Choir Teachers

"Those who can't do... teach."

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:22:00 +0000

As you may have noticed I like to ask myself a question and then do my best to answer it. This is going on in my head constantly. Welcome to my world.

What does it mean to be a teacher first?

Teacher first means that sometimes the most talented student doesn't get the solo or the lead part. Sometimes we select music from genres we don't love. Sometimes we spend more time teaching history, sight singing, and theory even when cramming for our next show.

I personally believe that at the High School level we are to provide students with a well rounded musical education. Giving them a taste of many different genres of music and opportunities. I see teachers sometimes so focused on putting out the best product that some times we forget that we are teachers first.

This doesn't mean that we don't expect excellence from our performers or work to put on a great show. It simply means to remember why we got into this profession and if you want to be a professional musician then this isn't the venue for you.

~ Don't become a member of the club "Those who can't do... teach."

By this I mean I have seen a few educators who seem to be in the teaching profession because their performance career didn’t pan out. A High School Ensemble is not a replacement for the professional directing job you never got.

Class Facebook Page

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Do you have a class Facebook Page?

We know that almost all of our students use Facebook, do you have a page for you classes? I have a Facebook page for all the choirs in general that I use for general announcements but I just started using individual groups for the older choirs where I can communicate to specific groups through means they are already using.

I have tried to use email for this purpose in the past but it was not very effective hopefully this is better.

Bye Bye Free Time

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Well its second semester and for me that means one of two things. Either I am preparing for a musical or for a tour. (Last year both ahhh never again.) This year it is a musical and I have chosen to do Bye Bye Birdie.

Prepare for some posts about this in the coming weeks and months as I share what we are doing and ask for ideas.

Singing Rubric

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:30:00 +0000

Do you require singing tests?

In my top class which is audition based I think it is appropriate to grade based on skill level. Not for 100% of the grade but at least a portion.

This is the rubric I use to grade them on.

<p>&amp;lt;noframe&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href='http://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?code=G462C9&amp;amp;sp=yes'&amp;gt;Rubric: Singing Test Rubric&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/noframe&amp;gt;</p>

We do random octets and we sing one of the songs we are working on. I let them know ahead of time but they never know who they will be singing with. I have all the names written on 3 x 5 cards and their voice part on the back. I randomly choose 2 of each voice part, have them stand in front of the class and go.

What do you do?

30 Day Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 05:31:00 +0000

I am convinced. This is my plan for 2012!

Now to come up with my first 30 day challenge. Any ideas?

Creating Viral Videos (A Classroom Project)

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:05:00 +0000

I have an idea...

It could be one of my best ever or it could be just a good idea that doesn't really work. I want to start a class project where we try to create viral videos. I got the idea when on the last day of this last semester grades were already turned in and the concert was the night before so the music room turned into kind of a hang out for the day. A few of the kids decided to come up with their own cover song and they did a pretty good job.

We posted it online and the next day the views had jumped into the hundreds and the students were thrilled. It turned into a quest to see how many views they could get it up to and soon there were links to it all over Facebook. At the time of this writing it has 741 views, not viral by most peoples standards but for them it sure is.

Class Project

So my idea is the first week back from break to have the students split into groups and create a music video. I don't care if it is an original, cover or something they think of on their own. I want them to create and upload it and then see who can get the most views.

Why

There are some amazing musical things happening on the internet right now allowing students to participate in music creation not just consumers only. I believe it is my job as an educator to help my students recognize this and what better way is there than to just jump in and do it. And who knows knows given the opportunity maybe they will produce something as good as this kid Sean Quigley did.

"They work much, much harder.”

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 19:48:00 +0000

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“Their research suggestes that once a musician has enough ability to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.”

—	Malcolm Gladwell

Discuss

Disney Medley

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Mon, 30 May 2011 02:42:00 +0000

I love that youtube has allowed us to see great performances that we wouldn't have otherwise. Like this one. Check it out you won't regret it.

