May 15, 2020
Music is proven to improve kids’ lives in many ways, but that doesn’t stop some from wanting to drop music lessons and quit music programs. Something you hear from non-musical adults is how much they wished their parents hadn’t let them quit music when they were young. So, it’s safe to assume many of the […]
January 5, 2020
If you’re the type to make New Year’s resolutions, you’ve probably already promised yourself you’d eat more veggies, drink more water, or hit the gym a few times a week. But, if you’re a music educator, why not make some resolutions for the classroom and your career? After all, a new year usually means a […]
January 1, 2020
Whether you teach elementary school or college students, working with a choir for the first time can be an overwhelming experience. Between laying out expectations, introducing music, and getting acquainted with singers, choral directors often justifiably feel overwhelmed the first day working with a new choir. New educators have it particularly rough because they haven’t […]
December 10, 2019
The holidays tend to bring out a mixed bag of emotions in music educators. It’s a time of year when hard work and dedication transforms into a (hopefully) amazing concert, but preparing for a big performance also brings a myriad of stresses and things to do in a season that already stretches the bandwidth of […]
December 1, 2019
Most of the world has somewhat of an idea about how difficult teaching is, but middle school teachers are proven to have it rougher than most other educators. The feeling of just getting used to teaching a certain group of middle schoolers only to start over with an unfamiliar group of kids is unavoidable in […]
November 1, 2019
Saying that technology has completely transformed music in recent years is an understatement. Everything from how composers work to how the world consumes music from their favorite artists is unrecognizable from what the musical climate looked like at the turn of the century. Music education is no exception. Bringing MIDI into choral music education spaces […]
October 1, 2019
Music educators sometimes forget that they have a powerful teaching tool all around them at their disposal: Catchy popular music. From chart-topping hits to folk music traditions, well-known music is informing the musical world surrounding your students in a big way . One feature that makes popular music so infectious and memorable is the ostinato. […]
September 1, 2019
Helping to solidify a student’s grasp of music theory and notation is no easy task. The specific rules and boundaries used to govern music that typically feel like second nature to educators often feel alien and intimidating to a classroom of students. A powerful tool in every music educator’s teaching arsenal is solfege. If you’ve […]
August 1, 2019
Something that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough in music education is the challenge of relating to a constantly evolving cast of students. Even educators still young enough to be in their 20’s and 30’s are often decades removed from their students. This, of course, is just a part of teaching, but zoom in closer […]
June 16, 2019
Scott Johnson is the director of percussion for the Concord Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps. He first joined the Blue Devils in 1976 and became the organization’s Director of Percussion and Percussion Arranger in 1994. As part of the Promark “Built to Compete” campaign and for the 2019-2020 master educator catalog, Director of Marketing […]
