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.
How College Music Majors Can Effectively Practice Self-Care
As a college music major with a demanding schedule, how do we begin to take care of ourselves in ways that are meaningful? In this blog, we will be navigating through what self-care is and how we can embrace it in a way that nurtures us to be our best selves. Misconceptions There are many misconceptions revolving around self-care, especially in the college music environment. The first is that music majors do not have time for it. That is 100000% false. We are indeed swamped, but there [...]
A Music Teacher’s Guide to Soundtrap
A Music Teacher’s Guide to Soundtrap Like all good broke college students, I have a very old laptop - almost 7 years old in fact. It’s very possible that my MacBook Pro has been running on the same software update for as long as I’ve been able to drive. And so, as you can imagine, I have absolutely run my Garageband software into the ground. Even pressing play brings on the buffering and crashing, let alone daring to attempt projects with more than a couple of layers. [...]
Why Self-Care and Rest Should be a Priority to College Music Majors
As a Music Education major, I am not a stranger to the extraneous workload, unbalanced and crazy class schedules, and a lack of clarity in when/how to take breaks. It can be argued that music degree programs are some of the most demanding in the University curriculum. In return, as "music people," we come out with a better understanding of life, music, and more life lessons than others. But at what cost if we don't prioritize our mental health? I strongly believe that if we do not [...]
Sigur Ros, Burnout, & the Joys of Making a Good Playlist
I have roughly 200 playlists in my Apple Music library. Not the algorithmic ones that our benevolent tech overlords provide for us - my very own creations. 200 of them. Perhaps that’s more than any sane human should have. Most of them are for me. Some are large, eclectic collections to put on shuffle. Others capture a specific mood or encapsulate a certain genre. Many are re-workings of existing albums, enhanced by what I thought was superior sequencing. A few are, in fact, gifts for friends and [...]
Research to Practice: Understanding and Moving Through Burnout
It seems like information about teacher burnout is everywhere right now. I’m not sure if it is because we’re still facing COVID-19-related difficulties in the classroom or if we’re just less afraid to talk about the less glorious side of teaching. [...]