When looking at creativity, there are differences in opinion on where the creativity comes from. Scholars vary on whether they believe it’s the person, process, product, or place that determines if creativity exists. This blog post will focus on things surrounding the creative process in music. If you had asked me four months ago if…
Creativity is a word we hear often in education, especially in music education, and it’s something I’ve become quite passionate about in the last few years. How are we, as music educators, offering opportunities for students to be creative? When do students get to create their own music and make their own musical decisions, instead…
I don’t know how it’s possible that I’ve been using Padlet for so long and never wrote a blog post about it! I know I’ve mentioned it in other posts, like Engaging Students During Rehearsal With Technology and Apps for Beginning Band and Orchestra, and it was also featured in my book Empowering Ensembles With…
This article about engaging students during rehearsals was originally published in The Woman Conductor Journal, February 2023 issue. If you are looking to engage students during rehearsals, technology might be the answer! There are several tech tools you can use to enhance musicianship and get students more deeply involved in the music-making process. Tech Tools to Build…
Happy New Year! What a year it’s been 😊 Personally, this year was full of adventures: some amazing travels, moved across the country, and started a PhD program at Arizona State University! At times, the blog had to take a backseat, but it’s been fun to publish new posts and revise the old favorites when…
Updated December 2022 This post has gotten a much-needed update! It’s no secret; I am a fan of technology in education. In my last two teaching positions, all students had school-issued iPads. I enjoyed using the iPads with my band students and have found several apps that work well in this setting. While I would…
This will be a short and sweet suggestion to try in the next few weeks, or later this school year. I hope you’ll give it a try! For many people, it’s almost concert time. As we’re preparing for the big performance, we analyze the music, listen to recordings, and make those final musical decisions to…
This blog post is going to take a slightly different angle. Instead of looking at tech tools you can use with your students, we’re going to talk about the tech many of us use every day: Gmail! While email is a fantastic innovation, for many people it’s also more time-consuming than we would like. So…
We’ve hit the time of year where many of us have settled into routines and (probably) feel pretty comfortable with what we’re doing. This is often when we ask, how can I make rehearsal more interesting? How can I ensure the students are engaged? How can I mix things up? While there is comfort in…
By 2022, most adults have probably watched a how-to video at some point in their lives. Maybe it involved cooking techniques, home repair, or even craft projects. It’s also very likely that students have watched this type of video as well. In fact, there were many days when students would come to class, proud to…