Blog Posts

Summer Reading for Music Teachers

Denise Gagne

All the Canadian teachers have finally joined their American friends on summer holidays! It's time to relax, unwind and read some fun books. If you like to include some reading about music teaching, here are a few books that you will enjoy.

Taming the Anthill by Jean Spanko
This is an oldy but a goody. I've read this book several times and each time I realize how much truth there is in everything that she writes about. Here's an excerpt from Chapter 1.

Hello, I’m Your Music Teacher

Why didn’t someone warn me? There I stood, waiting innocently for my first class of eighth graders, knowing they would share my enthusiasm for music. Quietly they would file into my room and await my wise instructions. Gently, but firmly, I would guide them through the intricacies of a Beethoven symphony. The few uncertain singers would match pitches with me and be thankful for my assistance. We would marvel together at the genius of Mozart and easily create our own masterpieces on classroom instruments.

“Begin with a familiar song,” said the methods book.
“Let’s see; you all know America, right?”

Wrong!

“It’s too high!”

“I hate that song!”

“I’ve never heard it!”

“Well, let’s give it a try anyway,” I pleaded. Two or three kids made a feeble attempt which was lost amid the giggles of the rest.

“Maybe a little louder?” Everyone yelled.

Shaken but determined, I introduced the listening lesson. “Switch topics if your presentation bogs down,” said the methods book. The tone arm slipped out of my sweaty hand and skidded across the record with a rasp. The class howled. Time crawled.

I hereby apologize to those students who were victims of my first clumsy years of teaching. They were left with a gaping void in their music education. But, on the second thought, maybe they deserve their lack of culture in return for sabotaging so many of my lesson plans.

It is now twenty years later. I’m still teaching music and I actually enjoy it (except on Mondays). Taming the Anthill is a collection of games, contests, discipline techniques (oops -- classroom management skills), and practical suggestions for introducing fundamental skills of singing, listening, music reading, composing and keyboard. Oh yes, there are a few alka-helpers thrown in to help preserve your mental health. Some of the ideas in the book were developed from seeds planted by teachers older and wiser than I. Other strategies have evolved in my classroom through trial and error, tears and love.

You may possess but the newest piano in your district or the state’s finest stereo system, but until you create an environment in which the kids become your allies in the battle of musical wills, no plan of insurrection can truly flourish. You’ve got to tame the anthill.

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Here's a link to the book:

Taming the Anthill

The Artist within Me: by John Jacobson
Published, Hal Leonard

This is a collection of short reflections - one for each day of the year. Here is the reflection for June 27th: Don't do it alone. The very thing that makes us human is our interaction with other humans. Seek out human beings who have similar needs (that would be all of them) and desires (that would be other artists, at least) and make them partners in your quest to rediscover your artistic self.

I guarantee that you are not alone. In the end, yes, your art is personal and unique. But the journey has been made before, all the way until the very end. That's why we study the masters. Follow in the footsteps of those artists who have gone before you, who do almost what you'd like to do. Walk arm in arm with others in your generation who are on their journey. At some point, and you will know, you sense the time for you to forge your own path and be the unique artist you are. If life is 500 miles, the first 499 are laid out for you. That's when we learn. That's when we have fellow travellers. It's what you do with that last mile that will distinguish you. But you don't have to rush to the finish. This book is available from Amazon: THE ARTIST WITHIN ME

Hope everyone has a wonderful summer!