A Resource for Church Musicians

Recently, I found a wonderful resource for church musicians. Greg Howlett posts many free arrangements that would work for preludes, postludes, and interludes. He also writes posts about how to find the happy medium between being tied to the music and playing solely by ear. If you sign up for his newsletter, he will send you a free download for one of his CD's, a hymn arrangement that is not posted on his blog, and a free course on charting chords in a hymn.

Recommended Reading

I would recommend that my fellow teachers head over to Susan Paradis' blog, and read her post on "Six Secrets of Successful Music Teachers".  Happy reading!

Avoid Apathy!

I have been reading Making Music and Enriching Lives by Bonnie Blanchard as part of a study on pedagogy. It has been a challenging read. The book is easy, but the challenges to be a better teacher are hard. One of the challenges (in my own words): Don't be apathetic, either about your student's progress or your own. Teachers need to be improving themselves to be better able to help their students. Don't neglect your practice time! It is important. As Bonnie Blanchard suggests, read books on all aspects of music, make connections with colleagues, join an teacher's organization, or join a local music group. Anything to keep improving as a teacher.