Musicast Episode 8: The Liberty High School Bagpipe Corps – Student Leadership on an International Stage
The Musicast duo is joined by Liberty High School band director and his bagpipe corps student leaders for a conversation about bagpipes, leadership, and the meaning of a music program to the community. [...]
The New Normal: I “just” teach music
I am often called “just the music teacher.” And I may or may not also be tired of non-teachers looking at me and asking, “Soooo, how are you actually working during COVID?” I will never forget it. One co-worker even asked me, “So Darlene, what do you do now on Zoom? Just cha-cha the whole time?” I have a shirt from Prince Rhythm Company created by Franklin Willis that says, “More Than a Music Teacher.” Wow, does it ring true this school year. When the pandemic forced schools [...]
Growing Young Professionals: An Introduction
Hello, and welcome to F-Flat’s new blog, Growing Young Professionals! The purpose of this blog is to answer practical and logistical questions young professionals, more specifically new teachers, have when entering the work environment. Often, the collegiate experience heartily prepares you to teach your subject in a standard classroom. However, it does not often provide experience with practical aspects of professional life, such as benefits, contracts, unions, and much more. We learn to be good at teaching but not necessarily good at the rest of the gig. To [...]
Musicast Episode 7: Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser- Chicken Soup for the Music Teacher Soul
Dr. Tim Lautzenhesier drops by to talk about motivation, inspiration, and keeping music alive and well in our schools during tough times. If you need a boost in your teacher morale, this one is for you! [...]
The New Normal: Advocating for students
I hadn’t seen my students since March 10th. I hadn’t heard them sing together or in public since we closed down back in March. In fact, I was at an American Choral Directors Association Southern Conference went everything went left. I didn’t even get to tell them goodbye. At first, we believed it was only going to be two weeks. “Oh, we’ll be back after spring break,” is what we kept telling ourselves. All of my colleagues quickly realized the severity of it all. My heart ached, and [...]
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. [...]