Tutti Torment-On Becoming A Better Music Teacher, Part 1
I got to thinking the other day of all the stupid things that I have done over the years in my classes that were done with the best of intentions, yet wound up either failing miserably or falling far short of their goals. Since this entire site was originally built on the idea of using my own experiences to help other teachers improve in their own situations I thought it would be nice to return to those roots a bit and do a series of blog posts on little rules of thumb for music teachers that even today I occasionally catch myself breaking. Old habits are hard to break, and to be honest, there may be those who read this that think I am totally wrong. If so, I urge you to post a comment and let us know your side of the story. Today's first post in the series focuses on private and small group lessons and the fact that occasionally many teachers wind up listening more to their own performance rather than their students.
Read more: Tutti Torment-On Becoming A Better Music Teacher, Part 1
Revealing the Secrets of Composing Music
There are hundreds of thousands of musicians in the world, many of them being very capable and incredible masters of their art form. Yet even among those great performers very few actually compose any of the music that they play. Why is that?
My take on it is that as a part of our training, music students are taught only the basics of composition such as scales, modes, rhythms, chord progressions and the like. Yet even with the knowledge of these concepts very few musicians ever come to comprehend how to use those concepts to actually create their own compositions. In many ways it is like handing construction students all of the tools and materials that they need but never actually going the extra step to show them how to use those tools to build a house with them.
Aural Training Resource Site
I remember in my college aural training class having to memorize intervals based on familiar songs, i.e. perfect fourth is "Here Comes The Bride." Well, as I have been noticing lately all the tunes that I grew up knowing and recognizing for this purpose are no longer well known by the current generation of elementary and high school students. Luckily the folks over at EarMaster have created an online page full of interval examples from more modern songs that many of today's students will actually know (am I really so old that no one recognizes the Star Trek theme for the minor seventh any more?).
How To Print Sheet Music On A Computer
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There are several ways to print sheet music from a personal computer, but how a person goes about doing so is largely dependent on what sheet music the user is looking for. There are two basic ways to print sheet music on a computer, either by creating the song from scratch using a music writing software program or by downloading and printing sheet music provided by other sites. Both of these methods will be discussed in this article.
Band Achievement and Incentive System Based On "The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band
Many people have asked me to share my band achievement and incentive system that I mentioned in a blog post last year. I had wanted to post a blank copy of the database that I use to keep track of all of my students, but I quickly discovered that my database engineering was so poor that no one other than me would probably be able to figure it out. So, instead of posting the database I decided to try to do my best and share the basic achievement system and allow people to adapt it to their own needs.
Read more: Band Achievement and Incentive System Based On "The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band
Using Technology To Unlock Musical Creativity- Book Review
In Using Technology To Unlock Musical Creativity, Scott Watson puts forth a wealth of information, lesson plans, and innovative ideas intended to get music teachers thinking of new and creative ways to use the technology they have at their disposal to increase the creative opportunities that they provide to their students. The book is intended for use mainly by general music teachers, music theory, and elective music teachers, and the various projects found in Part 2 of the book are adaptable to all grades from elementary through high school.Read more: Using Technology To Unlock Musical Creativity- Book Review
Book Review: Kurt Rosenwinkel “East Coat Love Affair†Solo Transcriptions
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Read more: Book Review: Kurt Rosenwinkel “East Coat Love Affair†Solo Transcriptions
Breathing Gym DVD Review
For several years now many band. choir, and orchestral directors have sworn by the techniques and concepts outlined in The Breathing Gym, a book written by Sam Pilafian and Patrick Sheridan. The book and the DVD of the same title help directors teach their students how to breathe and blow properly to support good tone, phrasing, and articulations. Now the duo have released a new DVD that builds on the concepts and exercises but that is tailored toward being used as a daily warmup routine for use in both ensemble rehearsals or in private lessons and practice sessions.
SmartMusic and Impact Training Guide
MakeMusic recently announced the release of a new spiral bound training guide for the SmartMusic software and SmartMusic Impact online grade book. For the teacher who has never used SmartMusic this new guide book is essential to learning the many different features SmartMusic and Impact. Even the experienced SmartMusic user will find solutions to problems as well as new ways to use the software in ways that they had not considered.
A New Incentive Idea For Elementary Band
I have tried many different kinds of classroom incentives over the years and in the end they have almost always failed to provide any significant improvements while at the same time driving me insane (and into the poor house) trying to keep up with them. I have recently tried something that is much more intrinsic although it is very much an extrinsic motivator as well. It doesn't cost anything (other than paper and ink) and is fairly easy to manage. It will sound rather strange but bear with me...
There is an update to this article available here. The update includes a complete set of downloadable PDF documents that shows how this band incentive and achievement system works.
An Approach to Improvising Over Chord Changes
Recently, a close friend and I sat down to play some guitar and saxophone duos. Confronted with the continuing obstacle of navigating through chord changes, our problem solving skills kicked in. We began applying a simple approach to tonal improvisation, and our solos became immediately more focused and coherent.
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