Change the World

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Sun, 29 May 2011 13:18:00 +0000

Not to sound too Eric Clapton but I like it :)

My Favorite Podcasts

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Sun, 29 May 2011 01:10:00 +0000

Image via WikipediaI haven’t listened to traditional radio in months and I’m not looking back for two reasons. Podcasts and Pandora.

If you have a smart phone you can stream music and podcasts practically commercial free and more importantly tailored specifically to your likes. For me personally pod-casts are what I listen to most of the time.

If you are not familiar with the term pod-cast it is basically an audio file that can be downloaded to a portable audio player or computer, usually speech.

Top 10 Podcasts (listed in order of my personal preference)

1. This American Life - Hands down my favorite podcast of all. It comes out sometime Sunday and it the first thing I listen to Monday morning as I jump in my truck to go to work. It covers all different types of topics from economics to random interviews and everything in between.

This American Life is a weekly public radio show broadcast on more than 500 stations to about 1.7 million listeners. It is produced by Chicago Public Media, distributed by Public Radio International, and has won all of the major broadcasting awards. It is also often the most popular podcast in the country, with more than a half million people downloading each week. We're also the co-producers, with NPR News, of the economics podcast and blog Planet Money. And a half dozen stories from the radio show are being developed into films.

2. ESPN: The B.S. Report with Bill Simmons - As far as sports go this is my go to place. Bill Simmons has a way of mixing sports knowledge and analysis, clever prose, pop culture references, his non-sports-related personal life, and for being from the viewpoint of a

passionate sports fan.
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William J. "Bill" Simmons III is a sports columnist, author, and podcaster. He currently writes a

column forPage 2 on ESPN.com and is a former writer for ESPN The Magazine. Nicknamed The S

ports Guy.

Since joining ESPN in 2001, in addition to writing for ESPN.com, he has also hosted his own podcast on ESPN.com titled The B.S. Report, appeared as a special contributor on the television series E:60, and serves as an executive producer of ESPN's documentary project, 30 for 30. He also has written two best-selling books and worked as a writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Simmons also has created numerous internet memes, most notably the Ewing Theory and the Manning Face.

In 2007, he was named the 12th-most influential person in online sports by the Sports Business Journal, the highest position on the list for a non-executive.

3. General Conference Audio - I try and listen to at least one general conference talk a day and since a talk usually last about 10-15 minutes it is a perfect length for either my drive to or from work.

General Conference is a semiannual world conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held in April and October, where members gather in a series of two-hour sessions to listen to instruction from Church leaders.

4. The Moth Podcast - This is a pod-cast of stories told live without notes. I love hearing people stories. I used to just watch cars go by on the freeway and think of all the stories that each person in each car had to tell. Though disclaimer they don’t edit for curse words so you have to be careful.

The Moth is a non-profit group based in New York City dedicated to the art of storytelling. It was founded in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate the feeling of sultry summer evenings in his native Georgia, when moths were attracted to the light on the porch where he and his friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales. George and his original group of storytellers called themselves "The Moths", and George took the name with him to New York. The organization now runs a number of different storytelling events in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, and other American cities, often featuring prominent literary and cultural personalities.

5. this WEEK in TECH - I have to have my tech fix. This is a great panel style show where about 4 tech leaders get together every Sunday and discuss what is going on in tech. I like this show because they talk about many different areas of tech and you can learn a little about a lot in about an hour podcast. Between TWiT and Mashable I stay pretty up to date on all things tech related.

This Week in Tech–casually referred to as TWiT, and formerly known as Revenge of the Screen Savers–is the weekly flagship podcast of the TWiT.tv network. Hosted by Leo Laporte and many othe

r former TechTV employees, it features roundtable discussions and debates surrounding current technology news and reviews, with a particular focus on consumer electronics and the Internet. TWiT headquarters, called TWiT Cottage, is located in Petaluma, California, USA.

