launch! – Episode 0
Founder, CEO, public school music teacher, and mom extraordinaire Sarah Gulish joins us to talk about the past, present, and future of F-flat books , what it's like to run a business, and the integration of Musicast to the company! Sarah Gulish holds a Ph.D in music education from Temple University. For over a decade, Sarah has taught secondary level music at Lower Moreland High School located in the state of Pennsylvania in the U.S.A. She also serves as Adjunct Professor of Music Education at Buffalo State University and Temple University. Her teaching centers on creativity and improvisation in courses focused on new music learners [...]
The Familiar and the Uncertain: Teaching in Fall 2020
THE RUN Last week, I started on my usual 5 AM run. I laced up my shoes, donned all of my safety gear, and started on the route I had planned. I had my Spotify playlist on blast, trying to wake myself up as I took my initial steps. It had rained the night before, leaving a heavy layer of mist and fog. Even my industrial-strength headlamp wasn’t cutting it. I began to feel disoriented. It was still pitch black outside. The familiar homes and signs that would [...]
Do You Know Why Your Piano is Black and White?
In early July, I read a poem that stopped me in my tracks: "If I were a racist," by Nate Holder. Through captivating language, he expressed what it felt like the music education profession had been dancing around for years. I read it over and over again, noting the areas of discomfort and the personal shortcomings it revealed in me. The words cut deep and allowed me to question my pedagogy and place as a music educator. "...If I were a racist, I wouldn't address outdated policies Or [...]
On Writing Stuff and Getting Paid
This post was prompted by my recent observation in an exchange of text messages with a friend that I earned more from giving one presentation at the 2020 first annual F-FLAT Books Back to School Symposium than from royalty payments all of last year with Routledge (with whom I have published six books to date). I realized upon checking my facts that actually the $90 FABSS presenter’s fee was marginally over half my 2019 royalty earnings from Routledge, but I think the point still works rhetorically. It is, [...]
Dear, Mr. Stakeholder,
You hold the stakes and the stakes are high. I, too, have held precious things. I’ve weighed the options and made the snap judgments beside the long-furrowed brain circles, when right and left seemed equally tied. I’ve held my breath. As a first-year teacher, walking through halls full of faces foreign to me. Hearts untouched and lives untapped. I held my breath. Would I be enough? Would I know enough? Would I even show enough to say when I didn’t know the stuff? Would the music we made, [...]
What Writing a Book is Really Like…From a First Time Author
I've done a lot in my online music education business over the last 4 years. All of it has taken a lot of hard work and dedication. I just figured out how to make it happen and took it all one day at a time. But, for some reason, when it came to me writing a book, it was a different story. I felt a calling to write my book Make A Note: What You Really Need To Know About Teaching Elementary Music for years, but when it [...]
A Newfound Purpose as a Black Teacher in China
During the onset of the virus, I became stuck in the United States, unable to go back to my home in China. It was during this time that the world - and specifically the US - seemed to be overwhelmed with injustices. Our social media feeds were filled with the onslaught of black lives being taken by police officers; armed protestors against masks being lauded for their dedication; unarmed protestors for equality being tear-gassed and shot with rubber bullets; elderly Asian men and women being kicked and punched [...]
Keep the Drumming Alive!
“Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen, great to see you? Welcome to our drum class. I hope you are excited… I know that I am. Let’s begin.” As I uttered this opening statement, I was looking into twenty-two sets of 4th-grade eyes, sitting in twenty-two little boxes, staring back at me, eagerly awaiting the start of our newly created, highly anticipated Zoom drum class. Normally, I would be addressing a class of young musicians in person. Unfortunately, these past few months have been anything but normal. If you are [...]
From “Professional Voice User” to Singer: My journey during COVID
Do you remember singing as a child? What are your earliest memories of singing? I can remember making up songs and singing for my family from a young age. I loved being silly and creating funny lyrics to familiar tunes. I remember singing hymns in church and singing along to oldies in the car with my mom. I always loved to sing. In elementary and middle school, we all had to sing in the choir. I went to a small Christian school, and singing was part of what [...]
Popular Music Education in India
Indian Popular Music: Defined In India, popular music is Bollywood music! New Bollywood songs are #1 in the list of favorite genres in India, followed by old Bollywood songs and other regional music, while international Pop music is at #5 (ifpi 2019, p. 25). Contemporary Bollywood music producers have been combining western popular music with Indian traditional music to evoke cultural connections that shape this unique genre of music. For this very reason, popular music education in India, though available in limited forms, strives to create versatile music [...]
Music Service Learning Update: Week 6
Crescendo Orchestra Senior Project - Written by Nicole Faiola Madeleine Robinson started working with Music Service Learning in conjunction with her senior honors capstone project at West Chester University of PA. Honors college members at WCU must work on a 150-hour personal project that fulfills a community need and includes a means of sustainability once the student graduates. Maddie, a music education major with a keyboard focus and love for orchestra, created her project to work with the Crescendo Orchestra. The Crescendo Orchestra, located in Phoenixville, PA, provides [...]