Sound Education - Latest Comments

Re: Life Lesson #12: The Love of Music

David Ahrens — Sat, 05 May 2012 19:25:29 -0000

Hello Megan,
You're welcome and thank you! I appreciate your thoughts on my post and I'm glad to hear it may have been helpful to you with your presentation.
In general, people tend to overlook all of the benefits that they receive from music. I'm glad to hear that this post has prompted you to appreciate that.

Re: Life Lesson #12: The Love of Music

Meganmj1021 — Tue, 01 May 2012 23:38:20 -0000

To Mr.DAVID AHRENS,I would like to say thank you for writing this article. I have to do a presentation on what something has taught me and how it relates to the big picture. Having played piano my entire life, i found this article to be perfect for ideas on what to talk about for my project. It also really made me think about piano playing and all that it has done for me.
Thanks so much! Megan

Re: Life Lesson #11: Connecting Emotion

Travis J. Weller — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:51:19 -0000

David - just found this again tonight. This is a great article even without those quotes! Great stuff as usual!

Re: Free Android Apps for Band Directors

Akhilesh Kumar — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:12:21 -0000

nice blog having great topics and i glad to see this blog

Re: Weekly Practice Journal

David Ahrens — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:28:14 -0000

Thanks Dave. Yes, I did post it on the Band Directors Posterous site. Thanks for suggesting it.

Re: December Music Education Blog Carnival

David Ahrens — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:32:08 -0000

Your welcome, and thank you! I thought it might make it a bit more interesting to get some context on the submitters.

Re: December Music Education Blog Carnival

Dr. J. Pisano — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 17:15:15 -0000

Thanks, Great Job on this post/collection/carnival. I especially like how you included a brief bio blurb on each submitter... I think I'll ask folks to continue the tradition in the future.

Re: Student Band Arrangements

Brandt Schneider — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 07:52:23 -0000

Record everything. Post on a wiki for students along with noteflight file.

Re: Tuba Q and A: High Range

Dave — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 21:49:12 -0000

A high school tubist should be able to play a wider range than G to F, I've been playing for a year (Granted I'm in high school but I just switched a year ago) and I can play pedal tones and almost up to a B that sits on top of the staff. The B isn't quite a clear note yet, but it's getting there.

Re: Weekly Practice Journal

Dave Shaw — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:33:16 -0000

Stealing! uh, Borrowing? Have you sent this to the Band Directors repository on Posterous, or posted it to the Band Directors Group on FB?

Re: Free Android Apps for Band Directors

Elyse A. Evans Kircher — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 09:41:44 -0000

Great post! Thank you!
I had been using Musical Lite, which has a metronome, pitch pipe, keyboard, and drums in it. I want to try the metronome and keyboard apps you recommended, though, because they seem to have more features.

Re: Free Android Apps for Band Directors

Brian — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 11:17:31 -0000

great stuff! I look forward to the next post.

Re: American Band College

Tom Gard — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 00:40:39 -0000

As a 2010 graduate of ABC, I highly recommend this Masters Degree program to ANY band teacher, regardless of what age you teach or what part of the world you hail from. Although the degree is billed as a Masters in Conducting, the primary benefit is in pedagogy (both instrumental and rehearsal methods). You will work with phenomenal conductors as well, and you will learn a lot regarding the art of conducting; but the biggest benefit is being more knowledgeable about everything going on from the podium.

We premiered a piece by Johan De Meij last year, and I was fortunate not only to rehearse and conduct the piece with my colleagues but then to hang out with Mr. De Meij during the process. These are the kinds of experiences that take place every single year at ABC.

Finally, the research projects that make up the "academia" of the program are incredible. While any school can make you sit in a library and research some element of music or band literature, ABC forces you to create projects that are tailored to your weaknesses. We record ourselves conducting and have to watch it. We learn our bassoon fingerings! We discover more about ourselves through this program and through the work of our annually rotating faculty (another advantage, which allowed me to work with De Meij, Robert W. Smith, Jan Van Der Roost, Dr. Tim Lautzenheiser, and so many more of the most relevant names in our profession) than any other program that gives you the same instructors year after year.

