On my way to work today I ran into the baseball coach at my school. His son plays trombone in the bands where I teach, and he was in attendance at the spring concert last night.
“How come you never have a losing season?” he asked with a smile.
What does it mean to say a school is making “adequate yearly progress”? What is the value of a standardized test that produces an aggregate score for a group of students in one school and has it compared in the local newspaper against scores from another? How does student performance on a standardized exam relate to future vocational aspirations? Are teachers really able to teach skills necessary for success in future student endeavors or are they simply trying to teach concepts that will enable students to pass a standardized examination? Read more…
Just in time for your labor day fun – the September edition of the Music Education Blog Carnival is here!
It is very exciting to host, but it is even more exciting having nearly 100 submissions! There are so many of us now in this stream of communication and media that are making a difference by our professional development, reading, enacting new teaching strategies, and reflecting upon our craft as educators. What a tremendous resource this movement has turned out to be, and how great to share it with you. Many hard decisions were made, but we have a great line-up of articles and posts you need to check out!
Lindsay Morelli presents The Power and Purpose of an Ensemble posted at Lindsay Morelli. What is an ensemble? Lindsay’s question unfolds into a great post with great perspective for all of us in music education to consider.
The Grand-daddy Blogger of them All Dr. Joseph Pisano presents A Sample Curriculum For High School Instrumental Ensembles posted at MusTech.Net, saying “This curriculum example is a suggestion for Instrumental Concert Band Directors to study for use with their own programs. Many times “we”, as ensemble directors, really don’t think about the curricular needs of/for our ensembles nor give long-term thought to the integration of music literature that may fill a particular goal in our music programs. This curriculum suggestion is just one way to think about these things and how what you are doing as a band director integrates into the bigger educational picture.”
Brenda D Muench presents BoomWhacker Mysteries in First Grade: Part One posted at Tech Tempo. This lesson is a ton of fun for elementary teachers who use Boomwhackers – I will freely admit I tried it at home with the set in our basement!
Wendy Stevens presents To Give or Not Give Makeup Lessons posted atComposeCreate.com, saying, “Since many music educators also teach private lessons, this article gives them a list of options for making the most of their valuable time. Many independent music teachers will also find this information helpful.”
Great to see Andrew Ritenour (and fellow Tuba brother) getting involved as a future music educator! Andrew presents The Educational Beauty of Twitter posted at Future Music Educators.
Janice Tuck presents Music Primary Singing Resources posted at The Music Teachers Blog. I am continually impressed with the great teaching being shared by many elementary music educators, and Janice’s post identifies some great assets useful in the classroom music setting.
Matt Fonda presents Bass Drum Basics posted at DRUMMING WITH FONDA. Keeping students aware of the physical demands of being on a drum line is essential, and Matt’s article (very appropriate for students to understand) outlines some things they can do to keep themselves physically ready.
Thomas J. West presents Creating Community in Secondary Performing Ensemblesposted at Thomas J. West Music, saying, “Here are some suggestions for getting choral and orchestra programs to experience the same kind of personal investment in a group musical activity that bands typically experience due to the marching band activity.”
Brian Wis presents I’m too busy to go to the doctor, and other teacher avoidance-techniques posted at Teaching Music in the 21st Century, saying, “A call to high school music teachers to join the PLN movement.”
Natalie Wickham presents Custom Design Your Own Flashcards with these Free Files!posted at Music Matters Blog, saying, “Use these beautiful free flash card designs by Natalie Wickham to create your own custom flashcards! Now you’ll never be stuck at the last minute wishing you had a particular set of flash cards – you can just make your own!”
Charla Pearen presents Old Macdonald – Letter Recognition posted at High Park Home Daycare. A great exploration of music with infants and toddlers.
Kevin Keena presents 60 Picnicers, 13 years, 2 schools, and 1 Facebook Page posted at Heritage Bands Podcast. A touching and refreshing look at how social media reconnected a group of students with an educator who made a big difference in their lives.
The experiment is on for me personally at school this year – you can check out the details in my post Big Leap into a Small Room posted at Travis J. Weller.
Carrie Oakley presents Novice to Slash: 100 Free Resources for Teaching Yourself Guitar posted at Online Colleges, saying, “Whether you’re picking up a guitar for the first time or revisiting a teenage hobby, these links provide free resources for teaching yourself how to play the guitar, as well as improving your technique and learning to read music.”
