When I ask my students how they should practice intonation, almost everyone mentions using a tuner. When I talk to teachers about using tuners, however, I get responses across the whole spectrum. Some teachers advocate every student having a tuner
My master’s project was all about teaching intonation to beginning string players, and as part of that I read a lot of books and interviewed a lot of teachers about their best practices. Over and over I heard the same
The second violins missed the D sharp again. It seems like every time you hit that note, it’s out of tune. You go to the piano and play the note for them. They play it back, still out of tune.
Any intonation training needs to start with pitch matching. Until students can match unison pitches, they’ll never be able to tune their instruments, let alone play in tune as an ensemble. Pitch matching should be one of the first things
“Listen!” yells the conductor as the students struggle to find the right pitch. It’s true; listening is important, but what exactly do we listen to? Do our students know what we mean when we tell them to listen? Do we
We’ve all experienced it. You’ve felt the frustration that comes when the violas missed the C sharp yet again, even though you’ve gone over it at least a dozen times. You’ve cringed through those elementary or middle school concerts –
Once in college I remember my professor asking us what we should do about those students who just weren’t as good at music as others. Do you try to teach them anyway? Let them drop out? Encourage them to stay?
A little while ago I heard an interview on a podcast. The interviewer was talking to a well-known fashion designer and asking what initiated all her success. Her answer was that back in 2018, instead of making New Year’s resolutions
You’re on the stage of the most beautiful concert hall you’ve ever played in, the same stage where world-class musicians play almost every week. You sit in nervous anticipation of the concert that will start in just a few minutes
The music you choose for your orchestras to learn makes a huge difference in how they sound when they perform. Selecting repertoire is probably one of the most important things we do as music teachers. With thousands of pieces to