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.
❓TO COLLABORATE OR TO JOINT VENTURE❓
Many musicians love using the word “collaboration,” a scenario that so often results in one party becoming an unpaid subcontractor experiencing minuscule gains for their sole-proprietorship for the sake of another party’s scalability and benefit. Musicians: Be wary of the words, “Let’s collaborate!” Musicians-to-musician interactions: Take time to understand that while there is the POSSIBILITY and PROSPECTIVE of two entities teaming on a project, do not mistake it for a guaranteed PROMISE every time a POTENTIAL opportunity arises, especially if the PAY is inadequate or not respectable to [...]
Decolonizing Self-Care
Today’s Topic: Summertime Self-care Today’s Tip: Decolonize your self-care routine by taking a thoughtful and holistic approach to mental and physical wellbeing Background Information: Summer is the perfect time to take stock of how you’ve been feeling since the close of the school year. Maybe you are still experiencing burnout from 2020-21 or are anxious to start prepping for the new year ahead. You may have been thinking a lot about activism, inclusion, and equity. Today we are going to talk about the decolonization of self-care. Self-care has been [...]
Culturally Responsive Teaching: Using Exit Tickets to Foster Joy
Today’s Topic: Culturally responsive teaching with exit tickets (fostering joy) Today’s Tip: Utilize daily exit tickets for qualitative data that informs your practice. Exit tickets work! Since the pandemic started, I have been using exit tickets to gauge student engagement and understanding. It started as a way to stay connected with my students and to make sure they had a voice in their learning, even from afar. However, I have found exit tickets so beneficial to my practice that we’ve continued them, even as the world [...]
The Music Business: Finding Your Way Through the Noise
The truth about the business So many people in the music business will want to "use" you. They will use you for your talents, understanding, and skills to bring them more "prestige" and "clout" rather than for the genuine pursuit of artistic, professional, and human excellence that culminates into the creation of a project focused on imprinting the heart of humanity for the better. I have found that many people in this small but powerful industry do not care to invest in a genuine, healthy, and honest relationship [...]
Four Ideas for End-Of-Year Activities with Ensemble Classes (that don’t include a concert)
As the 2020-2021 school year draws to a close, many of us feel burnout, exhausted, and suffering from a lack of inspiration when it comes to lesson planning. Coupled with the inability for many of us to have "normal" performances, it can feel daunting to find a way to keep kids engaging in music-making and music learning while providing some type of capstone experience for them. In this blog post, I share four ideas for engaging end-of-year activities in music class AND provide some free resources to [...]
The power of a microphone in a safe space
I remember playing an original song at my first open mic night. I was 17 years old and a senior in high school. Until that point, I had written some original songs that I would play around with but never felt confident with my voice or playing to do anything with them. I met some friends at school interested in playing music, and we formed a little trio--acoustic guitar, keyboard, and vocals. My friend Leah had the most incredible voice I'd ever heard. If I couldn't sing my [...]
Musicast Episode 23: Emily Desmond- Bringing the Real World into the Classroom
Emily Desmond, singer/songwriter from Massachusetts sits down with Maggie and Marissa to talk about her work as a musician, teacher, and so much more! Check out how she brings her music into a classroom that's specifically designed for students with special needs. [...]