Help Your Students Practice Effectively With This Practice Tracker and Practice Strategies Guide
Practice. It’s the only path to improving in music and really anything in life. The challenge is learning how to do it well so that we are making progress rather than spinning our wheels. We as teachers spend countless hours helping our…
7 Pieces Students Love for Intermediate – Middle School Orchestra
It can be challenging choosing the right music for an ensemble. It’s a balancing act finding music that will suit a developing orchestra – music that will both develop their technique and musicianship as well as capture their interest and…
Be A Part Of The Orchestra – Helpful Tips for Recruiting For Your Orchestra
The goal for any music educator at the end of the year is celebrating our students and their many successes. We are also thinking about building our program for the following year and making sure students continue or feed into…
For Teachers: Fostering Student Leadership
Each year we have an award ceremony at my school where we nominate students who have demonstrated leadership qualities. I have to say that every year this award causes me to stop, think, and ask some questions. What does leadership look like? How…
Martin Luther King Jr. and Music of the Civil Rights Movement
We recently celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday. In delving into his legacy and the history of the Civil Rights Movement, the impact and role of music is undeniable. Music was integral to the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King…
Orchestra Baseball
There’s no doubt kids love to learn through games. There are so many resources now that provide teachers with valuable feedback while making the learning experience engaging for students. Tools like Kahoot, Nearpod, Gimkit, Socrative, and so many more combine formative…
Favorite Christmas and Holiday Collections for Orchestra
I’m sure most school orchestras and music directors are in the midst of preparing music for a winter concert. Undoubtedly, we push and put so much energy and work into that winter performance. Following the performance, we might have a…
6 Practice Tips for Students Part II
In last week’s post, we explored 6 simple tips for effective practice. In this week’s post, we will continue to talk about practice and share some helpful practice tips. These are in no particular order, but are some thoughts on…
6 Practice Tips for Students
In the past on the blog, I’ve written about how to develop an effective practice routine (more on that later in the post). In this post, we will cover 6 easy practice tips you can share with your students or…
Simple Improv Ideas For Orchestra
This past summer I pursued an idea I have been ruminating about for a long time – a jazz string camp. I called it the String Improv Workshop. You can read more about it here. I had a small, but…