Music Education
The music classroom, in which the subject is being taught through the locus of performance, is a unique learning space. In such an environment, the students’ view of how much control they have over the outcome of their learning depends to a large extent on how they prioritise motivational factors.
Music Education
Breathing is the only function of the autonomic nervous system that can happen both consciously and unconsciously. Research has shown the many benefits of practicing controlled breathing techniques such as stress relief and improved functioning of the immune system.1 When applied in a pedagogical setting, teaching controlled breathing techniques
Music Education
Paul Harris offers some thoughts for parents to help their children get the most out of practice. One of the benefits of lockdown is that many young learners have more time to spend with their music. More time to practise. And, of course, many parents are home more to help.
Music Education
What can little children do in music? May I present Lyonya Shilovsky, a three year old Russian drummer playing the ‘Can-Can’ tune from Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, along with an orchestra of adult musicians. I hope Lyonya wears ear protection! Is Lyonya unique, we might wonder, or are
Music Education
Water, in music, is more than just a drop in the ocean. Composers imagine water in rivers, water falling from the sky, water jetting up to the sky, water as a single raindrop, or as the entire sea. Water creatures, such as nymphs or mermaids, also have their place. In
Music Education
We have all heard it from our beginning (and sometimes more advanced) students that awful, wooden, unmusical playing. What can we do to fix it? If we tell them to crescendo to a certain note and then get softer, they stiffly climb up and down the dynamic ladder, and it
Music Education
A long time ago, a smart voice teacher once said, “the most important thing in music is rhythm.” That statement still rings true; the elements of music, like a melody that moves people, and lyrics that mean something, are held together with rhythm. It’s the same thing in speech;
Music Education
The advent of COVID-19 has forced teachers to move group piano instruction online. While the online medium is not ideal to teach performance skills, there is a silver lining. Online learning does present many benefits; chief among them is the great degree of flexibility it gives students and teachers. Students
Music Education
When we’re young and in dance class, we’re told to imitate trees – swaying in the wind, bowing down in a torrent of rain or just standing tall in the cold winter sun. Composers are equally inspired; they see trees as emblematic of spring and optimism or of winter
Music Education
Our New World Our current pandemic has us all teaching in new ways. I have long thought of online learning as an opportunity, a way to indulge in creativity. It represents, however, a significant challenge when it becomes forced upon us in times of global strife. We are all accustomed
Music Education
During a recent tour at the Bell Homestead in my hometown of Brantford, Ontario, Canada, I came across an interesting fact. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell set up a demonstration of his new invention, the telephone. He arranged for friends to play a melodeon and sing over a telephone line
Music Education
On London’s South Bank there is (or at least there was – it’s odd to think that I haven’t been in London since early March) a large banner of the cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason with the slogan ’You haven’t heard it until you’ve heard it live’. I
