Category: Podcast

Dare I say that a positive student teacher relationship is even MORE important than teaching music skills? You may not agree totally with that statement, but you have to agree it is an important piece in the puzzle.

In this episode I share 5 strategies that have worked for me, several for over 20 years. As a music teacher, you have a great opportunity to influence a student’s life (for the good or bad). Choose good.

I would love it if you would consider supporting this work of love at www.patreon.com/themusicedpodcast. Your support would help take this podcast to the next level.

I highly recommend Harry Wong’s The First Days of School.

When beginner trumpets have a hard time changing partials, it’s almost always about the air. We as music educators know what we want the students to do, but they often don’t understand what we are asking.

In this episode I share more than six tips to help your trumpet players change partials. It’s also effective with other brass players.

Has this podcast been a help? It’s a labor of love for me. I’ve been doing it for seven years for free. There are some costs involved. Would you consider supporting the podcast for as little as $5/month? Go to www.patreon.com/themusicedpodcast.

This was my first year back teaching beginning band after a 14 year hiatus while I taught at a suburban high school. My first experience 14 years ago was at a prestigious private school where the students and parents all seemed to care and were on their best behavior. Now I’m at an urban school. My how things are different!

It took persistence and consistency over a six week period, but the students are finally where I want them to be (well, 42 of the 43 are). You’re often going to have an outlier on whom nothing seems to work. He spends most of his time in the hallway. We have a conference scheduled with his guardians. Not saying it as an excuse, but he has had a difficult life thus far.

In this episode I share some strategies that have worked for me. Try them. They may work for you. Just remember, each situation is different. I saw a post on a media site about this same problem. Some teachers answered “All I have to do is threaten to call home.” That was my same strategy when I was at the private school.

It helps if you have a very supportive admin, which I do.

If this podcast has been a blessing to you, would you consider supporting us at www.patreon.com/themusicedpodcast?

My rehearsal time looks completely different starting my 22nd year than it did when I first started out. I find myself devoting more and more time to fundamentals. Join me as I share tips for how I structure my rehearsal time, and join me as a supporter on Patreon. You’ll get some cool free things as a thank you.

Traditions are such an important part of every band program, and traditions need to be unique to you and your school. When I started at one of my schools, they only had one tradition, and it was terrible! It was hard for me to continue it, but I needed to just for one year.

Would you consider supporting us on Patreon? Your support will help bring this free podcast to the next level and enable me to continue to make it available.

Canon City Music and Blossom Festival

The dreaded “I want to switch instruments.” Although there are occasionally legitimate reasons for kids switching instruments, most of the time you have to become a psychologist and dig deep to find the “real” reason. You are a coach! Here are ten tips to help you out.

Even more dreaded is when students say they want to switch to drums! I covered that in Episode 123.

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Join me as I interview Marc Gelfo, musician and creator of the Modacity Practice App – an all inclusive practice aid that also includes a recorder and drone.

Find out more and download the app at www.modacity.co. Questions about the app? Contact the team at hello@modacity.co.

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I had never heard Baby Shark until recently when my six month old grandson came over for a visit. He did not like being in the car so my daughter sang this and many other songs to him. I became an expert at it. It’s a fun – albeit annoying – song that your students may enjoy learning, and it’s easy to teach by rote, incorporating some theory and scales into your lesson. Have fun!

Director language is so full of fun similes and colorful language. The most fun ones are those that spill out in the spur of the moment. These are my favorite top ten uttered by me and others.

It’s hard to eat properly as a band director. If you’re not careful you will find yourself eating a lot of fast, unhealthy food. I once weighed thirty pounds more than I do right now. In this episode, I share tips for easy healthy meals that have worked for me and others.

A good substitute teacher will be able to handle the class even if you didn’t leave lesson plans. The best substitute – if you can find one – is a retired music educator you know and trust. In this episode, I share four tips for how to handle the situation after things went band and seven tips for PREVENTION, which is much better. Here’s the link to Episode 75, which explains how to use the Student Led Rehearsal: http://www.jamesdivine.net/2017/01/18/episode-75-student-led-rehearsal/

Oh how I hate walking into the rehearsal room and finding out some equipment has been damaged on purpose. I usually find myself trying to control my temper, which is usually in control. I also find myself having to be careful not to issue a mass punishment (something I detested as a student).

I have burned out TWICE! The second time wasn’t nearly as severe. Both times I had to make changes in my life because I want to last in this field a long time. In many ways, our field is very dysfunctional. In this podcast I share six small ideas that have helped me to avoid burnout.

Disclaimer: View movies yourself before showing them to your students. Check your school or district’s policy on showing movies. In my opinion, movies are best reserved for bus trips or special viewing events rather than replacing a rehearsal, Also, I think they work best when combined with discussion and reflection. I have included some of those ideas in the podcast.

In this episode, I share 7 tips for how you can get your students to be a GREAT audience. In tip #1 – my story – I share a tip that has been extremely successful for over a decade for me.

We all develop those ideas – those hacks – that make our jobs much easier. In this episode I share 12 of them – most that I have used myself and a few I’m going to try soon. See the pictures of some of the hacks at www.jamesdivine.net.

The students get bored. I get bored. But we need to review the exercises we’ve worked on. Here are some tips to make the review a little more interesting.

This is THE question I hate the most as a teacher. I’m very strict with it and my policy is “No/Never.” I also want to answer like my 5th grade teacher did…”Yes you can, but you may not.” Oh how I hated that. Here are some strategies for dealing with this age old question.

When tragedy strikes the band room, either through accident, natural causes or suicide, how do you handle the grief? Is it ok to cry in front of students? What about counseling? A few years ago we had several tragic events in a row at my school. Here are some ideas for dealing with it and processing it. And please get help!

Do you ever feel like you are teaching a STADIUM full of students? There are tips to manage them a little better. Join me as I share 11 tips that I and others have used to make teaching a large group of beginners more manageable.

Don’t you hate when parents are late picking up their kids? You are ready to leave and go home yourself, maybe to your own family, but you are stuck waiting. Be careful not to react in anger because sometimes the lateness is legit. Follow these tips.

What should you do when students are dating each other? Ignore it (not completely)? Freak out (no)? Try these band director tested tips and remember that I married my high school sweetheart who happened to be in the guard in our marching band! We’ve been married almost 32 years, raised 4 kids and now have six grandkids.

In Colorado, music teachers are certified as K-12 music. But just because we are certified, does not mean we feel qualified.

This year, I transferred to a Title I school and moved from teaching high school band to middle school orchestra. I learned a lot of things the hard way. If you find yourself in the same position, listen to this podcast for some tips on what to do about tuning, when to introduce bowing, how about assessment and many other topics.

Geared for the non-strings player who finds himself teaching strings!

You can do it!

If this is the problem you have at your school, count your blessings! In this episode I discuss some tips on what you might do. Whatever you do, DON’T haphazardly throw old trophies away. You might be driven out of town, and not in a limo.