BLOG

Figurative Language Through Song for Language Arts and Music Teachers (Part 4)

Jul 15, 20223 min read

Figurative Language Through Song for Language Arts and Music Teachers (Part 4)

This post is the fourth and final post in a series of posts for a Figurative Language Unit designed for Music Teachers and Language Arts...

0 comments

Book Review – “Listen & Celebrate” by Nate Holder and Helen MacGregor

Steve Giddings

May 15, 20222 min read

Book Review – “Listen & Celebrate” by Nate Holder and Helen MacGregor

Nate and Helen’s new book cover If you are looking to decolonize your music room or provide a richer musical experience for your...

0 comments

A Learning by Ear and Transcription Project for Intermediate Band

Steve Giddings

Nov 4, 20215 min read

A Learning by Ear and Transcription Project for Intermediate Band

Contrary to popular belief, I enjoy coaching large ensembles. These groups are really good at facilitating the practice of reading...

0 comments

Steve Giddings

Jul 9, 20215 min read

STEAM in Music Class with Coding

This blog post has been adapted as a chapter section that has been accepted for publication by Oxford University Press in Technology for...

0 comments

32 Tips and Tricks for “Letting Go” of Your Creative Inhibitions

Steve Giddings

May 9, 20216 min read

32 Tips and Tricks for “Letting Go” of Your Creative Inhibitions

I’ve discovered a few things along the way that have helped me immensely in overcoming my fear of improvising to help me to “let go” and...

0 comments

How to Create a Safe Place for Improvising and Composing

Steve Giddings

Apr 25, 20213 min read

How to Create a Safe Place for Improvising and Composing

Here are some simple actions you can take or phrases you can say or think to foster a safe place to explore and experiment with music in...

0 comments

9 Pieces of Advice for Pre-service Music Educators

Steve Giddings

Apr 17, 20213 min read

9 Pieces of Advice for Pre-service Music Educators

Learn to play the guitar – It’s one of those instruments that is incredibly versatile and can be carried around the room, unlike the...

0 comments

Steve Giddings

Feb 22, 20214 min read

The “Continuum of Creativity”

Some History: I began thinking about the concept of a “Continuum of Creativity” after watching Adam Neely’s video “Why No Rap Covers?” In...

0 comments

3 Podcast Episodes You Might Actually Need

Steve Giddings

Feb 18, 20212 min read

3 Podcast Episodes You Might Actually Need

Podcasts have become popular, and it seems today that everyone and their dog has a podcast worth listening to. I often think about...

0 comments

Should we Learn by Ear Instead? Ear Training vs. Learning by Ear

Steve Giddings

Aug 16, 20207 min read

Should we Learn by Ear Instead? Ear Training vs. Learning by Ear

(A portion of this blog post was approved for publication in Technology for Unleashing Creativity published by Oxford University Press,...

0 comments

Steve Giddings

Apr 13, 20205 min read

How to do a Virtual Book Launch

Before now, in the midst of a pandemic, a virtual book launch was a novel idea. Now, it really is our only choice for a book launch....

0 comments

The Top 10 Most-Read Blog Posts of 2019 from Steve’s Music Room

Steve Giddings

Dec 27, 20191 min read

The Top 10 Most-Read Blog Posts of 2019 from Steve’s Music Room

Top 10 Most-Read Blog Posts of 2019 Here are Steve’s Music Room’s most-read blog posts for 2019. Feel free to share any of these posts on...

0 comments

Steve’s Must-Read Music Teacher PD Book List

Steve Giddings

May 30, 20194 min read

Steve’s Must-Read Music Teacher PD Book List

Must-Read Music Teacher Professional Development Book List These books have a common theme, they promote Informal learning, Non-formal...

0 comments

Steve Giddings

Feb 27, 20197 min read

Tech Ideas for Creative Musicking

Technology can sometimes complicate things but it can also make things much easier for everyone. I know that getting your learners to be...

0 comments

“Olympic Games” Movement, Art, and Composition Activity for Grades 1 and 2

Steve Giddings

Sep 29, 20184 min read

“Olympic Games” Movement, Art, and Composition Activity for Grades 1 and 2

Versions of this post have been published in Creative Musicking and has been accepted for publication the forthcoming book, Technology...

0 comments

Presenting at the International Music Education Summit in June 2018

Steve Giddings

Mar 26, 20182 min read

Presenting at the International Music Education Summit in June 2018

Register Now for the 2018 International Music Education Summit Hey, so I’ve been asked to present at the 2018 International Music...

0 comments

5 Reasons Why You Should Start a Rock Band at Your School (Part 1)

Steve Giddings

Aug 19, 20176 min read

5 Reasons Why You Should Start a Rock Band at Your School (Part 1)

Teaching rock bands in schools is a passion of mine. The kids really gravitate to it and can really impress me. They blow me away at...

0 comments

Steve Giddings

Mar 30, 20178 min read

6 Steps to Composing With Your Students

Here is a PDF of this blog post (with pictures and easier to print if need be). In other years, I did a lot of explicit rhythm practice...

0 comments

How to Get Your Students Writing Their Own Songs

Steve Giddings

Apr 30, 20167 min read

How to Get Your Students Writing Their Own Songs

Lately, at MCS we have been working on learning the guitar. Before this, we had done recorder and many of the students learned what C...

0 comments