A performance is often the major driving force behind our teaching as music educators. It is in a sense the final assessment. Certainly, students learning the music for an upcoming performance is top priority. No doubt, the music must be…
Each year in our district we are fortunate to host an annual solo and ensemble festival sponsored by the American String Teachers Association (A.S.T.A). Grades six through twelve participate in the festival on two separate days. One for students in…
When we hear a particular musician play and are immediately drawn into the music we may be attracted to their note choices, their feel, the way they may blend with the other musicians, and their individual and unique tone. I…
The goal for our students is to help them become independent learners and musicians. As educators, we want our students to be able to practice effectively, set goals, think critically about their music making, perform and play expressively with a…
After a performance students are excited and inspired. It is a great time to celebrate their successes as well as reflect upon their hard work, dedication, growth, and progress/ Often, I’ve found it very helpful to assign students some questions…
I write this as I and countless other teachers are in the throws of concert season. Teachers are tirelessly rehearsing, practicing, and striving to coax every bit of music out of their students. In our preparation, we have made clear…
In my last post I wrote about the practice habits I am trying to develop with my students. The idea is that each week my students are going to plan a practice routine that consists of four areas of their…
Recently I have been thinking a lot about practicing. These thoughts jump between analyzing my own personal practice habits and the practice habits of my students. I have been thinking about what it means to practice effectively, to make tangible…
In my last post we discussed the benefits of creating opportunities for students to experiment with improvisation. We also explored some simple concepts to use with students to begin to encourage them to improvise. In this post, I will present…