March for Music

March is Music In Our Schools Month!! Are you ready?

The Creative Process—Different approaches Part 1

We’ve talked about how to get started if you have an idea that you would like to use as the basis for an original song, writing a beautiful, poetic lyric, and a memorable, singable melody. But there are several ways to “ease in” to songwriting without having to come up with something completely original on your own.

Bucket Drumming Basics

Bucket drumming has come to the elementary music classroom with teachers and students getting in on the fun of pounding a pail.  Forming a bucket ensemble is easy on the budget while providing a great vehicle for learning rhythms and exploring tone colors. 

Footnotes: In Search of the Meaningful Relationship

Exploring the Marriage of Music and Text—Part 2

Like in any relationship, the more sensitive each partner is to the other, the better the relationship will be! The same is true with the relationship of music and text. 

Join Heritage Music Press at these February events!

It’s convention season again! Are you ready for all of the upcoming -MEAs, -CDAs, and spectacular local reading sessions? We are—in fact, Heritage Music Press and many of our spectacular writers and composers will be traveling the country to bring you the latest ideas, resources, and techniques to use in your classrooms.

Cabasa Technique

Strike it, scrape it, shake it!  This little percussion instrument is packed with lots of interesting tone colors.  Check out Mark Shelton as he demonstrates some cabasa techniques that you can share with your students.

I Know Sousa Not Sopranos!

A Survival Guide for the Band Director Teaching Choirs

About a month ago, I was asked for an interview by Andrew Berman, a contributing feature writer for the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) publication, Teaching Music, as part of an article for February, 2014, entitled Trading Chairs! The article is about music teachers who were trained in one area, yet ended up teaching in another area. I was reminded of my book with Heritage Music Press, I KNOW SOUSA, NOT SOPRANOS! A Survival Guide for the Band Director Teaching Choirs.