As I was tracking down links for my MTNA 2006 National Conference post, I came across the website for the radio program From the Top. It is very professionally-designed and is chock-full of content! Here’s a brief overview from the How to Use the Site page. Fromthetop.org is one of the most novel and flexible […]
Teaching
Private Lesson No-No’s
Here are a few excerpts from this site where students communicate their thoughts about teachers and lessons: What this student wants from a teacher: “…be organized, consistent, give specific feedback that a student can work on, be prepared in the sense that if you are about to assign a new piece you are familiar with […]
Free Sheet Music
After clicking on a link provided by another teacher to free sheet music for Happy Birthday, I spent a few minutes on this site. There are a number of sites offering free sheet music, but this is the first time I’ve come across this one. The list of how many instruments they offer music for […]
A New Year!
What a whirlwind life has been since the middle of last month! I know you all can relate! As you’ve no doubt observed, I took off a number of weeks from this blog due to the many other responsibilities that required my attention. Now that the new year has begun, I hope to post more […]
Characteristics of a Good Teacher
Here are some observations from watching a master… 1. They make it fun–even the scales. 2. They focus on the love/passion behind the music, rather than just playing. 3. They stress the importance of practicing. 4. They introduce new waves of the future into the lesson–computer music etc., to keep it interesting. 5. Best private […]
White Board Messages
Every music teacher needs a white board. My students love writing messages on my white board. Here’s one that showed up today: “I want stay in your lessons till a’m 35 years old” This particular white board is one I picked up at a local teacher supply store. It’s magnetic, 24×36″ and has a grid […]
