What You Can Do For Your Students!!

This post reminded me of a phrase that I first heard from my cooperating teacher during my student teaching: "We are not teaching music, we are teaching kids." Another one that aims at this idea: "People don't care what you know until they know that you care." I think the second one is a quote from Benjamin Franklin. There were a lot of things in this article that resonated with me; I feel that it is so important to connect with the students, and make them feel loved!

4 Components of Good Practice Incentives!

After our reading last week on the value of extrinsic motivation, I have been inspired to seek new ways to incorporate this into my elementary orchestra classroom! This post from Music Matters describes some charecteristics to consider when designing a motivational, effective incentive program. I like that she has created several resources available for purchase that make it easy to have a themed incentive program in your classroom. I love the idea of Diligence Dollars!

Music Theory Website

This is another cool website - it has interactive lessons that work with a student at his or her level, and is customizable as well. There are cool tools including a tempo tapper (you tap the button and the website tells you bpm,) staff paper generator, and a pop-up piano. Oh, there is also a matrix calculator, if anyone is teaching 12-tone technique!! :P

Music Games

Music Tech Teacher is a website that has over 130 ready-made music quizzes, games and miscellaneous worksheets that could be very useful - everything from steps versus skips, key signatures, treble and bass clef notes (sorry, violas,) and information about composers. Very cool!

5 Killer Classroom Management Tips

I enjoyed this article very much - it lays out 5 tips to create the optimal learning environment; one that is calm and engaging. I think one more tip that the author should have included was to communicate with the parents. The vast majority of the time, parents will want to ensure that their children are exhibiting appropriate behavior.

Making Effective Lesson Plans

This article has some great tips on how to make lesson plans that are effective. Some advice that the author gives includes focusing on one objective and striving for mastery of this skill, instead of trying to multi-task.

Woogi World

Violin teacher Ben Chan has used technology to innovate the way he reaches his students. His YouTube channel boasts 35,000 followers, and he has joined Woogi World to create a comprehensive music education for kids aged 5-12 that is 100% online. His article on Violinist.com outlines commom pitfalls of an online music education (i.e. lack of tangible rewards, distraction, inconsistant use by student,) - and his many solutions which include reward systems, personalized instruction, and interaction with other students. The website is colorful and filled with cute, anime-like characters.

Talking to the Audience about Classical Music

This article explains that it is not only important, but essential to talk to the audience about the music our groups perform. This is a way we can help the audience connect with the music in a meaningful way. It explains that music performances are often awkward experiences for audiences, who want to appreciate the music we play but don't have the contextual understanding that we do. That being said, this article recommends that we avoid sounding 'high-minded,' and speak from the heart!

My reaction to Noteflight

I have to say that I enjoyed working with Noteflight; I thought it was very user-friendly. I liked the short-cuts and was very surprised at how quickly I was able to enter the score into this program. Like I said in my previous post, I couldn't figure out how do a couple of things. I couldn't figure out how to put the Moderate Waltz Tempo in Bicycle Made for Two, and while contributing to the Pieces of Eight, I could not figure out how to put pizzicato into the score. I plan to use this program in the future; just today I thought of a way to use this. I like to give the kids some fun tunes in the last 3-4 weeks of orchestra lessons; i.e. Star Wars, Smoke on the Water, etc. I was thinking today of how quickly I could enter these tunes into Noteflight for them.

Bicycle Built For Two

I couldn't figure out how to get the "Moderate Waltz Tempo" in the score.
Here it is: Bicycle Built For Two

Glossary of Terms for Mahler

This article has many helpful translations of terms that Mahler uses in his compositions, such as: Von hier an in sehr allmaehlicher aber stetiger Steigerung bis zum Zeichen – From this point on, the spit valves should be emptied with ever-increasing emotion, and Alle Betonungen sehr zart – With smallish quantities of fairly mild inner torment.