Pedagogy Resources

I wrote this for some friends of mine who wanted a list of my music teaching.  I thought I would share it in hopes that someone else could use it.

Practical Piano Pedagogy.  This is one of the most helpful practical resources about the paperwork and organisation of teaching music that I’ve come across.  It includes forms and brochures as well as tips on lesson planning and invoicing students.

Music Mind Games is one that I don’t use things from directly but really helps give creativity in teaching a boost.  This is helpful for both class and lesson settings.  When I can’t come up with a new way to work on something, I look it up in here.

The Big Book of Music Games, Grades K – 5.  This one includes lots of flashcards you can copy as well as game boards.  This is a time saver, and keeping the music bingo game on hand for unplanned extra teaching time can be a life saver!

Meet the Orchestra is a great music coloring book by Dover.  I use it for an activity during listening with younger children.

Meet the Orchestra is a great introduction to all the musical instruments.  I use it a page at a time for a two minute spotlight for general music education.

The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozartis a glorious picture book of the opera.  I read/show the pages while playing various pieces in the background.

Specific to Violin teaching (I have a huge list… so let me know if you want more):

I Know A Fox With Dirty Sox Violin Book.  This makes pre-twinkle and initial set up much more interesting.  It’s also a fantastic sight reading exercise for younger students… easy rhythms with duet parts so you can have them read a line by themselves, and then make them learn chamber playing by playing with them.

Group Lessons for Suzuki: Violin and Viola
has been invaluable for my group lessons.  Every time I’m not sure which step to take next this is a good one.

Fun Improvisation for…Violin, Viola, Cello, Piano is one that I have not incorporated yet, but from skimming it I think I’ll be using it a lot.

If you only buy one of these, I would buy Practical Piano Pedagogy. It’s well worth the price. It is so helpful with setting up and getting started and having a place to start from for each situation that comes up

Call of A Coward by Marcia Moston

Call of A Coward: The God of Moses and the Middle-Class Housewife by Marcia Moston grabbed my attention from the list of books Thomas Nelson had available to review.  I am happy to report that the book lives up to the honesty of it’s name.  One of the most striking things about this book is Moston’s openness in sharing her own heart with the reader.  Her husband Bob visited Guatemala on a missions trip and Marcia had a lingering thought in the back of her mind that he would come back wanting to move there.  The quote at the very beginning of the book sums up her story well: The problem with promising God you’ll follow him wherever he leads is that you just might have to go.  I supsect it would be easier if you were certain of his calling– like stepping out the door and seeing the lilac bush on fire and hearing a voice commanding you.  But when it’s your husband who is delivering the message– well, that leaves a little room for wonder.  At least that’s how I felt when my husband rocked my comfortable, middle-class afternoon with his belief that God was calling us to pack up and move to a Mayan village in Guatemala.

Moston’s writing is a little bit different than many other missionary autobiographies I have read.  She is writing to communicate primarily the struggle in her own heart and how God changed her heart.  She does talk about the difficult logistics of daily life but that is not her focus.  It was both refreshing and convicting to read an account that was introspective.  Moston wrestled with where her heart landed on simple daily issues and also in larger picture applications.  The combination of soul searching and vision makes Call of a Coward stand out.  There was not guilt tripping about one’s own heart: just frank dealing with the author’s own.  I think the book was much more impacting that way.  Delivered through daily often humorous anecdotes, Moston shows her struggle of faith in the daily little things.

One of my favorite examples is the story about an older woman watching Moston through her window.  Moston at first was thankful for the opportunity to illustrate her faith then the lady stole some expensive wood from h er yard.  Moston describes the following conversation in her mind: “Stealing is stealing,” my ethic said.  “But I have much  more than she does,” my conscience said.  “I am not a socialist,” my analyst offered.  “No, but you are a Christian,” my heart responded.  by that time the woman had long gone.  (page 97)  Simple, daily, and no big “you should” application to others.  It was also fun that it took place in a Mayan culture.  I was fascinated by Mayan culture as a kid after reading Incans Aztecs Mayans.  Reading this book made me want to track down that one.

I do recommend this book.  Thank you Thomas Nelson for the chance to read and review it.  I enjoyed it.  A real woman in a real place with a real heart.  Read it!  At 184 pages it is a quick read that will leave you challenged but encouraged.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for completing a review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion here is my own.

2013

Photo Credit: Jordan Baker

So it’s 2013.  Yes it has taken me all of the last 23 days to think about that and plan this post.  I love this picture.  It’s my reading corner in my room.  You can’t see the big comfy chair right next to the heaps of books and cup of tea.  The art on the wall is a piece my brother Cooper did for me several years ago.  One of the reasons I like this picture (other than the fact that it’s my favorite place to sit at the end of the day and it has my brother’s art in it) is that it is a good image for this year.  Too many books!  Just the thought makes me smile.  It represents my goals for this year:  too many but exciting.

Blogging:

• Get Back into my “What I Read This Week” Posts.
• Post More Reviews (2 a week would be awesome)
• Participate in the Nightstand posts: setting monthly reading goals.

Reading:

• Oxford History of Western Music by Richard Taruskin.  This is potentially my craziest goal.  I want to read it all, as in all 4,272 pages of it THIS YEAR.  We’ll see.  I got it for Christmas and I can’t wait.  Taruskin is my favorite musicologist to read.
• Chesterton.  I want to read 8 works by Chesterton.  I failed this goal last year.  I started The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare when I received it as a gift (and if you are reading this by some chance, thank you very much) but didn’t finish any during 2012.
• Russian History.  I’ve been collecting Russian history books lately and now I need to read them.   High on the list are: Russia and the Russians: A History by Geoffrey Hosking, A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 and Natasha’s Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes and Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie.
• The Complete Stories by Flannery O’Connor
• The Wizard of Oz Series.  This is to keep pace with my reading contest buddy Heather.
• That brings me to my last (and possibly most important) reading goal.  Beat Heather.

In between the gardening and crafting and teaching music lessons a good book (ideally read in a hammock or my comfy reading chair) will make it back into my daily routine.  I’m still amazed at how much busier looking for work is than actually having a full-time job.  I’m thankful to be gaining music students and being a teacher’s assistant at a Montessori school.  Well, there is my crazy reading goals list.  I’ve started off the year with one music teaching book and the rest are fantasy.  More on that later this week.

A General Update

Wow.  Life has spun crazily!  All of the sudden I am a music teacher.  I am so excited to be actually doing what I love.  Losing my job was definitely NOT the highlight of my year but the jewelry business, making scarves and teaching music that has followed is awesome.  I am especially excited to be adding enough students that I will hopefully be able to work fewer jobs and have more free time.  I have several reviews in the works that will hopefully appear soon.

Since I have been absent from the blog world for several months I am going to post pictures of what I have been up to in the time between.  I have done four craft shows and two jewelry parties.   I have been reading, though not as much.

An online friend made my day, sending me very thoughtful gifts from the Rabbit Room Community Christmas Exchange.  Such perfect books!

I am in the midst of creating Christmas gifts and hoping to get them all finished in time.

Until Later!  For now, it’s just good to be back.

I’m on Etsy!

I have begun a new project.  Well, really I’ve expanded a hobby.  I am now selling jewelry on etsy.  Two of my cousins and I are in it together.  We all make jewelry, one photographs, one writes and I do the administrative part.  Anyway, if you are interested, check it out on etsy.  Here are a few examples of my work.  I’d love feedback!