I heard a story about Itzhak Perlman recently and I told my class the story last week.  (Hopefully, it is true!) This is what I heard:...

Classroom management is pretty important in an orchestra class.  We arm students with noisy instruments with so many tempting sound effec...

 I show my classes a 'video of the week' every Monday with some sort of message that I want students to internalize during the week....

This week, I created this document and had students self-assess their abilities.  These are the things I want my students to master right aw...

I am really trying to target my lower-level learners in my classes to hopefully help them catch up and experience success in orchestra.  I h...

I would bet that many of you, (like me), have files and binders full of worksheets, assignments, teaching aids, staff paper.....etc. ta...

I was looking for game ideas on YouTube and came across this video:   I think this activity looks like fun, but it really would not w...

Graphic from: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Playing-the-Melody-61780344 I have one cello student I hav...

I used my red vines activity (see  http://orchestrateacher.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-power-of-red-vines.html ) in class a few days ago and it...

 My beginning students are just starting to read music and perform written notation on their instruments.  I have been noticing that many ...

I am always working to motivate my students to practice.  I believe that it is important to use a variety of systems to get students to prac...

(Artwork: Pencil portrait of a young cellist: http://latestarter63.deviantart.com/art/Pencil-portrait-of-a-young-cellist-437437760) This ...