As a college student and music educator, I crave feedback from master teachers and experts in the field of music education. I have long wished for a forum which will bring masterful mentors and beginning teachers together in an online community not bound by regional boundaries. I am excited for the development of the “blog age,” as more and more qualified teachers become part of this digital revolution in feedback and mentorship.
I invite you all to read Intelligent Music Teaching: Essays on the Core Principles of Effective Instruction by Robert A. Duke. We recently read and discussed this collection of essays as part of a music educators forum at Concordia College-Moorhead.
Robert Duke is a Professor in Music and Human Learning and the Director of the Center for Music Learning at the University of Texas at Austin. His clear and concise writing describes the processes by which successful teachers teach- including his thoughts on assessment, sequencing instruction, feedback, and transfer. Professor Duke’s straight-forward writing coupled with scientific research regarding human learning stimulated my own thoughts regarding the processes by which we teach and more importantly, how we learn. This is a must read for all educators- while the content is often music-specific, it has powerful implications for all human learning.
