Music Teachers 911

The blog of Larry Marra, music educator and publisher of the Music Teachers 911 Podcast.

A new perspective on ensembles

Larry Marra Directors, Here's a fun activity that gives everyone in your performance ensembles a new perspective. Whenever I use a university student teacher or observer, I have them conduct my various ensembles while I grab an instrument and "sit in" the last chair of a section. This gives me a "student view" of both the podium and the rest of the group. It also keeps my playing "chops" up on all the instruments as well as sharpens my sight reading skills. The kids love it (especially if I occasionally make a glaring mistake) as it humanizes me in their eyes. Lastly, it gives the university student a valuable perspective on what it will be like when they have their own ensembles. One humorous aside is that I find out just how difficult it is to focus on the director and not talk to my favorite students next to me when in rehearsal.

Good gigging and successful teaching!

Larry Marra

www.musicteachers911.com

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Music Teachers 911

Larry Marra of musicteachers911.com

What we would change about teaching music....

Man teaching at whiteboard I asked a few music teaching friends to write down what the biggest challenges to their music teaching are.

Here is a smattering of the results.

Andrea Wilborn

Administrators who want a good and strong music education department, but have no clue how to achieve it.
Grade level teachers who want their class to perform something special for a program, but expect the music teacher to do all the work. (when you only see that class once a week for 45 minutes)
Parents who bring their child to school for an after school program, then leaves.
Parents who pick up their children late all the time. (30 minutes to 1 hour)
Hearing a child say, they can't practice at home because someone is looking at TV and they don't want to hear that noise.
Students who think that choir consist of singing nothing but songs they hear on the radio or their CD's.

Crowdsourcing for Aspiring Musicians

by musicteachers911 contributing writer, Marina Salsbury

A relatively new phenomenon among musicians that was born on the capabilities of high speed Internet connections is crowdsourcing. A PhD program level definition by Merriam-Webster describes the concept as, “the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.” In other words, crowdsourcing uses the internet to scale projects at a level and efficiency never known before. The respected dictionary site also states that the first known use of the word was in 2006.

Music Teachers National Association Foundation

I would like to invite all music teachers to explore the fantastic opportunities through a great organization called the Music Teachers National Association Foundation Fund. The MTNA FOUNDATION FUND is a support program that enables music teachers to pursue continuing education opportunities, provides awards for student competitions and assists organizations in funding educational and community outreach programs. for more information, here is their contact information. 441 Vine St., Ste. 3100, Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone (888) 512-5278 Website http://www.mtnafoundation.org You can also become a facebook fan at: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Music-Teachers-National-Association-Foundation-Fund/83300906832 good gigging! Larry Marra musicteachers911.com

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Music Teachers 911

Larry Marra of musicteachers911.com

Plan B

christmas ornament on tree with ribbon Last night, I was to play piano with an 18 piece swing band for a local Christian radio shows remote broadcast at a local attraction, The Christmas farm. Every year this farm displays over one million lights depicting the life of Christ. The venue is truly spectacular.

The show was started at 4 pm. We were recording two broadcasts, one at 5 and one at 7 (with a short rehearsal for bumper music in between).

The first show started off great. Then, the clock struck 5:30, the time when the light displays are to be illuminated. That is when everything got very dark!

Needless to say, one million Christmas lights, a 32 channel PA, and 1000 watt radio transmitter tend to draw more than it's share of electrical power. I think I actually heard the transformer "POP" over the sound of all our horns.

Music Teachers 911

A new perspective on ensembles

What we would change about teaching music....

Crowdsourcing for Aspiring Musicians

Music Teachers National Association Foundation

Plan B

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