Your First Year Teaching So you landed your first gig as a school music teacher. What now? I went from teaching part time at a very small rural school of 53 students to teaching over 400 students in my second. So essentially, I had two first years. In those years, I experienced a range of … Continue reading 11 Things a New Music Teacher Should Know About Their First Year
Talent I have an issue with the word "Talent." This word completely ignores the fact that kids work hard to hone their innate musical abilities—which every kid has. The excuse is always "I have no musical talent" assuming that musical ability is something that cannot be learned. This happens in all fine and performing arts. … Continue reading The Word “Talent” and the Fixed Mindset
Why is it that musical ability is seen by "non-musicians" as an innate, seemingly magical set of skills that either you have or you don’t? "Non-musicians" throughout this article, will refer to people who do not engage in musical activities outside of listening and may have, for a number of reasons, been turned off from … Continue reading Music, The “Magical Mystery Skill?”: 4 Reasons Elitism Exists in Music Education
Teaching for the first time or teaching a new subject or type of group for the first time can be difficult. In music, it could be teaching a style or genre that you are not familiar with, whether it be popular music, world music, or any combination of unfamiliar territory. When I present my Rock … Continue reading The 3 Golden Rules of Effective Teaching
Why Nylon Strings? There are a number of reasons why a teacher might want to use nylon strings over steel: The strings are softer, therefore easier on the fingers of young learners. They have a gentler sound than steel-string guitars. The neck is easier to maintain because the tension on the strings is much less … Continue reading How to Re-String a Nylon-String Guitar
