Field Notes on Music Teaching & Learning

I first heard about this book from one of my grad school professors.

We were sitting around a long table one snowy January evening at our annual dinner for current and prospective doctoral students. I asked my professor about books he was reading lately and he named several including Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and Carol Dweck's Mindset.

It's been on my list since then (let's just say it's been a few years), but I finally read it last year.

Today, I want to share my four biggest takeaways from Mindset: The New Psychology of Success to give you an idea of what it's about and how we can learn from it as musicians, teachers, and leaders.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Outliers: The Story of Success (Malcolm Gladwell)

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Carol Dweck)

Ep. 021 - How to Use Praise with Intention

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Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew

This summer, I've been teaching buddy lessons to two rising 1st graders. One started lessons with me in January and the other just started last month. They are both using the method book, Piano Safari Friends, which I have really enjoyed teaching this year.

Both students have had 30-minute lessons with me almost weekly this summer and since I was able to schedule them back to back, I'm doing 25 minutes with one student, 10 minutes with both (2-3 activities), and then 25 minutes with the other student.

Back in Ep. 18, I shared a glimpse into an elementary buddy lesson in my studio—the types of activities we did together and how I facilitated things. Today, I'm sharing a behind-the-scenes look at how I organized our buddy lesson activities and sequenced them from week to week.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Piano Safari Friends

Ep. 018 - This Is What an Elementary Piano Buddy Lesson Looks Like

Evernote, a free note-taking app

Ep. 047 - An Inside Look at My Lesson-Planning Process

Post-it® app for iPad

Piano Safari Animal Rhythm Cards

Piano Safari Music Alphabet Cards

Music Tree: Time to Begin Activities

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Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew

Do you pre-plan lessons in your studio? The truth is, I haven't always done this.

As a young teacher, I loved planning and sequencing activities for every individual lesson, but it was challenging to predict what we'd realistically get through and so much was dependent on a student's preparation and practicing during the week. Would they be ready to begin this new piece or would we need to spend another week reviewing concepts in a review piece?

I began making quick lesson sketches when a student would hand me their lesson notebook and pre-planning other activities to reinforce rhythm, aural skills, and technique. But these activities were often more general, more level-specific than student-specific, and they weren't tied to the student's repertoire.

When the pandemic happened, I found myself without my students' notebooks to reference, so I started writing digital assignment sheets.

Today, I'm sharing my lesson-planning workflow: the steps I take every day before teaching to plan individual lessons for my students. Plus, at the end, I'll answer a few questions I received on Instagram that are related to this topic.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

How to Use Notability for Digital Assignment Sheets in Your Studio

Notability app

iPad + Apple Pencil

Ep. 039 - A Creative, Integrated Approach to Teaching Music Theory

RCM Piano Syllabus

Sight-Reading and Rhythm Every Day (Helen Marlais)

Ep. 045 - The Blues Composition Project

Piano Literature for Teaching & Performance: A Graded Guide and Annotated Bibliography (Jane Magrath)

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Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew

We talk a lot about the teaching and learning process on this podcast and what that looks like in practical, real-life experiences. But today, I want to take a step back and talk about what it looks like in the beginning, when you're just getting started.

Maybe you're just beginning your teaching career or you’re pivoting to teaching after doing something else. Maybe you've been teaching for a while but you're looking for ways to evolve and further develop or shape your career.

Wherever you are in your career, we’re all aspiring to be better musicians, teachers, and artists. In this episode, I'll share seven practical tips for designing and developing your music teaching career.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Institute for Creative Music

Blues Course 1.0 by Nick Finzer

Musik at Home

Free Teaching Reflection Workbook

Musician & Co. - a blog and web resource for self-employed musicians

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Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew

In February of this year, I organized a month-long, studio-wide composition project based on the 12-bar blues.

I got the idea for this project from a session I attended at NCKP last summer, led by Leila Viss and Bradley Sowash. Leila shared how she's structured a blues composition project for her students and I thought it would be a good way to acknowledge and celebrate Black History Month and incorporate composition for my elementary and intermediate students.

Today, I'm sharing a behind-the-scenes look at how I organized this project in my studio, how I structured and guided the composition process each week, some blues examples we studied from the repertoire, and a few of my students' final compositions.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Key Ideas with Leila, Ep. 017 - The 12-Bar Blues

Rock Around the Block (Sam Holland, Music Tree, Part 1)

Jazz Blast (Faber, Piano Adventures, Level 2A)

Captain Hook's Rockin' Party (Faber, Piano Adventures, Level 2B)

Black Bear Boogie (Chee-Hwa Tan, Circus Sonatinas)

Slide Easy (Robert Vandall, Celebrated Jazzy Solos, Book 1)

Surfboard Boogie (Martha Mier, Jazz, Rags, and Blues, Book 1)

Spiderman Theme (old-school theme song)

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2)

Stuck in the Middle With You (Stealers Wheel)

Hound Dog (Elvis)

Be Cool and Play the Blues by Leila Viss (digital resource)

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Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew

I remember the warm, wood-paneled walls of the recital hall where we gathered; the blue theater chairs and parquet floors; the tall windows along one wall and narrow stage at the front, large enough for only a Steinway grand piano and a few chairs and music stands.

