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Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 6
Read more: Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 6Project based vs. and Performance based curriculum: Over the years I’ve gone back and forth between teaching a project based curriculum versus a performance based curriculum. At least for me, taking a deep dive in performance meant having students work on a challenging pieces of music and pulling curriculum from the practical application and the…
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Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 5
Read more: Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 5Breakthrough Day: Today was full of meetings (non-instructional time) and grading assignments. However, my last class of the day offered signs of encouragement. I met with the beginning band students and we started working with their instruments in an interactive space provided by the company which publishes the text books my students use. The sign…
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Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 4
Read more: Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 4Virtual Practice Rooms & Unintended Benefits Today is starting to feel like things are getting into a rhythm. The first classes were a lot of “me” talking at kids and waiting for their responses, after a day of that I need to shorten the response time by students. Using the text section of our meeting…
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Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 3
Read more: Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 3The Good, The Bad, and The Surprising: After a few days of meeting with classes and individually with students, I’m finding the work happening in this virtual space is providing great opportunities to work with students one on one. Setting aside time to chat with my advises has been really helpful. Meeting with a few of the…
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Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 2
Read more: Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 2Today I want to talk about my set up for online classes. As you might imagine, space is at a premium, considering the usual amount of space most music teachers need to instruct large ensembles on a regular basis. I typically work out of several locations when I’m on campus (my office, my classroom and sometimes our…
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Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 1
Read more: Teaching Orchestra and Band in a Digital Space: Day 1It’s hard to imagine how someone could remotely teach an interactive music class like an orchestra or band, but given the current situation, with Seattle being the epicenter of the Coronavirus, this is now my new reality as an instrumental music instructor. This week starts our three-week (or until further notice) experience teaching and learning…
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Class Activity
Read more: Class ActivityI don’t usually past about class activities, however, I am making this exception because I’m enjoying the fruit of the activity. On the first day of school, I asked my students to create a playlist of tune to represent how they would like their school year to go. As I tend to do, I put…
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‘Fame’ High School Stages Sit In
Read more: ‘Fame’ High School Stages Sit InVery proud of my alma mater. As a music teacher, I couldn’t agree with these students more. Good for them. Please read this article.
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ISM’s in me
Read more: ISM’s in meThe problem with being someone who likes to fix things is, you may end up causing more problems. Unintended problems which may put into question the very reason you chose to help. In my case, a bad mixture of paternalism, guilt, narcism, and hero’ism gone too far. Recently I caught myself trying to help too…
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Music and Words
Read more: Music and WordsLast month my school had an assembly celebrating the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Every year I think about how my school celebrates MLK. In years past, when I taught at a small independent elementary and middle school, we kept it to many of his highlights and events. Students learned about nonviolent protest,…
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