6. Freakonomics Radio If you liked the book Freakonomics or Superfreakonomics you will like this pod-cast. It is produced by the writers of said books and they follow basically the same model of the books.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is a 2005 non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner. The book has been described as melding pop culture with economics [1], but has also been decried as "amateur sociology".[2] By late 2009, it had sold over 4 million copies worldwide.

7. ESPN: PTI - This simply the audio feed of Pardon the Interuption the daily ESPN sports show. Since we cut cable some times I catch the podcast to stay up on sports. I usually only listen to this if the BS Report cue is empty.

Pardon the Interruption (abbreviated PTI) is a sports television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels and as a downloadable podcast. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wil

bon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top stories of the day in "sports... and other stuff" (as Kornheiser put it in the show's original promo). They had previously done this off-air in The Washington Post newsroom. Either Tony Reali (host of ESPN's Around the Horn) or the uncredited "producer over the loudspeaker" serves as moderator for parts of the show, which is filmed in Washington, D.C.;

8. Stuff You Missed in History Class - This is a new podcast that I have recently found and really like. It has potential to climb my top 10 but for now suffice it to say it has very detailed/interesting information on things in history I know little to nothing about.

Stuff You Missed in History Class is a podcast about important historical events originally hosted by editor Candace Keener. She is joined by co-hosts Josh Clark (older episodes), Jane McGrath (newer episodes), and Katie Lambert (newest episodes). In August 2009, Candace left the show and Katie was joined by editor Sarah Dowdey. The original title of the podcast was Fact or Fiction? History Stuff for the History Buff.

9. 60 Minutes - This simply the audio feed of 60 Minutes the weekly news televeision show. I usually only listen to this one if This American Life and the The Moth cues are empty.

60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by long-time producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-

centered investigation.

It has been among the top-rated TV programs for much of its life, and has garnered numerous awards over the years, including 78 Emmys(as of 2007). It is considered by many to be the preeminent investigative television program in the United States.

10. Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me! - Last but not least is a pod cast i thoroughly enjoy almost every time I listen to it yet still find myself listening to the above podcasts first when given the chance.

Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! is an hour-long weekly radio news quiz game show produced by Chicago Public Radio and National Public Radio. It is distributed by NPR in the United States, internationally on NPR Worldwide and on the Internet via podcast, and typically broadcast on weekends by member stations.

Notes To Words Game

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:50:00 +0000

This blog is moving to http://choirteachers.wordpress.com

: Image via Wikipedia

In my jr high band class I still have a few students who are struggling with note names and so I have been looking for fun ways to have repetition in learning the note names with out loosing the attention of the students who have a strong grasp of them.

I have known since I was a kid if you play a game or even call something a game it makes it a lot more bareable. I found in my supplies left over from previous teachers note name bingo so I decided to give it a try. If nothing else it was repetition. To my somewhat surprise the kids actually seemed to really like it but there was one problem. The bingo boards that I have had the names of the notes right on them. This may be good for true begginers but these kids are at the point hat they should be able to see the note and be able to name it without help.

So after a couple rounds of note name bingo I decideed it was time to change it up a bit. So I had the kids break up into small groups of two or three. This way some of the studnets who do have a good grasp of the notes could help hose who do not. When they split up I gave them an empty grand staff and told them to come up with as many words as they could using only the letters in the musical alphabet. Then I had them come back together as a class and with each group going one at a time they would have to write their word on a grand staff on the board. If there was more than one letter in a word they had to use a different place on the staff to write it and between all the groups you could only use a word one time. When a group runs out of new words to use they are out.

After we were done I thought of an idea to give the teams a poin per letter used to encourage the students to use bigger words and if you don't want he game to go forever require that they can only use the root of a word and not multiple tenses of the first word.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be the originator of this game, I am sure there are multiple renditions of this and similiar games.

What do you play in you class to help keep learning music new and interesting?