Samuel Wright presents Graphic Scoring with Yothu Yindi posted at Wright-Stuff Music, saying, “An Australian Aboriginal unit of work involving listening worksheets, music analyses and a final assessment where students get to create an animated graphic score of a contemporary Aboriginal work in Keynote 09.”
Ken Pendergrass presents It’s about the work, not you personally posted at Music Is Not for Insects, saying, “helpful advice for those of us who want to be “liked” by our students…”. Ken’s blog is great, and he offers some helpful advice to communicate with students while maintaining a sense of fairness.
David Ahrens presents Ever-Improving Chops on Secondary Instruments posted at Sound Education. While I am new to David’s writing and work, this is a great post for all instrumental teacher to consider so that we can be effective musical role models for our students.
Jim Frankel presents The Other 80%: An Industry Perspective posted at Music Technology in Edcation. Jim tackles a larger issue that many ensemble educators/directors face in maintaining their relevance with the other students not in performing groups.
Nemanja presents Dont Compromise Choose Used DJ Equipment posted at Cheap DJ Equipment, saying, “The problem is universal, DJ equipment is expensive. When buying DJ equipment squeezing the most out of your budget is essential.”
Sam Lyons presents Piano Practice Tips For Beginners posted at Learn The Keyboard Online, saying, “If you are new to the piano and you’ve probably experienced boredom. Sometimes that happens when you continue doing the same thing over and over again. Things become a little repetitious…”
Ashley Davids presents Guitar Warm Up Stretches posted at Metal Guitar Lesson, saying, “Highlighting the importance of warming up prior to practicing guitar.”
Sam Lyons presents Keyboard Practice Blues! posted at Learn The Keyboard Online, saying, “Keyboard Practice Blues! We all get them from time to time. Just keep practicing the piano a little everyday. You will succeed in learning the piano.”
Jenny Boster presents The Importance of Beginning Technique posted at The Teaching Studio, saying, The Teaching Studio is a relatively new blog all about teaching piano lessons. This article focuses on the topic of teaching beginning piano technique.
Naomi Seldin presents 10 Rock Stars Who Went to an Ivy League School posted at Online Colleges and Universities Education Database. An interesting article to demonstrate to students about notable stars that have challenged themselves in the academic field.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of music education blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
As another year is about to start, I am taking a big leap with my ensembles at Mercer into a much smaller room. Our first public performance this year will involve all instrumental students in grades 7-12 performing in a chamber recital in late September. In past years, I have only involved the Wind Ensemble students at Mercer in the preparation of this music for the chamber recital. The more I have involved these students in the study and performance of chamber music, the more improvement that takes place in their executive skills, and in their ability to analyze their work, critique their own and their peer’s performance, and begin to develop some comprehensive musicianship. Educators are starting to look at their large ensembles differently, with an eye and ear (appropriately) towards how they can continue to make their elective ensemble a viable and interesting offering among the school curriculum. I do think we should be examining the structure of the big three so that we can make it more relevant in the lives of our students who enroll (VanZandt, 2001). Let’s be honest – how many instrumentalists have graduated from our programs and decided on a long weekend they were going to invite 37 good friends over just so they could play First Suite by Holst? How many of those same students could meet with 4 to 5 other students and play some chamber works for public performance or just the joy of playing much easier? If we are committed to helping students build a life-long relationship with music, then chamber music may offer a viable avenue to go down to keep students connected to the instrument they spend 8 years learning in our programs.
To say I have been buried and been behind – including postings on the blog – this fall is like saying “Sales for Chrysler have been a little down lately”. There have been a lot of busy things happening, a lot of demanding things happening, and some good things happening in there too. Parts of my studies at Kent State this fall have included a Seminar in Music Education Class that has given me plenty to think of. It has been interesting getting to some of the writings of Randall Allsup, and revisiting a few entrenched beliefs I have thanks to Bennett Reimer. Though he is new to me, the following is inspired by the writing of Steven Kelly and his book “Teaching Music in an American Society”. First of all, it is a great read – I would recommend it to any teacher educator in music programs. Kelly really brings a great lens to examine our profession from the standpoint of political, socioeconomic, and cultural perspectives that is very revealing. This post has been brewing for a few weeks after reading some thoughts by good friend and colleague Dr. Joseph M. Pisano over at Mustech.net. Some food for thought for those of you on your lunch break…
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