Author Archives: Meg

Growing up as a budding oboist, I vividly recall buying reeds that came in little plastic tubes or rectangular cases that, honestly, looked like little coffins. With oboe reeds generally costing much more than clarinet or saxophone reeds, it was always so important to keep them in playing condition for as long as possible inContinueContinue reading “Help Your Beginning Oboe Players STOP Breaking Reeds”

My band students are 9 and 10 years old. Sometimes it amazes me that at their age, they are able to carefully handle an instrument and everything that goes into learning how to play and maintain it. However, once the students have a handle on what to do with their instrument, they seem much moreContinueContinue reading “Practicing Procedures – Establishing Routines in the Beginning Band Classroom”

Today is Monday, and I didn’t go to school today. It can be very difficult to convince myself that I need to stay home from school (I’m sure you can relate to that!). This time, however, the doctor told me to take a day to recover. I imagine mine is a pretty common scenario: IContinueContinue reading “Teacher Self-Care – Are You Pouring From an Empty Cup?”

My husband is a GREAT cook. After yet another amazing meal that he prepared for dinner, I felt the urge to share the recipe. This shepherd’s pie was SO delicious – I don’t know what took me so long to realize how much I like this dish. Maybe because I’d never had it like this!ContinueContinue reading “Shepherd’s Pie Recipe”

The word “differentiation” has been popular amongst educators for several years, and even though we as music teachers feel we differentiate daily, it can be a struggle to effectively do so in a small-group setting. Depending on our schedule (or more accurately, our building’s schedule) we may see any combination of students in small-group lessons.ContinueContinue reading “Spotlight on Student Success – 5 Strategies for Differentiation in Instrumental Lesson Groups”