Music Learning

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044 - What Do You See? The Power of Observation in Music Lessons

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044 - What Do You See? The Power of Observation in Music Lessons

I was in grad school at the time.

I remember the warm, wood-paneled walls of the recital hall where we gathered; the blue theater chairs and parquet floors; the tall windows along one wall and narrow stage at the front, large enough for only a Steinway grand piano and a few chairs and music stands.

I liked to sit toward the back because, since the hall was small, it gave me a good visual perspective. I pulled out my wooden notebook with the leather spine, flipped to the next clean page, and began to write.

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043 - Rediscovering the Joy of Scavenger Hunts

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043 - Rediscovering the Joy of Scavenger Hunts

It all started when I was writing a lesson plan for a 2nd-grade student. She’s in her second month of lessons.

I was planning to introduce a new piece and I thought we'd start by exploring the rhythm since three of the four patterns were the same in this particular piece. Let me preface this by saying these were rhythm patterns the student had experienced aurally in previous weeks through imitation and clapbacks. I was looking for a way this week to introduce the written notation.

038 - The Secrets of Interleaved Practice: What We Can Learn From Cognitive Science

038 - The Secrets of Interleaved Practice: What We Can Learn From Cognitive Science

In the last episode, Episode 37, we talked about playing your instrument for fun and why that is vital to your music career. Today, we're going to follow that up with a conversation about practicing.

If there's one thing we know it's that practicing is fundamental to developing skills as a musician. And as music teachers and educators, we're always looking for new ways to encourage and inspire our students to practice at home.

Interleaving is an approach to learning and practice that involves mixing up the sequence of topics, skills, or strategies so they are woven together throughout a practice or study session. In this episode, we’ll talk about what it looks like and how it’s beneficial to longterm learning.

037 - Do You Play Your Instrument for Fun?

037 - Do You Play Your Instrument for Fun?

When was the last time you sat down at your instrument and played music for fun? I mean, not music you had to practice or prepare, not the music you're teaching this week, but music you chose to play for yourself, for your own enjoyment?

In this episode, I'm sharing four reasons why playing your instrument for your enjoyment and creative expression is really vital to your music career:

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036 - Let's Talk About Improvising

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036 - Let's Talk About Improvising

It's one of those words that makes some of us uncomfortable: improvisation. Did your palms start to sweat when I said that?

In this episode, I’m sharing a story from the early days of my studio when I was still a student myself. It's about a lesson I had one October with an 11-year-old student.

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033 - How to Teach Music Literacy Using Color

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033 - How to Teach Music Literacy Using Color

When first introducing music-reading, it can be challenging for young students to recognize patterns and organize the content visually when everything is black and white.

For this reason, color can be a helpful tool. In this episode, I’m sharing four simple, unique strategies to use color to teach music literacy.

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032 - "I Make Music Because..."

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032 - "I Make Music Because..."

Today's episode is a special one because for the first time on this podcast, you'll hear someone other than me talking. In fact, you'll hear 22 other voices — my students!

031 - A Summer Reading List for Music Educators

031 - A Summer Reading List for Music Educators

One thing I love about summer is picking out a new book (or three) to read.

I love having a book with me when I travel, but also the everyday times like sitting by the lake on a hot summer day, relaxing on the porch with a glass of sweet tea, or curled up in the sunroom on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

During the year, I like to read a mix of books from different categories: Business, Spiritual & Lifestyle, Fiction, Personal/Intellectual, and Nonfiction/Memoir.

In the summer, I like to have at least one book that's an easy, light-hearted read — easy to pick up and put down, read outside or on a plane or in the car. I also like to choose a lifestyle-related book that will challenge me in some way or help me assess the rhythms and routines I've developed so far this year. And finally, I find summer is a great time to catch up on my development as a musician and educator, so I like having one book that I can learn from in that way.

If you're looking for a few books to add to your summer reading list, you're in the right place. Today, I'm sharing a few of my favorite summer reads (plus a couple I’m planning to read myself).

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5 Ways to Develop Creative Musicianship (Music Education Basics)

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5 Ways to Develop Creative Musicianship (Music Education Basics)

Welcome back to Music Education Basics!

Today, for our final lesson, we’re talking about one of my favorite topics, creative musicianship—what it is and how to teach it, and 5 ways to cultivate creative musicianship in your students.

First, let me explain what I mean by creative musicianship. When I say creative musicianship or musical creativity, I’m talking about improvising or creating music spontaneously and also, the ability to write those ideas down.

Now, if the thought of that makes your palms begin to sweat, I get it! If you had classical music training growing up, you probably didn’t spend much time improvising, composing, or creating your own music. I know that was my experience. Instead, the focus was probably on learning how to read and interpret what was on the page. Can you relate to that?

I'm sharing a few ways you can introduce musical creativity to those you teach in this lesson.

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Ready to Read: 4 Steps for Developing Proficiency (Music Education Basics)

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Ready to Read: 4 Steps for Developing Proficiency (Music Education Basics)

Welcome back to Music Education Basics!

Today, we’re talking about readiness for music-reading and developing proficiency.

Just like learning to read language, music-reading follows listening and responding, developing a musical vocabulary, and active musical experiences in a natural progression, as we’ve been reviewing this week.

If you’re a choir director or an elementary music teacher, I recommend introducing music-reading (as in holding a score in your hand) around 2nd or 3rd grade. We tend to introduce music-reading a little sooner in one-on-one settings — piano lessons or other beginning instrumental studies — but in choir, you can usually wait until 3rd grade and spend more time with rote-learning and gradually bridging that gap.

I’ll walk you through a simple 4-step process and a few tangible ways to do this in today's lesson.

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

🎨 New on the Musician & Co. blog: An interview with cellist, teacher, and illustrator Megan Chartier (@inkermezzo). I first discovered Megan’s work here on Instagram a few years ago—I was captivated by her portraiture and musical il
Our October Musician & Co. book club pick is here! 📖 Practicing is an essential part of music learning, but many of us may still struggle with the best and most efficient way to approach it. Violist and scholar, Dr. @mollygebrian looks at the
It’s the end of September (look at that golden light ✨), which means it’s recording day! 🎙️🎹 This year, I’m revisiting Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 and learning/relearning one prelude and fugue each month. Today, I
Life Lately (September Edition): 🏈 UGA football (and visiting the neighborhood stone bulldog for good luck) 🎨 My latest painting 🥐 Saturday mornings at the market (an almond croissant from the bakery + cappuccino from the European cheese shop)