Hey team, I love music – I really do. I think about it quite a lot, but when both my day and night jobs are music, sometimes I get so burned out that I can’t see the forest from the trees; or rather, the beauty in the sonic fabric from the succession of pitches in a unidirectional harmonic progression. Sometimes, we play music; sometimes, we … Continue reading Music Ed Monday – Lighthouse Music (Part 1)
In a really wonderful turn of events, I won a competition this past month! My very first one! It was the 2015 Canadian Band Association Composition Competition (*whew!*) and my piece for concert band “The Meeting Place” took home the prize. I really like that tune, and so do a lot of my students – more than many of my other ones, actually. The funny … Continue reading Music Ed Monday – Keep on Keepin’ On
Once upon a time, console platformers (Super Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, Wonder Boy, etc.) gave the player three lives to beat the level. In the case of Super Mario Bros., you got three lives to beat the whole game. You may be thinking “but you’ve got 1ups!” and yes, that’s true, but allow me to pull you into a stressful part of your past… You (as … Continue reading VGM Ed Mondnesday – “Dying Over and Over Repeatedly” or “Why Super Meat Boy Makes Students Into More Successful Human Beings”
Wow, October already, eh? What a wild start up. For teachers and/or students reading this, I hope it’s been grand and the machine is running full steam ahead! We had a wonderful PD session on Friday. Actually, “wonderful” doesn’t quite cut it – it was earth-shattering. I barely slept all weekend because I couldn’t keep my mind out of it. The speaker’s name is Debbie … Continue reading Music Ed Monday – The Rollerskating Girl
Around this time of the year, teachers often get cards and letters and usually for thanks. It’s a nice gesture and I always look forward to it. That sounds a bit pretentious, but given that the nature of our job is to help other human beings further themselves and figure out the world around them, the notion that some of them may be grateful isn’t … Continue reading Music Ed Monday – The Gift is Ours
Today is the last day of class. So, Grade 12s, you made it. Congratulations 🙂 This wasn’t the hardest thing you’ve had to do, but it certainly wasn’t the easiest either. It took a lot of work – sometimes, you didn’t put in quite as much as you should, put it appears that you put in enough. You’ve made a great start. Mr. Brandon had … Continue reading Music Ed Monday – Before You Go…
We used to have this whiteboard at the front of our room, but then we got this incredible SMARTBoard. It’s an enormous touchscreen monitor that’s rigged up to our iMac. It’s like Star Trek, the future is now 🙂 … But then what were we going to do with this old whiteboard? Well, we just put it off to the side on, really, the only … Continue reading Music Ed Monday – The Inspiration Board
This is one of my favourite one-liners. It just says so much in so little (the mark of a good one-liner, I say!): – It tells the musicians to ramp their awareness. – It encourages them to focus their attention on something. – It reinforces them to take a greater responsibility for the whole… And more! As musicians, it’s so easy to get lost in … Continue reading Music Ed Mondays – Listen Harder Than You Play
Good afternoon! Here is another essay from a Grade 11 Fundamentals of Music student describing her relationship with Music. It’s very personal (but I have her permission to post it) and that’s its greatest strength: It’s authentic. This reminds me how lucky I am to teach Music to young adults who are invested in this collaborative effort. But while the ensemble is collaborative, there are individual rewards 🙂 … Continue reading Music Ed Monday – A Flute Player’s Relationship With Music
Making parts and I have a love/hate relationship. I love the formatting, the making every part beautiful, the tweaking of fonts and the slight adjustment of dynamics and articulation… until about the fifth hour. You see, it’s painstaking and precise work. I love that kind of work… up to a point. The other catch with making parts is that, while there are many steps between … Continue reading Conception to Completion – Filum Vitae
