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.
#musicservicelearning
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 hard transition. In the face of many deflated and concerned collegiate student comments on social media, I admire the leadership of colleagues across the Nation who rally together to remind students that learning can and should continue, even if in [...]
Teaching Music Online: Strategies and Resources
(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 two weeks to try and halt the spread of COVID-19 in our county in Pennsylvania. As other face similar situations around the globe, I hope this resource roundup can serve to provide much needed help to music teachers who are [...]
Music Beyond the Classroom: Interview with Film and Television Composer, Will Blair
Will and I go way back. I still remember the first time I heard his Philly-based band, East Hundred, in 2008 and fell in love with the song "Slow Burning Crimes." I was playing in a band at the time and female-fronted groups were hard to come by in our city. We bonded over our similar styles and I had the privilege of learning from Will and the rest of his group when we shared the stage. Even after East Hundred broke up, I followed Will's career-from experimental [...]
From Perfection to Authenticity, Orchestra-style
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 plunge from the safety of traditional perfection into vulnerable improvisation. Instead of being the “man in the arena,” in the words of Teddy Roosevelt (resurrected recently by Brene Brown), I was the critic in the comfort of the stands making [...]
Music Beyond the Classroom: Interview with Stage Manager, Sami Slovy
For this installment of our music beyond the classroom series, we caught up with master-of-all-trades, Sami Slovy. In 15 years, Sami has built a name for herself as a well-respected person in the music industry. She's worked as a tour manager (Neko Case, Trombone Shorty), production manager (Beach House, Haim), and has an impressive list of credits as a stage manager. I have a personal goal of highlighting more women in the music industry and am so grateful that Sami offered her time and expertise for others looking [...]
I wrote a song a day for a month. Here’s what I learned.
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 many of my students, it was the first time they had ever written a song before. Ever. When I tell people outside of music ed about this, they are shocked. "Music ed majors don't have to write songs in college? [...]
Viral teaching: How the coronavirus has changed my work
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 it. The virus struck in the middle of what was supposed to be the most joyful week, not just in Chinese culture, but in several cultures across Asia. It is a time when family members who have left their hometowns [...]
Music Beyond the Classroom: Interview with Britt Daniel from Spoon
I still remember the day that my graduate advisor casually mentioned that Britt Daniel was her step brother. My jaw must have dropped on the floor as she responded, "What? Do you know him?" DO I KNOW BRITT DANIEL? If there was a soundtrack to our home, it would be Spoon. Spoon is the one band that my husband and I can always agree on, and we've followed Britt and his various side projects (any Divine Fits fans out there?) over the years, buying tickets whenever they come [...]
Research in action: Student perceptions of a composition project within a concert band setting
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 many different things about student perceptions of their projects. The large themes will be outlined in this blog post but it will in no way share everything that was found and/or reported. I hope this post presents an overview of [...]
My son doesn’t have a music teacher and music education is my career.
When my husband and I decided to stay in Philadelphia after graduating from college, we always got the same questions: "Are you going to stay in the city long term?" "What will you do when you have children?" "Where will you send your kids to school?" In our mid-20s, living in the city was fun. We played in a band and loved taking advantage of all that the city offered us—great restaurants, walkable neighborhoods, close proximity to friends. We also felt compelled to acknowledge the brokenness of our [...]
How I’m approaching musicianship in my choral classroom
Like most music educators, I spend my summers reflecting and dreaming of what I want to accomplish with my students throughout the upcoming year. This past summer I set the intention of creating and fostering more musicianship in my choirs. Sure, this was always something I incorporated to some extent, but I knew there was more to be done. I constantly tell my singers that I want them to become independent musicians, but how was I to do so with so many constraints? Hurdles such as limited [...]
You teach what?!: Music education in virtual schools
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 get to teach from home and yes, I get to wear comfy pants but the differences between virtual and brick and mortar teaching aren’t as numerous as people think. The virtual school I teach at has over 2,000 students in [...]