This blog is a work in progress, designed to catalog my adventures as a music teacher and to help others in their quest to become excellent music teachers. During my time at the university I was often frustrated by difficulty of locating helpful websites or links. I thought, “Can’t someone just compile a list of helpful hints for new music teachers?” and so my blog was born. Content will be added as I take notes, discuss pedagogy with other teachers, and teach music in the area. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions; I will add any useful information I receive. Thanks!
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Adventures of a Music Teacher 
Thank you for creating this site. It’s such a gift to many! Please keep up the great work!
Thank you! I created it because I was frustrated by the difficultly of finding credible resources to help with my studies and projects, etc. I hope you find it useful, and will contribute your own knowledge and experiences to it!
This is a fantastic site and it is great to find a kindred spirit in music education! Please tell me more about your 3rd grade guitar plans. I feel like I don’t know where to start!
Thanks! I’m glad you like the things I’ve shared. I don’t have a lot of guitar plans that I’ve made personally. Most of what I have was either done as a college assignment, or taken from another teacher’s ideas or sub plans. Some I found online. I think one of the keys for guitar is to have a clear plan, like a student book, that you can follow. I am not particularly good at guitar, but when I subbed at a high school for three weeks I had to run the guitar class. It was the beginning of the year and we started going through a book. Some weeks we took longer than others on the lesson in the book. I just had to be sure I understood everything in the book and stayed one step ahead of them! Also, if you’re going to teach guitar and aren’t very familiar with it, I would suggest taking a few lessons with a local teacher, and let them know you’re studying to be able to teach a class. I hope this helps!
Thanks for this wonderful site!
I just started on a similar adventure. The entire site is focused on Sight Singing in the Middle School years. Please check it out, and share if you wish!
Thanks again for such a fantastic compilation of great information!
I’m glad you like it! I initially wanted to create a site to help other music education majors (and beginning teachers) find useful information more easily.
I have a question not sure this is one for you but………. a young girl age 12 loves to dance…………she loves music…………she lives in Portland,OR — I want to get her a record………………she just got a record player- the old fashioned kind I was raised with………….her aunt gave it to her……..she likes Taylor Swift and Maria? Gomez as singers……….. she would like their type of music on a record – any size – is there a way to get a record made with their music or do you know of a record that might have music she can play on her record player that she might like??? I guess her grandpa gave her his old records but that isn’t her kind of music- she may not appreciate how good it is yet?? ? thanks <ary Jo
If unable to answer that is ok……..just came to mind as your email popped up here…..you might have suggestions for a gift of music for her..
Hi! Thanks for the question. I know there are machines that can transfer records/cassettes to CDs, and old movie reels to DVDs, so I would assume there is some way to do the reverse. You should ask at a local music store or look for a recording company to contact, they might know. If there is a big music store near you, like Guitar Center or Sam Ash, they might be able to recommend someone to you who can do that. Taylor Swift has a decent voice and can be a good gateway to more “refined” music and to opening your friend up to other styles. 🙂