With very little background in playing guitar, and no background in jazz guitar pedagogy, many band directors find themselves at a loss on how to help their jazz band guitarist.
Instrumental Teachers in General Music: Teaching Outside Your Comfort Zone?
Let’s set the stage: you have an instrumental performance degree and a teaching degree in band or orchestra. After graduation, you find yourself working as a long-term substitute teaching band or orchestra.
SmartMusic and College Aural Skills: An Adventure in Ensuring Practice
One of the main goals of an aural skills class is audiation – or the ability to hear music in one’s head before performing the music.
From Methods to Madness: Ideas for a Sane Teaching Experience
We currently live in a crazy time for teachers. If you’re just starting out, your undergraduate methods classes and student teaching experience can’t begin to prepare you for all that is about to happen.
Good Enough Vs. Never Good Enough
Two opposing forces infect in our music ensembles. Known as the “Good Enough Syndrome” and the “Never Good Enough Syndrome,” their influence can cause students to either become lethargic (and just put in their time) or to set the bar for perfection so high that they are never satisfied with their results.
Download Our Free Sight-Reading Ebook
Have you ever been asked what superpower you’d most like to possess? It would be hard to beat the ability to fly.
Improving Brass Tone Production
As the school year is now in full swing, let’s turn our thoughts to brass tone production. No doubt, your students are all playing a lot right now and are probably working the muscles more than ever before.
Improve Your Ensemble Through Listening
What if I were to tell you there is a secret that can help students improve intonation, tone, blend, balance, and more?
Assessing Student Progress in Sight Reading
I love helping my students grow into smart, hard-working, and self-sufficient musicians. Part of this means torturing them with sight-reading exercises every time I see them.
How Can I Get My Students to Sight Sing?
There are many well-known benefits of encouraging singing in the instrumental classroom. It can improve intonation and help students develop their listening skills.