The Pep Band Effect

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:38:00 +0000

This blog is moving to http://choirteachers.wordpress.com

: Image by mhaithaca via Flickr

I just read a great post from Doug Butchy over at

Confessions of a Band Director

on the Marching Band effect. I agree with what he already wrote and I am just piggy backing off of it here.

I teach at a small school and I have to do a similar thing with my pep band. Because most of my High School band is on the Football and Volleyball teams I do not have many people to be in the pep band so I have had to recruit from the middle school. I admit pep band music is not that hard but it is harder than what they are used to and the students nearly always rise to the challenge. And most importantly I agree with Doug that the level of their musicianship over the long haul jumps greatly.

If I could add one more reason a 4th reason if you will, I think it is also because of the 10,000 hour rule. If you have read Outliers by Malcom Gladwell that will makes sense if not I recommend it, its a very good quick read. In short the 10,000 hour rule boils down to if you want to master something you have to spend 10,000 working on that thing or in this case practicing. By giving the students a challenge to perform above their level we are also asking them to spend the extra time working on this music and practicing it to get their. By practicing more than they normally would out of necessity. The more time they spend practicing their instrument the better they get, simple.

Hopefully I can remember this concept in all of my classes and continue to challenge my students to play above their skill level if nothing else to get them to have to practice more and in turn become better musicians.

Macy

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:23:00 +0000

Macy

http://www.cjcarrollphotographs.blogspot.com/

Glee

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Image by watchwithkristin via Flickr

I have a couple of friends who are police officers, a couple who are doctors and nurses and I have often heard them talk about t.v. shows dealing with their proffesions and not usually with raving reviews. But never before has there been a T.V. show that relates to my proffesion, High School Music Teacher, until now.

I want to like Glee, I really do. I don't hate it even. But aside from it being overtly sexual for any age, let alone a High School Show, it is unrealistic.

I know it isnt supposed to be real. Neither is CSI or House but I don't really know that about those shows and I am a fan. But when I talk to people in those fields they say they are so unrealistic that its hard to watch. Well I am not to that point with Glee yet but it might not be too much longer till I get there.

What do you think?

Where Does The Time Go... Help!

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 17:53:00 +0000

Image by ToniVC via Flickr

I do not know the last time I wrote a Blog. This is for a couple reasons.

First Reason

The first reason I haven't is that I haven't taken the time to do so. I think the worst excuse for not blogging is not having enough time. We all get 24 hours in hour day and what you do with that time is up to you.

Second Reason

The second reason I haven't blogged is because I haven't felt like I had anything of value to say. This also is a bad excuse because when I started this blog I had no intentions on trying to please other people. My intentions were to network with other music educators, share ideas and get help when needed. I am in the classroom Monday through Friday so if I am not coming up with anything to share with other music teachers I do not think I am doing my job well. But today I need Help.

But today I need Help.

I am now 5 weeks into the school year and less than a month from my first concert. I don't feel ready. In fact I lack so much confidence that I am working with administration on pushing back the concert a couple of weeks.

Image via Wikipedia

First Concert

If I leave the concert where it is we will have our first concerts of the year 9 weeks into school. This leads me to a ask a question of all you season veterans in music eduction.

"Question"

So in the words of Dwight Schrute, "Question".

How far into the year do you like to be before your first official concert? Also, how long in between concerts do you like to have?

PS22 Chorus - ABC NiteLine Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:47:00 +0000

If you don't think Music Education is important then watch this and then reconsider. :)

This Is My Kind Of Cheesy!

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:31:00 +0000

What do you think? Will it take off? I like it but I am a music teacher :)

End Of The Year Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:37:00 +0000

Well I fell off the end of the earth well at least the blogging world. For most experienced music teachers I am sure they are well accustomed to the end of the year hecticness. This being only my second year I am still figuring out how much stuff I can and should plan. Is it easier to plan more because there are more opportunities or because you are more willing to show off a more experienced group.

