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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...

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...

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...

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...

Mar 18, 20188 min read

How to Include and Engage Horn Players in Your School Rock/Popular Ensemble

So you have a small class with mostly horns but a couple of kids play guitar and drums, or a group with lots of rhythm players and a...

Jan 27, 20183 min read

The Art of By-Ear-Learning: Classical vs. Popular Styles

During our classical music degrees we were challenged with sight-singing, ear training, and transcription projects that were seemingly...

Dec 7, 20175 min read

Freeing Ourselves of Music Theory and Notation: Classical vs. Popular Styles

Who says you can’t play an E chord in the key of C? Bach maybe? Who decides what sounds good? Bach, perhaps again. We often forget that...

Jun 29, 20176 min read

21 Things I Learned From Teaching Full Time While Touring With a Rock Group

I originally wrote this back in 2012 when my ska-rock band, The Sidewalks, were actively gigging and touring eastern and central Canada...