In just one week, I’ll be heading north to join multitudes of music teachers for the Music Teachers National Association annual conference. I have to admit, the prospect of trekking to Milwaukee in March is not especially thrilling to me, but the fact that I’ll be able to spend five days with colleagues from across […]
Tips for Songwriters
Professional songwriter Ben Cooper has posted a brief, but insightful article on Songwriting Tips. Usually, my students’ introduction into songwriting comes in the way of The Psalms Project that we put together each spring. I can definitely see the truth of Ben’s statement that, “When creating, we learn by doing, and we improve by repeating […]
Group Class Experiment with Collaborative Music
Normally I don’t post about group activities and games until after I’ve tried them, but I’m so excited about this one that I thought I’d go ahead and post it anyway. I’m hoping to use it at tomorrow’s group class, so I’ll try to let you know how it goes after the fact, too! A […]
Collaborative Music Festival is a Blast!
Have any of you been involved in collaborative music events this year in conjunction with MTNA’s Year of Collaborative Music? We kicked off the theme in our studio at our September Surprise last fall, continued with our Collaborative Christmas celebration, and several of my students and I participated in the festival sponsored by one of […]
Monday Mailbag – Practice Incentives
My question is regarding what type of practice incentives you use, if any. Currently, I have an incentive program for practice time only, where they earn a prize after one month of consistent practice (and the parent’s signature). I set this up because this year I started over with all brand new beginners. I do […]
Fun Music Games at Theta Music Trainer!
One never knows what they will find when linking around on-line. This week’s exciting find is the Theta Music Trainer website, which features a nice collection of fun and engaging music games. I just got done with a round of Paddle Pitch and am happy to report that I passed level one. 🙂 By signing […]
