A teacher’s moral disposition and personal bias often dictate the degree of inclusion demonstrated in the classroom. Unfortunately, at an institutional level, the term diversity is almost exclusively measured by race, cultural identity, and socio-economic status (SES).
Sometimes I am amazed at where I ended up in music considering that I almost quit band after my eighth-grade year.
Emerging research in the identity development of our students – and its impact on motivation and engagement – suggests the importance of using a culturally responsive pedagogy.
Over the years I have taught in many different places and in many different types of situations, both at the high school and university levels.
While MakeMusic Cloud includes an unrivaled online repertoire library, there may be times when you wish to augment this library with music you’ve created.
Finding ways to motivate the students in our large ensembles is among our most important challenges. To provide you with strategies to do so, this post draws from material originally presented at the 2017 Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic.
If you spend any time on the internet, you are most likely aware of the current calls to program more music by women and people of color.
Developing a positive culture starts from the top. We must motivate our students to work hard for us by working hard for them.
During my last year of teaching I decided to take on directing the fifth- and sixth-grade after-school jazz band on top of my regular high school teaching schedule.
With very little background in playing guitar, and no background in jazz guitar pedagogy, many band directors find themselves at a loss on how to help their jazz band guitarist.