I liked to sit toward the back because, since the hall was small, it gave me a good visual perspective. I pulled out my wooden notebook with the leather spine, flipped to the next clean page, and began to write.

This is where I captured ideas and inspiration and revelations from teachers like Martin Katz, Graham Johnson, Victor Rosenbaum, Rena Sharon, and Alice Parker, among others.

There's so much we can learn from observing how music is made—the gestures, the movement, the physicality of it.

As a student, I remember feeling like there was so much to take in: to see, hear, and experience. That's why I took notes.

Now, as a teacher, I've been thinking about ways to provide my students—even elementary-age—with more opportunities for observation, as another avenue of learning.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Inner Game of Tennis (Timothy Gallwey)

Ep. 041 - Focus on the Music

Ep. 018 - This Is What an Elementary Buddy Lesson Looks Like

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Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew

It all started when I was writing a lesson plan for a 2nd-grade student. She’s in her second month of lessons.

I was planning to introduce a new piece and I thought we'd start by exploring the rhythm since three of the four patterns were the same in this particular piece. Let me preface this by saying these were rhythm patterns the student had experienced aurally in previous weeks through imitation and clapbacks. I was looking for a way this week to introduce the written notation.

My first thought was to write each rhythm pattern on a Post-It Note so we could discover together the ones that are the same. Then I would ask my student to put them in the order they appear in the new piece by listening to me play it a few times.

But then I remembered a creative teaching idea I hadn't used in a while that would be perfect for exploring the rhythm of this piece: a scavenger hunt.

There are a few key benefits to using an activity like this in your music teaching and that's what I'm going to share with you today.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear Rhythmic Chant

Hazel Cobb’s Pie Game (out of print)

Tried-and-True Rhythm Games for Children’s Choir (including the Pie Game)

Free Rhythm Pattern Card Set

Resource Library

Tonal & Rhythm Pattern Card Set: Younger Elementary

Tonal & Rhythm Pattern Card Set: Older Elementary

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Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew

In the book The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance, author Timothy Gallwey describes a one-on-one lesson he had once with an adult tennis student. The student was aware of a problem with his serve, as several other teachers had pointed it out to him, and he could describe it in great detail, and what he needed to do to fix it.

So Timothy decided to try a different approach.

He observed the man serve a few times, then, instead of trying to find a new, better way to explain the problem that the student already knew he had, he simply instructed him to practice his serve in front of a large window that functioned as a mirror. Almost instantly, the student recognized the problem in his own serve—he saw it with his own eyes for the first time—and made the necessary corrections to relax his arm.

The man thanked Timothy profusely and told him that he had taught him more than all the other teachers he had had in the past. But Timothy said, “What did I actually teach you?” The man was quiet for a few seconds as he thought and he said, “Well I guess I don’t really know! But you helped me so much. In 15 minutes, you made more of an impact than the hours of private lessons I’ve had.”

There’s a difference between facilitating and teaching; that's what we're going to talk about today.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance (Timothy Gallwey)

“Piano Class for the Real World”: Exploring Experiential Learning with a Collaborative Inquiry Group in a Creative Musicianship Lab (Ashley Danyew)

“Bridging the gap: Informal learning practices as a pedagogy of integration” (Heloisa Feichas)

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a review in Apple Podcasts >>

Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew

This month in my teaching, I'm making a conscious effort to focus on the music.

I know that might sound obvious. You're a music teacher—what else would you focus on? But the truth is, as teachers, there's a lot we're thinking about:

Are we managing our time well? Will we complete everything on the lesson plan?

Are we keeping a good pace and keeping our students engaged?

Is there enough variety in the activities we're doing today: theory and sight-reading, aural skills and musical expression, on-the-bench and off-the-bench activities, rhythm and movement?

How are they doing with this activity? Do they understand the concept? Have they developed this skill? Do they need a challenge?

All of these things are important and necessary to our work. As teachers, we are responsible for organizing and sequencing learning activities, managing time, and assessing the outcomes. But this month, I want to prioritize the music we're making, the music my students are making.

In his book Deep Work, researcher Cal Newport wrote, “Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.” That's what this episode is all about.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (Cal Newport)

Ep. 021 - “How to Praise With Intention”

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (Carol Dweck)

Fixed and Growth Mindsets (What I Learned from Carol Dweck’s Book)

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less (Greg McKeown)

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Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew

The scene opens in an empty room with blank, white walls. A woman steps into the space, alone. "The blank space can be humbling," she writes. There's pressure to do something, to fill the emptiness, to create. But with practice and with the ritual of showing up, you grow accustomed to it. The author describes it as both her job and her calling.

"Bottom line," she writes, "Filling this empty space constitutes my identity.”

This is how the book, The Creative Habit begins. Author Twyla Tharp is a choreographer and dancer, offering insight into her creative practice and the rituals that accompany it.

I read this book last spring and it was one of my favorites of the whole year. I thought I'd share my three biggest takeaways and a few of my favorite quotes from the book with the hope that it's as inspiring and enlightening to you as it was for me.

For show notes + a full transcript, click here.

Resources Mentioned

*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

The Creative Habit (Twyla Tharp)

Join the Musician & Co. Book Club!

Big Magic (Elizabeth Gilbert)

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Find me on Instagram: @ashleydanyew