| Join Our List |  |
|
Learn ways
to foster happy,
confident students in Making Music and Enriching Lives: A Guide For All Music Teachers
Order now
for concrete solutions to your everyday problems and ideas to get more satisfaction from the
best job in the world!
|
The Funnies
|
Wagner's music is better than it sounds. --Mark Twain Mr. Wagner has beautiful moments but bad quarters of an hour. --Gioacchino Rossini I have witnessed
and greatly enjoyed
the first act of everything which Wagner created, but the effect on me has always been so
powerful that one act was quite sufficient;
whenever I have witnessed two acts,
I have gone away physically exhausted; and whenever I have ventured an entire opera the result has been the next thing
to suicide. |
|
|
Greetings!
Want your students to know more about the composers they play and to fall in love with their music? Try these ideas:
- Celebrate a composer's birthday with cupcakes and a song. ("Happy Birthday, Dear Wolfie")
- Ask them to tell you about the composers of their pieces.
- Interweave fun stories and facts about the time period and composers in each lesson. ("Did you know there used to be an instrument called a sackbutt?" "Can you believe Bach had 20 children and still had time to compose?")
- Assign a composer of the month, and ask students to listen to pieces on YouTube and report their favorite piece.
- Assign a listening list then play "Name That Tune."
- Sight read a few pieces from the same composer or musical period at a lesson so they can learn the composer's style or the period's traits.
- Rave about your favorite pieces.
- Read from these fun books:
- Bach, Beethoven and The Boys
- Classical Music For Dummies
- Lives of the Musicians--Good Times, Bad Times and What the Neighbors Thought
- And of course, Making Music and Having a Blast!
|
| Flute Flash | |
 Do your students look like vultures when they play?
Here's a teaching trick:
Stand with poor posture, bring your flute up to playing position and jut your head forward to meet the flute.
NOW, do the opposite. Stand tall, think of separating your belly button and your sternum, and bring the flute to you in a large, slow circle.
Now ask your student, which flutist is the better player? You can tell who looks the most professional and who will have the best sound before you even play a note! Good posture makes you look and sound better!
|
If you've found this newsletter fun and helpful, please forward it to your friends, teachers and colleagues. I'd love to hear your comments and any ideas or suggestions you might have about content; we can always learn from each other. Look for more tips, tricks and stories in the coming months. And don't forget to check out my website.
Sincerely, Bonnie Blanchard
bonnieblanchard.com
|
|
|
