For My Fellow Music Educators
I would like to offer an ever-evolving array I have appreciated (Recommendations) and I have prepared for my use in the classroom (Resources). In either case, I am pleased to freely offer whatever I can for my colleagues. Let me know if these have been of any help as the free exchange of ideas is how we grow.
Thank you!
Mike
Recomendations
- National Association for Music Education
- Kahn Academy Music
- Canadian Brass Quintet
- International Trombone Association
- Christopher Bill's Trombone Page
- Douglas Yeo Trombone Web Site
Resources
SDAIE-like Strategies for the Music Classroom (PDF)
SDAIE (Specifically Designed Academic Instruction in English) is typically applied to core classes (ELA, Math, History, Science), but it occurred to me that many of these same approaches to teaching would be just as effective for VPA educators. For my second year of induction (2019-2020), I applied myself to the effort of developing a set of SDAIE-like strategies that might prove useful in my music classes. Among these are some suggested methods for reaching students during a pandemic shut-down crisis!
History of Western Music (Prezi)
I prepared this presentation for a quarter-long 6th-grade class. Publicly educated students are woefully ignorant of the seven periods of western music (middle ages - 20th century) and the ongoing influence of the respective composers in popular culture. I was able to use this material for each of my ensemble classes (strings, guitar, and choir) during the COVID-19 school shut down. Each week students learned about a period of music and responded to questions posted on Google Classroom. By the end of the quarter, they had been exposed to everything from Guido to Hans Zimmer, Thomas Tallis to John Cage and saw how that even their favorite video games (Halo), cartoons (Flintstones and Sponge Bob), and movies (Indiana Jones) employ Gregorian chant and Rondo form. Classical music, they learned, is not for stuffy old rich people but for rock 'n' rollers and gamers too.
Search Out Composers (YouTube)
Designed in conjunction with any Music Appreciation course, this video creatively unfolds the steps taken for student research and the final class presentation of a composer of their choice.
I prepared this Prezi for my high school guitar class. It covers the history of string instruments, generally speaking. Dating as far back as biblical times and tracing the guitar, particularly, from the influence of the Moors into Spain and the renaissance lute and theorbo and baroque era guitar. I also present samples of similarly stringed instruments from other cultures, such as the India Sitar, the Japanese Biwa, the Chinese Pipa, and the Russian Balalaika.
Repetition in Math, Music, and ELA (Prezi)
This presentation was prepared with two other credential students. It occurred to us that repetition and patterns are among the most common elements in several disciplines, including music. For example, I discuss rondo form as an example of repetition in music. With such a background, a music educator can demonstrate how an appreciation of music ties so well into the learning of other disciplines such as ELA and Math.
For choral educators, this richly embedded Prezi begins with a Ted Talk by voice coach Roger Love, in which he demonstrates the importance of basic vocal training and how one's voice is among his most treasured possessions. The presentation then goes on to show how the vocal cords work and what ranges and possibilities of the human voice are available for students to explore.
William Glasser and Reality Theory (Prezi)
This is an educational philosophy unit I completed for my credential training at Brandman University. Glasser is appreciated for his stress on students accepting personal responsibility for their classroom behavior and academic progress.
In this thorough-going expose, Frontline poignantly presents the digital lifestyle of the generation of students presently enrolled in our schools. Our culture, if not the modern world, has been addicted to digital living.