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A Summer Refresher on Grading and Assessment at Alabama ACDA This episode is in many ways, the live presentation SEQUEL to Episode 21: Everyone Can Get an A. In music Education, we frequently lament cultural attitudes about music not being a “real class.” If we present courses without rigor, academic standards or measurable achievements, we are […]
Arts of Personhood and Shining Eyes
LIVE at Alabama ACDA “Who am I being that my children’s eyes are not shining?” Benjamin Zander This week I had the honor and privilege visiting with ACDA members in Alabama at their state Conference. We must turn the mirror on ourselves to ensure that we are WORTHY to stand in front of our students. […]
The Righteous Musician with Reena Esmail
True diversity is the varied life experiences and cultural upbringings that lead us to our widely disparate moral “palettes.” As we gather together in classrooms, ensembles, businesses and organizations we talk a good diversity game. But rarely do we attempt to measure these things in our diversity matrix. This episode is a “Choralosophy Book Club” […]
Creating Laboratories for Friction with Mónica Guzmán
Classrooms have become ground zero for the problem of political polarization. What is being taught, who is teaching it, how it’s being taught, how it is funded, etc. Are we teaching Critical Race Theory, or are we not? Should we be? These and many questions have become a toxic political football. The problem of this […]
Retention Matters MORE than Recruitment
Straight out of the archives! Most of my live presentations are reserved for Patreon Subscribers, but I felt so strongly about the ideas in this presentation, I decided to air it out for everybody. It is my belief that when we talk about building choral programs, or any program for that matter, we do WAY too […]
Dropping the Covid Ball with Dr. Nikki Johnson
The Return of Covid Conversations! Sadly, many of us in education have lived at the epicenter of the Covid Wars. Possibly the biggest political football during the pandemic has been what to do with the kids, and what to do with schools. For those of us in choral music, we lived at that intersection along with […]