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.
Musicast Episode 6: A Nod to Marching Bands, Part 2 with Aaron Dugger- Balancing Process and Product
High school band director Aaron Dugger returns to the podcast to discuss process and product in secondary marching bands. in the Texas UIL system, it can feel like your teaching to a test but Aaron offers productive insight as to how to take the system and make it work for students and programs of all kinds. [...]
The Essential Work of the Arts: A Productive Response for Teachers
This post is a response to the post "The Essential Work of the Arts". Taking Action If you can agree that arts, in general, are important, then we can move to action items: what do we do as teachers of the arts? How do we harness our anger and frustration with this situation into productive action? With so much taken from us, let’s ask: What are the next steps? I have a friend that once simply in passing told me that, “Life is mentality.” He said it to [...]
Musicast Episode 5: Young Band Directors Panel- Finding and Remembering Your “Why”
\A panel of high school band directors who have been teaching for 6 years or less come together to discuss the good, the bad, and the inspirational parts of being a band director. The discussion includes topics about leadership, COVID era teaching, and finding and remembering why they became music teachers. This episode will feed your soul! [...]
The Essential Work of the Arts
As a young educator, I was always tasked with the question: why does music matter? It was something asked incessantly. There were textbook answers that got me through job interviews, but the one person I never really convinced was myself. I knew why I was a teacher- I’ve never doubted wanting to be a teacher. I care deeply about my students and their success, but why was I teaching music specifically? Recently, I have been revisiting this question more and more in an era of COVID-teaching. I am [...]
Musicast Episode 4: Kirsten C. Kunkle – Passionate Pioneering
Soprano Kirsten C. Kunkle has been hailed as an outstanding singing actress with a voice that has been described as beautiful, ethereal, powerful, fiery, and bewitching. he attended Bowling Green State University and the University of Salzburg for her undergraduate studies, majoring in voice performance with minors in Italian and German. Her graduate degrees are in voice performance from the University of Michigan. A voting member of the Muscogee Nation, Dr. Kunkle commissioned and premiered sixteen original compositions, including one of her own, based upon the poetry of her ancestor and highly-acclaimed poet of the Native American Muscogee Nation, Alex Posey. [...]
Research to Practice: Using Data for More than Just Grades
I used to think that research was complicated and couldn’t help me in my classroom. I used to see the Music Educators Journal arrive in my mailbox, flip through, sigh, think to myself – “If I only had time….,” and then add the issue to a growing pile on my dining room table. [...]
Musicast Episode 3: Lucky Chops – Streets & Stage: Funkifying Music Education
Lucky Chops has been unleashing high-energy brassy funk on the world since forming in NYC in 2006. The intensity of the band’s energy is fueled by their desire to share the healing and inspirational power of music with others. That power has resonated with audiences around the globe, giving the band hundreds of millions of views on their online videos and leading to live performances in more than twenty five countries. Lucky Chops maintains a busy schedule touring across several continents. [...]
Musicast Episode 2: Wanda Vasquez Garcia – Equity and Expectancy
Wanda is currently the general music teacher at the Escuela Bilingüe Pioneer in Lafayette, Colorado, and the children and youth choir director at First Congregational Church of Greeley, Colorado. As a K-5 music educator, she believes music is a very effective way to learn about cultures. [...]
The “New Normal”: Silver Linings of Going Back to School
Silver Linings I’m an optimist at heart, so some of you are going to hate the cheery tone of this post, particularly since there are a million difficulties and things to complain about right now as we do our best to teach music during a pandemic. But, here you have it. As a teacher to both preservice music teachers and children PreK–6, I have been surprised at some of the positives that have emerged from the past six months, both in the context of my profession and in [...]
Musicast Episode 1: Williams Goldsmith – “Dreams Don’t Work Unless You Do”
Williams Goldsmith is a 17-year-old guitarist, producer, and singer from Massachusetts. He started out playing rock and metal music, but in recent years has gotten more into pop, R&B and hip-hop. He has independently released an EP and 3 singles of varying styles, reflecting his varying music taste. He hopes to innovate and one day leave a lasting impact on the music world. [...]
The “New Normal”: Teaching Music to Students with Special Needs in Pennsylvania
Have you ever had a year like this year? I would say that not EVERYTHING of this year has gone wrong, but many, many things have not gone according to plan in my life. I am sure you all relate. Was there a graduation, wedding, or baby shower you couldn’t attend? Was school up in the air for many months as the thought of starting virtually OR in person caused you worry and anxiety? Same. Here. It was August when I first heard we were going back to [...]
The “New Normal”: Teaching Elementary Music in Prince Edward Island, Canada
Heading back to the classroom on Prince Edward Island I love my beautiful province. It is tiny, surrounded by water, and a protected haven from the chaos of our present health crisis. Prince Edward Island has managed to stay safe from community transmission of COVID -19. With strict border controls and self -isolation requirements in place, we currently have no active cases of the coronavirus. Yay!!!! So… it must have been easy to go back to school, right? Definitely, not the case. But we are back to [...]