Listen to the music ed mentor podcast

This week’s episode addresses the relationships we all have with administrators. As music educators, we have a responsibility to demonstrate the value of the arts and what music does for the greater school community. This can sometimes feel like an uphill battle when trying to gain admin support. What is it exactly that they want from us?

This episode is all about copyright. As we all know, you can do anything you want with music you create, but in this episode we’ll give you some very much needed clarity about what you can and cannot do with music you didn’t create.

I want this story to inspire you, so I want you to hear it from him. Jake Douglass, today’s guest, was raised by affluent parents, and was introduced to music at a very young age. Throughout childhood, he studied Suzuki flute, piano, saxophone, voice, and percussion. He still practices drums for hours each day despite a busy schedule founding and running a music education company.

Topics Covered

• How to get connected to the larger music industry

• How educators can take advantage of music industry resources

• What is the NAMM Show (and why you should go)”

• Careers in the music industry

Topics Covered

• Why don’t students practice at home over break?

• How you can keep them engaged

• The benefit of running “challenges”

• How to get technology working for you, not against you

Topics Covered

• What is “Comparanoia™”?

• How to avoid imposter syndrome

• Finding ways to celebrate yourself

• Simple, every day techniques for supporting yourself

Topics Covered

• Why are conferences worth it?

• What you can expect to learn or experience at the NAfME conference

• Finding social-emotional learning resources

• Your colleagues’ favorite part of professional development conferences

• How to make life-long connections at conferences

Topics Covered

• What is social-emotional learning?

• How you can incorporate SEL for any age

• Finding social-emotional learning resources

• Why is it important to include SEL in your classroom?

• How to start using social-emotional learning

Topics Covered

• Build Your Audience Locally

• How to Get Gigs

• Connecting with Your Audience

• Arranging for Your Group

• Travel Tips

Key Takeaways

1. Treat teaching lessons like a business rather than a hobby.

2. Lack of time and money are the biggest sources of educator stress and burnout. Educate yourself to run a teaching business not only to be a great teacher but also to make the most effective use of your time and money.

3. Wendy’s book Music Teaching Made Profitable is a great resource.

4. You can also book a free 30-minute strategy consultation with Wendy!

Key Takeaways

• Teaching is hard work. Being responsible for hundreds of children every day takes a lot of physical and mental stamina. If teachers are going to build successful music programs without burning out, they need to have resources and strategies to sustain themselves so they can thrive and help their students do the same in the classroom.

• What happens during the first four minutes of your class sets the tone for how productive the rest of the class will be. This episode includes a few key strategies for setting your rehearsals up for success before you even play a note.

Key Takeaways

Spoiler alert! At the risk of ruining the suspense, I think the real key is to stop taking care of yourself.

Here are some time-tested ways to do just that:

• Get less sleep and rest 

• Emphasize poor nutrition in your diet; especially avoiding whole foods

• Replace exercise and mediation with more social media ranting

• Do more! Be sure to say YES to everything anyone ever asks you to do

• Never take a break from music. Not in the car, while you sleep, or in the shower. Never.

• Be certain no one appreciates you, even when evidence suggests otherwise

And most importantly:

• Remember to take EVERYTHING, including yourself, VERY seriously

Key Takeaways

• Awards are a great way to get funding for your program.

• If you’re doing something other people aren’t, you can capitalize on it by applying for awards.

• Not only does your program receive the award funding, it gets recognition, too. 

Key Takeaways

• Setting up your day right is setting up your life right.

• New projects and creative avenues are a great way to re-energize your teaching career. 

• Think about the big question right before bed and wake up with the answer.

Key Takeaways

• Have procedures/consequences in place

• Self assess every day. Celebrate the successes, and research how to improve the rest

• The first ten minutes of the year are critical

Can we practice some of the same concepts that minimalist gurus teach, in our classrooms, and in our lives? If we can, how could our practice as educators improve? What areas should look at first for minimizing? 

And what if we can’t bear to toss the thousands of cards our sweet students have given us over the years?

Key Takeaways

• Plan, implement, and evaluate rehearsals. Then rinse and repeat.

• Model the behavior you want to see in your students

• Demonstrate HOW to practice in class.

  • Use SmartMusic as visual and aural aid in class every day.

• Build a culture of practice. 

  • Assign the content and excerpts worked on in class at the desired tempo.

• Set expectations for your students regarding practice.

• Listen to student recordings and provide feedback.

Key Takeaways

• Use first what your district says you must use first. That will make your life easier.

• Find what you have and use what you have, even if it’s only a little and only if it helps you and your students. 

• Teach to your strengths. What do you do that you can use technology with? 

Key Takeaways

• Use the STEAM Process: Investigate, Discover, Connect, Create, Reflect

• It’s all about Intention!

  • Intentionally select standards from both content areas

  • Purposefully teach both of those standards throughout the lesson/unit

  • Deliberately assess both content areas through the naturally-aligned standards

Key Takeaways

• The virtual nature of the Summit means it’s more accessible, both for world-class clinicians and busy attendees!

• While the Summit takes place June 13-15, 2019, registered attendees can watch archived sessions at any time.

Key Takeaways

• Having an over-arching philosophy for every level you teach is essential

• Realize that beginners can sound as good as advanced performers; if only on single notes

• The only discipline is self-discipline

Key Takeaways

• Celebrate small wins

• Choose your attitude

• Never be defensive or make excuses – just listen

• Temper your expectations

Key Takeaways

• Pop music is the folk music of today.

• Learning music is like acquiring a second language and can be taught in a similar way.

Free Bonus Episode: Teaching Music as a Second Language

What Scott has to say about teaching music as a second language is very profound. So much so that it took more time than we had in this episode. But because I felt it’s so very important for you to know and understand, something that can really change your effectiveness as a teacher, I was able to persuade Scott to make a little BONUS episode where we just talk about music as a second language. This isn’t something you can just look up on YouTube or find anywhere else. It only available here, for free, to readers of the SmartMusic blog.

This Week We Answer Three Three Questions

• Why is utilizing popular music essential in expanding our music education paradigm?

• How do traditional, jazz, and popular music education pedagogies differ?

• How can we implement pop music into our rehearsals?

Key Takeaways

• When in doubt, wait it out!

• Sleep well. Eat healthy. Power walk. Practice empathy.

• When you have free time, take it for real. When it’s free, it’s free – rest when you can rest.

Meet Some of My “Guests”

Here are some of the revolutionary women, featured in today’s podcast, that your students may not have heard of.

Kassia

Hildegard von Bingen

Clara Schumann

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Delia Derbyshire

Carole King

Aretha Franklin

Bjork

Key Takeaways

• The Orff approach is a great way to get students singing harmonies and independent parts more quickly.

• Singing with (and over) your students isn’t always the best way.

• Be open to Orff experiences and the ways it can enrich you as a teacher, and your students as learners

Key Takeaways

• Step one: clarify expectations with your principal

• Building relationships is key to classroom management

• Sticker charts can work!

• Repetition is a good thing

Key Takeaways

• You can skill give kids a festival-like experience without all the expense involved in travel.

• Bring in a clinician not only to work with your students, but also to work with you.

• Next level for your kids: give them a base of knowledge of the rubric language that will be used for festival evaluation.

Key Takeaways

• Unlike sticker charts, grades, and incentives, promoting intrinsic motivation provides students with the purpose, autonomy, and mastery required to excel on their own.

• Giving kids choice doesn’t mean a free-for-all, we can still guide their choices.

• Simply asking an otherwise difficult student to complete a task, like handing out music, can give them some vital ownership of what goes on in the classroom.