It’s an unspoken rule of music education that students don’t practice over summer break. As teachers know, the appeal of Netflix and naps can easily get in the way of productivity (be honest, you haven’t organized your library of sheet music or large instrument closet), but we also know how important it is that students do something on their instruments over the summer so that the long break doesn’t undo all the work that happened during the school year.
Sometimes it takes looking at something in a different way to truly understand it. More than a decade of private tuba lessons, symphony concerts, brass quintet rehearsals, and a music degree taught me a lot about music.
Within the Suzuki method of violin pedagogy, there is a huge emphasis on the importance of listening in the acquisition of musicianship skills.
I was honored this year to present a talk at both the Midwest Clinic and the IMEA (Indiana Music Education Association) conference entitled “Foundations for Successful Oboe Students.” I decided to propose this title because of my experience teaching beginning oboe students, and my understanding of the challenges they face in the first few years of playing the “ill wind that no one blows good.” (I disagree with this quote, of course!) In addition, many band directors and music education majors have asked for help, sometimes in confidence (“the oboe scares me” is not an uncommon sentiment).
We live in a time where the tide is turning. Instead of giving everyone a trophy, we’re beginning to teach students how best to deal with both the ups AND downs of life.
Today’s saxophonists are expected to perform many styles of music at a high level. Consequently it’s vital they know how to correctly formulate an embouchure that will allow them to do so.
Everyone who plays a wind instrument can probably remember a teacher saying, “Just work on long tones.” It’s easy for a teacher to see the advantages of building range, strengthening endurance, and developing tone quality with one exercise.
In an ever-shifting job market, the ability to teach both band and choir has become a necessity for many music educators.
Developing a strong brass section requires individual attention to brass fundamentals. There are five areas of brass study that need to be practiced daily in order to maintain technique as well as further developing technique.
You’ve no doubt heard the old saying, “You can attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Likewise, sometimes you can get more out of your young instrumentalists when you embed the learning in a game!