Music Learning

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The Case for Musical Expression (Music Education Basics)

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The Case for Musical Expression (Music Education Basics)

Welcome back to Music Education Basics!

Today, we’re talking about musical phrasing, dynamics, and movement and why it’s important to incorporate these elements of musical expression into the teaching and learning process from the very beginning.

Visuals and active experiences are a huge part of the learning process. In some cases, they are more important in our teaching than spoken directions and letting people read things for themselves. How can we be intentional about structuring our teaching in a way that supports visual learning and active, hands-on experiences?

We’ll explore a few useful strategies, ways to create opportunities for active experience, and meaningful analogies you can use to support music learning and the development of musical understanding in your students.

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How to Develop a Musical Vocabulary (Music Education Basics)

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How to Develop a Musical Vocabulary (Music Education Basics)

Welcome back to Music Education Basics!

Today, we’re talking about what it means to develop language skills in music—namely, the importance of building a vocabulary of tonal and rhythm patterns, something you’ll hear me describe as the building blocks of music.

Tonal patterns are short, 2- to 5-note groups or phrases. Think of them like words: instead of reading and focusing on the individual letters that make up a word, our eye recognizes the group of letters together; we understand the letters within the context of the word. The same is true in music: instead of focusing on individual notes, we want to help our students learn to read groups of notes as meaningful patterns.

The goal is to understand the notes within the context of the music.

Rhythm patterns are the same: short, 2- to 4-beat groups or phrases. It’s important to recognize them as patterns vs. reading individual note values.

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The First Step in Music-Learning That’s Often Overlooked (Music Education Basics)

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The First Step in Music-Learning That’s Often Overlooked (Music Education Basics)

To begin Music Education Basics, we’re going to talk about a primary component of music teaching and learning and something you may not immediately think of as being the first step in the teaching process: listening and responding.

In the introduction last week, I talked about the Music Learning Theory and the idea that learning music is a lot like learning how to speak a new language.

When you learned how to speak your native language, you probably didn't start with reading; you spent time listening to others speak the language around you, soaking it up, exploring how to create sound yourself, and eventually, imitating them.

It’s so important to build listening and responding into your teaching, because, while it's vital at the beginning of musical development, it’s something we come back to over and over again as we learn.

Everyone can learn from opportunities to listen and respond to music, at all stages of musical development, something I explain more in this lesson.

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Welcome to Music Education Basics

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Welcome to Music Education Basics

Music Education Basics is a free online workshop for music educators in all types of settings.

It’s available as a video series, but I’m going to share the audio version right here on the podcast so you can tune into the content here each day if that’s easier for you.

Each day, we’ll explore a different foundational aspect of music teaching and learning — a core mindset or process or sequence or approach that will apply to you and your work whether you’re teaching elementary or secondary students or even working with adults. Each lesson has a corresponding workbook and a brief challenge to encourage you to take action in some way.

In this introductory lesson, we're going to talk about the Music Learning Theory and how learning music is a lot like learning a new language.

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030 - Five Myths About Music Teaching & Learning

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030 - Five Myths About Music Teaching & Learning

You know those things you’ve heard that seem true? I mean, they sound plausible. Plus, if enough people say it, it must be true, right?

Before long, we find ourselves buying into the hype, retelling the story, believing something we’ve heard without stopping to ask questions.

This is how myths begin.

Sometimes, there’s simply a lack of information—nothing to disprove this theory or that idea. Other times, they sound good on paper but are only surface-level with no substance to back them up.

Whatever the case may be, we’ve all encountered myths (big and small) in various parts of our lives.

But have you ever stopped to think about myths related to teaching and learning?

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029 - The Cost of Perfection (A Teaching Story)

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029 - The Cost of Perfection (A Teaching Story)

Music and perfectionism often go hand-in-hand, don't they?

In music school, we're trained to pursue excellence, to strive to be the best. We're taught to set high standards for ourselves, to work hard, and live up to the high standards our teachers have for us.

The thing is, there are two sides to perfectionism.

The value of perfectionism is that it's a commitment to achieving at a high level. But the cost of perfection is a crippling fear of failure, an unwillingness to try new things, negative self-talk, and an unrelenting pursuit of something that may not always be attainable. In fact, it might not even exist.

I mean, have you ever had a perfect performance? What does that look like? Of course, there's technical perfection — the right notes and the right rhythms with the right fingering at the right tempo and the right dynamic level, whatever that might be for you — but is that what we're aiming for, technical proficiency? Or is there something more?

023 - How to Practice Efficiently in 30 Minutes Or Less

023 - How to Practice Efficiently in 30 Minutes Or Less

Playing your instrument helps keep your musicianship skills sharp — your aural awareness and reading abilities, your commitment to a beautiful tone and balance and expression. It helps you stay in shape technically, and it makes you a better teacher — you know what practicing requires and you know how to pick and choose the strategies that will help you be most efficient with your time.

With that said, here are a handful of quick tips for practicing efficiently in 30 minutes or less:

022 - On Being a Lifelong Learner

022 - On Being a Lifelong Learner

As lifelong learners, we get to discover new things, new people, and new ideas. We explore things that are new and unfamiliar, whether that’s reading a short biography about a composer or sight-reading a new piece; outlining a new learning sequence or figuring out how to use a new app.

But what does this look like as a music professional? Here’s a personal and practical look at what lifelong learning looks like for me in this season.

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020 - Asking the Right Kinds of Questions

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020 - Asking the Right Kinds of Questions

As teachers, we ask a lot of questions.

  • What’s the first note?

  • What’s your hand position?

  • Which finger plays the black key?

  • What kind of note do we sing in m. 8?

  • Are these notes stepping or skipping?

But, did you know there are different kinds of questions (or ways of asking questions) that can actually promote learning?

A good question does more than assess student learning or mastery of a concept; it can actually foster a deeper level of understanding, open space for productive dialogue, and promote self-reflection.

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019 - The Benefits of Rote Learning & How to Use It in Your Teaching

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019 - The Benefits of Rote Learning & How to Use It in Your Teaching

When we learn something by rote, we start by listening, then experiencing it ourselves — imitating what we see or hear, listening again, and repeating it until we can do it on our own.

Today, I want to talk about why rote learning is important and three of the primary benefits of rote learning in music education, and offer some practical, step-by-step techniques for incorporating rote-learning into your teaching approach.

Follow along with my creative work and daily adventures: @ashleydanyew

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