In my first year I did a musical review with my choirs and a movie review with my bands. These were both fairly easy endeavors to tackle. Basically we prepared for them like we would any concert and then a couple days before we did a couple of dress rehearsals and the show was a success. Then we h

Image via Wikipedia

ad our final concert at the end of the year. So basically we had 3 performances in our spring semester.

This year feeling more brave after gaining you know "so much" experience I decided I should try a few more things in the spring semester. I think at first I felt like my kids needed to be challenged more and that they were getting bored with such a light load and thus I was loosing students and discipline was even slipping. Then it became a learning experience for me where I wanted to see what exactly I could do.

My plan for this years Spring Semester was to do a musical and a music tour. Too much? Go big or go home right?

Well lucky for me I believe I have some of the very best students to work with. The problem with deciding to do both of these things in one semester was that I decided late. In fact I don't think I officially committed myself until right before Christmas.

We decided on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and I found a script to do auditions with before

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we even ordered it so that I could give the leads a jump on memorizing there lines over the Christmas break.

When we got back from break we started rehearsals. I had many great people from the community pull through and help me out in amazing ways. Being the only music teacher in my district there is no way I could have pulled this off without a ton of community support which we had.

While all of these preparations were going on we had to start fund raising for our MusicTtour that was happening 3 weeks after our production closed. Luckily AZ has tax Credits which helped us a lot and great principal who paid for all of our Musical including costumes so that everything we profited at the door we could turn around and use on our trip. This proved to be essential. We also hosted a Jon Schmidt concert to help raise money and sold Discount Cards. In the end about 2 days before we left we were able to scrounge up the final money we needed for our tour.

Jon Schmidt via last.fm

When I say tour I don't mean anything extravagant just a trip to Mesa, AZ where we watched Singing In The Rain at the Broadway Palms Dinner Theater, worked with Dr. Glenn Bennett at Mesa Community College, performed at an assisted living center and a mall, went to Golfland where we played minature golf, go carts, and laser tag, and swam in the pool at the resort we stayed in. Overall a great experience and one that I think will do wonders for recruitment.

By the time we were done with these two major events my kids were exhausted and uplifted. I had many great and encouraging talks witht the stud

Cover via Amazon

ents about how they realized how hard they worked to get ready for these things and how they also realised that this kind of hard work and preperation was neccessary for a successful event and most importantly how much fun it was when we could be proud of what we were doing.

Is this not one of the most important aspects of Music Education. If all kids and even adults could learn that one lesson do you think we would have such a sense of entitlement today. Personally I don't.

Well this last week we finally had our last concert of the year and I have to say in my to two years it was hands down our best concert performance wise. Every group showed remarkable and even noticable improvment from my fist year and the beginning of this year. The kids all had a great time and were proud of what they accomplished.

While I will admit that it is laughable to think that after two years we have made it, I know we still have a long way to go but I am glad to see that in my opinion we are headed in the right direction.

Now to make year three as memorable as years one and two. I have ideas on how I need to start now to assure that this happens but I will save this for a later post.

Congrats Graduating Class of 2009 you will be missed!

Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Sun, 03 May 2009 14:49:00 +0000

Most youtube videos are funny but occasionally you come across a great inspiring video. This is one of those must see videos! And what better promotion for music education.

LOVE STORY (Taylor Swift) meets VIVA LA VIDA (Coldplay) - Piano/Cello - by Jon Schmidt

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 20:33:00 +0000

We saw this live when he came to Joseph City it was one of my favorite songs of the night! We were even his first large audience that he played it for :) Pretty cool I thought. Check it out and even spread it along!

Tax Break For Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:39:00 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Thomas L. Friedman wrote recently in the NY Times an interesting article about ways to stimulate the economy.

For those of you who are not familiar with Friedman he is most recently famous for his book "The World Is Flat" where he talks about outsourcing and how this leveling the playing field world wide. Very interesting book which I highly recommend.

In this article he say's "My wife teaches public school in Montgomery County, Md., where more and more teachers can’t afford to buy homes near the schools where they teach, and now have long, dirty commutes from distant suburbs. One of the smartest stimulus moves we could make would be to eliminate federal income taxes on all public schoolteachers so more talented people would choose these careers."

