Tips for Coping: The Music Educator and Stress
Citation: Radocy, Rudolf E. and George N. Heller. Tips for Coping: The Music Educator and Stress. Music Educators Journal, Dec. 1982, Vol. 69, No. 4.
Article Title: Tips for Coping: The Music Educator and Stress
Author: Rudolf E. Radocy and George N. Heller
Instrument: General Woodwind Pedagogy
Magazine or Journal Title: Music Educators Journal
Summary:
Article Title: Tips for Coping: The Music Educator and Stress
Author: Rudolf E. Radocy and George N. Heller
Instrument: General Woodwind Pedagogy
Magazine or Journal Title: Music Educators Journal
Summary:
- Music Educators
- One of the top 5 most stressful occupations
- Some teacher work themselves out; burned out with all the stress
- Understanding the cause and coping helps
- Causes
- Classroom management
- Large ensembles, with students who enjoy and don’t enjoy the class
- Classroom management
- Pushing themselves beyond physical and psychological stamina
- Energy to a nerve-racking job, lack of sleep, omitted meals
- Rewards often elusive or intangible
- Low salaries
- Preventing Stress
- Simple relaxation efforts; rubbing temples, rubbing neck
- Removing yourself from music for part of the day
- Physical activity can help dissipate stress
- Enthusiasm for work renewed with environmental change
- Leave the classroom for a while, redecorate
- Assessing one’s abilities and prospects is important for keeping your sanity
- Avoid situations where you are not fit or qualified, will only create more stress
- Professional growth can help take mind off of chaos
- Maintaining motivation
Saxophone Choirs
Citation: McDowell, Theodore R. Saxophone Choirs. The Instrumentalist, March 2008.
Article Title: Saxophone Choirs
Author: Theodore R McDowell
Instrument: General Woodwind Pedagogy
Magazine or Journal Title: The Instrumentalist
Summary:
Article Title: Saxophone Choirs
Author: Theodore R McDowell
Instrument: General Woodwind Pedagogy
Magazine or Journal Title: The Instrumentalist
Summary:
- Community Music Groups
- Many small quartets
- No regular sax choirs
- The Group
- Players of all ability levels joined
- Difficult to find bass and soprano sax players
- Many sax players often own more than one saxophone
- Might need a conductor for such a large group
- Wide number of sax ensemble works available
- Rehearsal space also difficult to acquire; find somewhere in the community
- Can perform or just for fun, communities sometimes sponsor them to play
- Very little opportunity to have a large sax ensemble on any given day
A Successful Woodwind Quintet Program
Citation: Fetters, Elizabeth Rusch. A Successful Woodwind Quintet Program. Double Reed, 2008, Vol. 31, No. 4.
Article Title: A Successful Woodwind Quintet Program
Author: Elizabeth Rusch Fetters
Instrument: General Woodwind Pedagogy
Magazine or Journal Title: Double Reed
Summary:
Article Title: A Successful Woodwind Quintet Program
Author: Elizabeth Rusch Fetters
Instrument: General Woodwind Pedagogy
Magazine or Journal Title: Double Reed
Summary:
- Her Quintet
- Made of public school music teachers and Army band musicians
- Created children’s program
- Children’s Quintet
- “Story Time with Quintour Winds”
- Play well know works as well as fun pieces for the audience
- Added narration to each piece; used poems or original stories
- Each member can narrate while the others play
- Helps to attract people to listen to standard works and come out to see the performance
- Performed
- In schools, local Barnes and Nobles
- Advocacy for the arts programs, reading programs and interactions and cross-curriculum between music and other disciplines
- Interested
- Reach out to your school, director, teachers
- Gains a lot of community support for the programs
- Additions will be made in the future
- Altering between narration and music helps audience enjoy a performance they can understand
- Introduce each instrument to the audience as well: encourages children to try these instruments and get involved with music in schools
Revisiting Teaching Strategies for Woodwinds
Citation: Koster, Keith. Revisiting Teaching Strategies for Woodwinds. Music Educators Journal, Mar 2010, Vol. 96, No. 3.
Article Title: Revisiting Teaching Strategies for Woodwinds
Author: Keith Koster
Instrument: General Woodwind Pedagogy
Magazine or Journal Title: Music Educators Journal
Summary:
Article Title: Revisiting Teaching Strategies for Woodwinds
Author: Keith Koster
Instrument: General Woodwind Pedagogy
Magazine or Journal Title: Music Educators Journal
Summary:
- Overview of the view of a music educator
- Treat all students the same, even if they play and instrument you have little knowledge of
- Use direct and indirect teaching to your advantage, not disadvantage
- Teach students to prepare and learn on their own, so they will not be entirely dependent on the teacher for everything
- Use experimentation in class to help them develop their skill and find what is best for the individual player
- Important aspects to remember when teaching woodwind instruments
- An open throat
- Airflow and support
- Use exercises to help build strength
- Give them appropriate material and resources they can use on their own
- Embouchure
- Exercises for developing a good embouchure
- Finding “sweet spot” for double-reeds and flutes
- Tuning
- Exercises are beneficial to develop a good ear and play with an ensemble
- Reeds and Mouthpieces
- Educate your students on care and selection processes
- Fingerings