In the jungle that is music education, there lives a beast. A terrifying dragon that lurks behind every chair, instrument and music stand, it is the Distraction Dragon. This beast is the greatest and most common enemy of all teachers. We tremble upon sensing the slightest breath of distraction rising up among our…
“My child loves the lessons but just doesn’t want to practice.” It’s probably the number one challenge of every music teacher, parent, and music student: how to make practice part of a daily routine. For young preschoolers, this is something that has to be taught and externally monitored by the parent. It’s highly unusual…
In a lesson this morning, I was showing 4 year old B to play a simple song, a variation on Brother John. She loved it especially because I realized she didn’t have any brothers, but we could substitute her sister’s name in the song. So what was Brother John became Sister Iris! She was jumping…
I’ve been talking to music teachers all over the world to learn and share what their best practices are. One of my standard questions has been “What would be your best advice for a new music teacher – someone just starting out?” It’s Just Business Music teachers are creative folks and artists, so we are…