So might view this as a shot against teachers not being good enough as they are and so we need to recruit better teachers. I don't believe this is what he is really saying especially since he leads with his wife being a teacher but we have all seen quality teachers leave the profession becuase they were lured into more lucrative career options.

I believe most teachers are in this profession for the right reasons but sometimes finances make it hard to stay put. I think the tax break might be a good idea to help make life a little easier and Friedman may be right this is a better stimulus then giving free money to banks or the Auto Industry.

Here is his closing statement:
"Sure, we’ll waste some money doing that. That will happen with bridges, too. But a bridge is just a bridge. Once it’s up, it stops stimulating. A student who normally would not be interested in science but gets stimulated by a better teacher or more exposure to a lab, or a scientist who gets the funding for new research, is potentially the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. They create good jobs for years. Perhaps more bridges can bail us out of a depression, but only more Bills and Steves can bail us into prosperity."

Songsmith

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:09:00 +0000

So I saw this video today promoting a new product, Songsmith, from Microsoft and while I have to admit at first I thought it was a joke. It looks a lot like something that is produced on the onion.

No it's not a bad musical either, even though it alludes to its aspirations to make the world a musical.

What do you think does this help us as music educators or does it make students lazy?

Personally if the songs are really as bad as these videos seem then I don't think we have a lot to worry about. But I am curious what everyone thinks.

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/songsmith/index.html

Goals

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 02:26:00 +0000

Today in one of my choirs we had a goal setting day and this is what one of my students put on the board as we set our goals. We came up with the goals together as a class so that we were all on board from the start. Here is what we came up with. Most of you probably won't appreciate it as much as I do.

Notice the first goal... Have Fun :) haha

So I had to define FUN :)

Which led to one of my favorite quotes from my Dad.

The Next Goal... Respect
Who say's the pianist never gets any respect :) I'm so proud of my students.

That's right respect all around :)

I always tell my students that if they don't like a song then to keep it to themselves because they don't have the right to take away permission for someone else to like it.

Cause when we work together we got the right stuff.
Go Wonder Pets!

Ultimate Unity... They even want to go to the hospital with us when Alli has the baby.

Not sure they quite got the right message on this one.
I tried to explain how singers are actors too.

You like the rewards and consequences list?
My personal favorite... Public Humiliation.

I like the attachment to the reward of a brownie party.

We got a least one Dictator statement in :)

And by the end of the day this was our final product. I love my students. :)

Jon Schmidt

noreply@blogger.com (Kyle Gardner) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:45:00 +0000

I just got the final word that we are officially bringing Jon Schmidt to perform in our little community. For those of you who don't know who he is, Jon Schmidt is a piano player but not your average piano player. He is a true entertainer. I have many young nieces and nephews who love to watch him perform and after leaving they are always inspired to practice their piano.

He is coming in for a very good rate which is going to allow us to sale tickets to help fund our music tour this year. If you haven't had the chance to see him in concert or even hear his music I highly recommend that you look into it.

Choir Teachers

"Those who can't do... teach."

Class Facebook Page

Bye Bye Free Time

Singing Rubric

Top 5 Posts from 2011

30 Day Challenge

Creating Viral Videos (A Classroom Project)

"They work much, much harder.”

Related articles

Disney Medley

Change the World

My Favorite Podcasts

Notes To Words Game

The Pep Band Effect

Confessions of a Band Director

Macy

Glee

Where Does The Time Go... Help!

PS22 Chorus - ABC NiteLine Interview

This Is My Kind Of Cheesy!

End Of The Year Reflections

Playing For Change: Song Around the World "Stand By Me"

LOVE STORY (Taylor Swift) meets VIVA LA VIDA (Coldplay) - Piano/Cello - by Jon Schmidt

Tax Break For Teachers

Songsmith

Goals

Jon Schmidt