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.
“Can I pick your brain?”
My Background I spent my first few years of teaching trying to “follow the rules.” Like many others, my undergraduate education was based on certain music principles and methods. As a new teacher, I was anxious to put four years of education into practice with real students in a real school. While things were going smoothly with my younger grades, I quickly came to the harsh realization that I wasn’t connecting with my middle schoolers. I was heartbroken. This was age-group for which I had a passion. [...]
Every Good Book Deserves Funds
"A new royalty statement is available for Sarah Gulish." I saw an email in my inbox a few weeks ago with this subject line. When I clicked on the link and went to my author portal, I scrolled down to see my payout for the 2018 year: $6.00. For a few hundred dollars in sales, I would only receive enough money to buy a fancy drink at Starbucks. Scratch that. I have a co-author, which means we split royalties. It looks like we'll be sharing the latte [...]
Playing with my eyes closed: experiential listening
Gareth Dylan Smith Drumming (with His Eyes Closed) When we’re teaching rhythm section workshops and other performance classes at the college where I work, my fellow teachers and I often tell the students to look around and pay attention to those with whom they are playing on stage. I believe this to be sound advice, since a lot of the time inexperienced ensemble players will appear to be in their own world entirely, disconnected almost completely from the music that could be happening if only they [...]