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Interesting blog on music teaching and performance

Sometimes all people need is a word of encouragement to keep doing well. As teachers, it is difficult to find ways to keep our students engaged and motivated. We can become so absorbed with getting our students to do well that we may forget to actually tell them when they do well. It may seem small, but simply acknowledging when a student does what is asked of them can keep them motivated to keep doing it.

Sometimes all people need is a word of encouragement to keep doing well. As teachers, it is difficult to find ways to keep our students engaged and motivated. We can become so absorbed with getting our students to do well that we may forget to actually tell them when they do well. It may seem small, but simply acknowledging when a student does what is asked of them can keep them motivated to keep doing it.

A resource that helps teachers to help their students recognize the students' strengths and weaknesses. Encouraging strengths in students instead of only identifying weaknesses can help build musical self-efficacy. The article is technically written for piano teachers, but could be applied to all music teachers.

A resource that helps teachers to help their students recognize the students' strengths and weaknesses. Encouraging strengths in students instead of only identifying weaknesses can help build musical self-efficacy. The article is technically written for piano teachers, but could be applied to all music teachers.

On this PDF, there are many links that connect to music sites that students can use. All of the programs are "in the cloud". Students can access these from any computer, at home, school or on the road. All sites are included to facilitate musical creativity.

This is a document that is a resource for creativity and technology for music learning put together by Dr. William Bauer for the FETC in Orlando, Florida on January 31, 2014. Other headings include: technology to facilitate musical creativity and general cloud-based technologies useful for facilitating musical creativity. This page is an excellent resource to develop ideas for learning with technology in the classroom. Many of the programs are free, easy to use and applicable to many educational ideas.  

Musical Creativity in the Cloud is a Google Doc by Dr. William I. Bauer. It is a list of resources to integrate technology into the music classroom and encourage creative thinking. Each item on the list will facilitate organization, creativity, or music learning. Dr. Bauer comprised a list of fifty resources to integrate technology into the music classroom including notation software, cloud-based libraries, media players, and organizational tools.

Music Prodigy is a way to engage students in guided practice and specific assignments. Similar to SmartMusic, you can have students record segments or pieces for you and send them in for assessment or check off purposes. It's design is to save time and to encourage home practice with the use of their devices.

This is a discussion by New York Times columnist, David Brooks, and Kathy Fletcher, and the director of Turnaround Arts Initiative about the important work that Turnaround Arts does through the strategic use of the arts. The discussion talks about how music facilitates brain development, why certain things in music leave people fascinated, and what magic music brings to emotion. The discussion also unfolds how the arts, and music education in particular opens the student's mind to memorisation. David Brooks says "Students understand better when topics are introduced through music". I agree with that because most students become more alert when a topic is introduced through song and it fosters the interest of students. Therefore we need arts to succeed in education. A lot of artists came from struggling backgrounds so when they talk to children that would like to succeed in the music world but are frightened that they'll never make it, they tell them "I know what you are going through but you can make it". This encourages those children to push on and excel in the arts. Kathy Fletcher says music boosts critical thinking and confidence which is ideal for students and they end up excelling in all other fields. The arts connect us all through music in a way that music created is shared all around the world. Partnerships are created to perform music and people come together to listen to music. This makes us one.

This article discusses strategies that can be used to continue to encourage students' creativity in music through pedagogical techniques.

This website provides free blank sheet music for any ensemble you could ever need.  This is perfect for your beginning composers.  You never have to buy sheet music again! 

This is a quick way of printing out sheet music for students. If students want to print out sheet music at home, they can use this website. This helps encourage students to work on compositional skills. It has different pre-sets for different instruments.

SmartMusic has interactive, web-based editions of many popular instrumental, band, chorus, and orchestra method books, as well as a massive collection of sheet music. Students can listen, loop, record and submit pieces they are working on. A neat feature of SmartMusic is that students can click on a single note and hear how it is supposed to sound, and how to finger that note on their instrument. Students can adjust tempo, play with a metronome, use a tuner to check pitch, and more. A paid subscription allows teachers to create online classrooms for assigning and assessing work, and have access to the entire SmartMusic catalog.

SmartMusic is music learning software for music teachers and students. It makes music learning easy and fun. Students can continue their learning outside school. Teachers can also assess students outside the school wall. Smart music is good for rehearsals because a student can rehearse at home when the teacher is listening in and correcting him/her from anywhere else. It is easy to access and a good resource for music classes.

The purpose of the resource is for student and teacher practice/classroom tools. The content included in this source is a subscription to a web-based service that allows students and educators access to sight-reading material, repertoire accompaniments, and method books. Could be useful for encouraging student practice

The purpose of this resource is to provide educators and students access to an organization that specializes in a cappella singing. Educators can register their ensembles for competitions where students can be a part of a community that encourages and provides resources to improving the overall quality of student performance in the genre.

This website provides multiple resources for encouraging musicians at all stages of music education to continue their studies. Band teacher who work with beginning students will find all the necessary videos, documents, and resources needed to inspire young musicians. This website is most relevant for educators who teach band and orchestra. 

Great recruitment site for beginning band students.

This resource can be used by directors to recruit and advocate for their programs. Directors can access and download videos that introduce students to different instruments and templates of documents to share with administrators and parents. Students may also be directed to the site and explore it individually, especially if they want to join an ensemble.

Blog which has lots of useful tips and information for parents of band students

This site contains information for parents who have children in a music program. Educators can point parents to this site to see what parents are doing in their local communities to support their children in music. Additionally, links are provided to resources/tools for students in their practice in aiding parents in encouraging their students to practice efficiently.

This article from NAMM looks at how children benefit from music education in schools. Included in this article are reasons to encourage and promote music education from the educational, cognitive, and social standpoint.

This webpage provides information relating to music advocacy both for educators and parents. This site also provides encouragement to teachers and administrators as they work to provide quality music programs in their schools.

This article provides ideas for small budget ensembles to make a dream of commissioning a new piece of music a reality. Commissioning music is a great way to get singers invested in music-making, yet the monetary restrictions can be huge. This article encourages the reader to not be afraid to reach out and see what opportunities are possible just from a simple conversation.

This article discusses how homes and schools can encourage a lifelong relationship with music. Singing is an ability that everyone can develop and it is not just based on "talent"

This is an important read for any teacher that primarily teaches minorities. This article is not directly focused on music education but is important to me in my teaching setting. Reading this encourages continuous reflection on how students can be active participants in their music education. It is important to allow students to bring their own experiences, culture, and musical preferences to the music classroom. 

This is an interesting read that was linked on Dr. Bauer's resources discussing the connections of arts and common core standards.

This informative Edutopia article by blogger and professor Karin Nolan encourages educators about the simplicity about integrating their current teaching approach and curriculum structure with a standards-based curriculum. You do not have be a musician to satisfy the standards either.

This is a great article for the classroom teacher who is looking arts integrated lessons.

This website presents a colorful presentation of music theory basics including notation, rhythm, key signatures, intervals, minor scales, part writing, seventh chords, and augmented chords. Each page can be printed.

Music Theory is a topic that can often be confusing when beginning to learn.  This website does a great job of breaking down the elements of music theory for anyone who is trying to gain deeper understanding of Music Theory.

This website is great for quick music theory handouts for students. It contains PDF worksheets to print and share with students. Excellent free resource!

This articles discusses myths of the saxophone being a jazz instrument rather than a classical instrument. It offers suggestions on instrument selection, mouthpieces, embouchure development and reed selection.

This articles discusses myths of the saxophone being a jazz instrument rather than a classical instrument. It offers suggestions on instrument selection, mouthpieces, embouchure development and reed selection.