It is easy to gush about a program like this, but it is the sole reason I defeated burnout as a young teacher (I just completed my 10th year this past school year of public school teaching). I was going down a really discouraging path until ABC, and it reawakened a passion and a fire I badly needed. And hey, you get to work with peers from all over the country. It's a great way to network and learn about music education from everywhere (international, too!) in the event that you're ever looking for another gig elsewhere. Best wishes to you, David!

Re: Worthy of Note: Schumann – Konzertstück für 4 Hörner und Orchester

David Ahrens — Wed, 18 May 2011 02:05:19 -0000

Bummer that this video has been taken off of YouTube. I'll try to dig it up somewhere else. If anyone has a link, please leave it in the comments!

Re: Life Lesson #11: Connecting Emotion

Leslie Denning — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:13:12 -0000

Hi David. I'm so glad to have found your blog. I have to go back to Part 1 and start reading. I love this article, and it is the hardest concept to get across. When I taught band, I taught the kids to listen to the traces of music in the air that remained just after the final cutoff, and that seemed to grab some of them. This article makes me realize that I need to do more of that in my private lessons. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Wishing you a song in your heart,
Miss Leslie @ Music with Miss Leslie.com

Re: Life Lesson #11: Connecting Emotion

T.K. Goforth — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:48:47 -0000

This is excellent, David! It is so true that so many people quit their instrument without really "putting themselves" into it. It is such a subjective endeavor, and to find ways for each student to express themselves is also a challenge, but rewarding when the light goes on!

Re: Life Lesson #11: Connecting Emotion

David Ahrens — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:59:49 -0000

Thanks, Joanna!

Re: Life Lesson #11: Connecting Emotion

Motleymuse — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:06:09 -0000

Great post, words to teach and live by!

Re: Time Management, Focus, & Vision Key to Maintaining Sanity

David Ahrens — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:35:50 -0000

Samara, thanks for your comment. This is something that I need to remind myself of often. In fact, just reading back through this after seeing your comment I was thinking "Oh... yeah, I really need to be better about that!"

Re: Time Management, Focus, & Vision Key to Maintaining Sanity

Samara Wood — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:43:17 -0000

Wow, i really found this entry rather inspiring. I too seem to suffer from similar flawed logic regarding my desk and a bulky, annoying, prescribed teachers diary in a school that demands everything on paper. I'll definitely be looking into some of your suggestions to help get me back on track for next term. Thanks :)

Re: Life Lesson #10: Setting Goals

David Ahrens — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:35:14 -0000

Thanks Liz! Glad you like the site. I'm coming up on the anniversary in a couple of months, woohoo!

Re: Life Lesson #10: Setting Goals

Liz Uelmen — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 14:31:03 -0000

Wow, David, thank you so much for doing this; this is totally awesome

Re: Quick Melody Composition in Band Class

David Ahrens — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:48:26 -0000

Thanks, Martha. Yes, finding something effective that does not take a huge amount of time is really important in a performance class.

Re: Quick Melody Composition in Band Class

David Ahrens — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:47:12 -0000

That's great, Anne. I'm glad that you're doing this. I know you've got a tough assignment with ALL of those kids. It's wonderful to be able to come up with creative solutions to an otherwise frustrating situation.

Re: Quick Melody Composition in Band Class

David Ahrens — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:44:38 -0000

I'm glad you like it, Andy. Use the keyboards! And perhaps you'll just need to hang on to them for performance on Monday. The main things I was trying to focus on were to:

1. Keep the allowable product fairly narrow to help scaffold the less experienced and keep the more experienced focused on producing a similar product.

2. Do this quickly. It's an exercise, not a masterpiece.