I am so excited to announce, in conjunction with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba the WORLD PREMIERE of my work for Symphony Orchestra, Morgun. It premieres on October 31st, 2014 at 8:00pm at the Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. “Morgun” is Icelandic for “morning” and, when I was approached to write a piece as part of the 125th … Continue reading Morgun – *WORLD PREMIERE!*
But the most important lesson to be learned about calling parents at home to praise the achievements of their children is that those calls are actually more effective. The student comes into class the next day with a lighter step, a brighter smile, and usually more of the same wonderfulness that prompted me to call home the night before. – Taylor Mali “What Teachers Make” … Continue reading Music Ed Monday – Good News Calls
Welcome back! In the last post, we talked about how stigmatizing mistakes probably isn’t the best reinforcement of learning. I’ve been thinking a lot about this over the last week and it’s become more complex and paradoxical and moreso the more that I think about it. I think that the caveat lies in the degree of the mistake: Not putting in an apostrophe isn’t going to … Continue reading Music Ed Mondays – Life Includes Mistakes (Part 2)
If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never do anything original.” – Sir Ken Robinson author, “The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything” (this one is quite long, but split into parts, so I hope that you’ll stick around for the read) If there is one thing that high school students really seem to be scared of, it’s making mistakes. Maybe there’s more … Continue reading Music Ed Mondays – Life Includes Mistakes (Part 1)
Isn’t that just a wonderful picture? He’s smiling away, having a great time 🙂 As humans, we are so good at routine, I would even go so far as to say that we excel at routine. We wake with the sun, eat breakfast, go to work, come home, eat some more, read our book or follow our shows, then sleep with the moon in the sky, … Continue reading Music Ed Mondays – The Gorilla Story
“there’s something dead out in the field behind our house the wind’s changing direction I seen the local man dressing up in the latest style he says, “It’s only natural selection…” good times coming back again.” – “Good Times” from ‘Good Times Coming Back Again’ I read this as the old turning into the new, but the song is SO dark and gritty that it’s … Continue reading Greg MacThursdays – November 10, 2011
“Whatever gets repeated, gets remembered.” – Michael Brandon This simple sentence blew my mind during my second year of teaching, which was the year that Michael Brandon came to our school. He and I teach the Instrumental and Academic areas of our Music Program – yes, it can be more than just Band, Choir and Drama, but more on that in another post. While we … Continue reading Music Ed Mondays – “Whatever Gets Repeated…”
“Our anger built and tightly wound We walked the coal road through the town “The store,” I yelled, “We’ll burn it down, Burn it to a cynder!” As I spoke these words before my eyes Their doors and windows opened wide And 10 more miners joined my side Beaten, starved and angered We were beaten, starved and angered” – “Company Store” from ‘Maintenance’ One of … Continue reading Greg MacThursdays – November 3, 2011
“Being together, not just doing together.” – Bill Kristjanson Music Educator There really is something magical about the music room, isn’t there? It’s not just a classroom (though, it definitely is that as well), kind of the same way that the gym isn’t just a classroom, there’s something special that happens there too, albeit in a different way. We don’t play music to hash out … Continue reading Music Ed Mondays – Being Together
