Teaching at a Music Academy
VDM Presentation!
I was invited to present at the 72nd Virtual Dalcroze Meetup last week, and the topic of the meeting was “Teaching at a Music Academy.” Since I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to teach at several institutions in which the students were fairly serious musicians in their own rite, I was able to share some of my perspectives on teaching this population! In this post I’ll write some more on the topic, answer some questions I received afterward and share the video from the VDM meeting! But first…
Housekeeping:
Our next TEAMM event will be on TOMORROW May 21st at 7 PM. We’ll be discussing some of the work I’ve been doing with my colleague Stephen Neely and the general themes of staying present and alive in your teaching practice:
You don’t want to miss this event! To join the TEAMM events and get the Zoom link, simply upgrade your subscription! Most TEAMM Members get their admin to cover the cost of the upgrade, and they enjoy the benefit of access to the lesson archive and Dalcroze-based pedagogy ideas!
From the Archive:
Conducting while Walking
If you’ve taken Dalcroze Eurhythmics at any level, it’s likely that you’ve practiced conducting while walking. As an adult, the sensation is strange at first and takes a bit of coordination that might not be readily accessible, but after a small amount of practice you can coordinate the steps with the conducting pattern smoothly. For children, this is a…
The main focus of this SubStack newsletter is “public school classroom teaching.” I have been working in those contexts for nearly 20 years and find that work to be incredibly fulfilling. I have also been spending my Saturdays teaching at “music academies” such as the Duquesne University City Music Center and more recently the Carnegie Mellon Preparatory Academy. I also have spent the last few summers at the prestigious Interlochen Summer Arts Academy in Michigan, teaching a similar population, but a wider variety of ages.
Teaching a SIXTH day (often as many as five classes) each week might seem exhausting, but I have found this effort to be worth it on many levels. First of all, it sharpens my teaching to try out my ideas with a population of students who are musically advanced and self-selecting. Secondly, I am able to make many connections in the world of Dalcroze and higher-ed by my affiliation with these institutions. These connections have led to some of the best opportunities of my career.
At Carnegie Mellon, the Eurhythmics classes are part of the “beginning piano” curriculum. This is a four semester course of study in which the students get a group piano class, a private lesson, and Eurhythmics with ME. The program is highly successful and really gets students started out on the “right foot” in their young music career. I also have a class of students who have graduated from the beginning piano curriculum, some I have had as many as six or seven semesters.
You can hear all about my approach to these classes in the VDM meeting video below!
TEAMM Subscriber Linda had some questions after the VDM and I’ll attempt to answer them here!
She asks: “How, in a marketing way, are these courses differentiated from standard early-childhood offerings – simply by age level, or by class title/description, or a combination of both?”