Notes from the Staff
Conversations about music pedagogy, music theory, ear training, and music technology with members of the uTheory staff and thought leaders from the world of music education.
Episodes
Leah Sheldon shares tips for teaching intonation, even when working with beginning students.
Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Notes From the Staff In this opening chapter, Leah Sheldon and Greg Ristow introduce the podcast and its focus on music theory, ear training, and music technology. They invite listeners to engage with the show by sending comments and episode suggestions.
01:06 Leah’s Background in Music Education Leah shares ...
In this episode we explore the difference between just intonation and equal temperament, and take a field trip to learn about an organ with 15 keys per octave (instead of the usual 12), that makes it possible to play purely tuned chords in almost all of the keys.
Links:Tuning systems synthesizer: https://utheory.com/experiments/tuning-systems
Organ demo field trip video: https://youtu.be/A9Enpt8hREg
Chrome Music Lab: https://music...
In this episode, Greg Ristow and David Newman talk about the value and role of intervallic ear training, why it's time to move beyond Here comes the bride, and ways of teaching intervallic hearing that build fundamental skills for sight singing and dictation.
Links:Karpinski, Gary. "A Cognitive Basis for Choosing a Solmization System," Music Theory Online, Vol. 27, No. 2. June 2021. https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.21.27.2/mto.21.27....
David Newman and Greg Ristow chat about four ways to teach intervals in music theory, as well as how to overcome some of the challenges of teaching intervals.
Transcript
[music]
0:00:20.8 Greg Ristow: Welcome to Notes from the Staff, a podcast from the Creators of uTheory, where we dive into conversations about music theory, ear training, and music technology with members of the uTheory staff and thought leaders from the world of...
Dr. Paula Telesco walks us through some of the "gotchas" that come up when teaching accidentals, and shares some great musical examples for explaining concepts like enharmonic spelling, double accidentals, and cautionary accidentals.
Transcript
[music]
0:00:21.0 Gregory Ristow: Welcome to Notes from the Staff, a podcast from the creators of uTheory, where we dive into conversations about music theory, ear training and music tech...
Dr. Leigh VanHandel joins us to talk about the science of memory and learning, and how it can help us better structure our teaching. We also chat about her new book, the Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy, which recently received an Outstanding Multi-Authored Collection award from the Society for Music Theory, and about the Workshops in Music Theory Pedagogy series she coordinates.
Links:
Dr. Stefanie Dickinson joins us to share some of the music fundamentals games that she uses in her music theory classroom.
Links
Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy
Dr. Stefanie Dickinson’s page at UCA
The Power of Play with Jed Dearybury (Notes from the Staff Episode)
Dalcroze Solfege Games with Greg Ristow (Notes from the Staff Episode)
Show Notes
0:00:21.2 Introductions
0:02:27.1 Value of play in teach...
Dr. Melissa Hoag joins us to talk about ways we can make the teaching of music fundamentals musical, fun and effective. She shares tips from her chapter in The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy, and takes us through her list of six best practices for teaching music theory fundamentals.
Links- Melissa Hoag's faculty page at Oakland University
- The Routledge Companion to Music Theory Pedagogy, ed. Leigh VanHandel: https:...
Leah, David and Greg reflect back on favorite moments of first season of Notes from the Staff, and chat about coming features for uTheory.
Links: Show notes:0:00:00 Theme Song
0:00:20 Introductions
0:01:00 How David jumped in and sang a Mozart Requiem with Greg on 5 minutes notice
0:03:45 Reflecting on the 2022 Pedagogy in Practice conference
0:05:30 Favorite moments from season one of Notes from the Staf...
David Newman shares his music theory and aural skills teaching songs, as well as some of the stories behind them, in this laughter-filled episode of Notes from the Staff.
Links:The Well Trained Ear on BandCamp
Show notes:0:00:20 Introductions
0:02:03 How did you begin writing teaching songs?
0:03:48 David's most popular song: The Periodic Table Rap
0:11:00 Greg and Leah's favorite songs of David
0:11:46 Th...
Jed Dearybury, author of The Playful Classroom and The Power of Play for All Ages joins us to talk about how bringing play into classrooms--no matter the age or level--leads to deeper, more engaged and more joyful learning.
Links:Jed Dearybury’s webpage: https://www.mrdearybury.com/
The Playful Classroom: https://theplayfulclassroom.com/
Jed’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/mrdearybury
Jed's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/...
Dr. Megan Kaes Long of Oberlin Conservatory joins us to talk about the earliest system of Western solfege, hexachordal solmization, and recent trends in music theory pedagogy.
Links:Dr. Megan Kaes Long's Oberlin Faculty Page
Long, Megan Kaes. Hearing Homophony: Tonal Expectations at the Turn of the Seventeenth Century
Early Music Sources: Solmization in the 16th Century
Leah Sheldon shares tips for going beyond bake sales to build a sustainable fundraising model that can support a vibrant music program.
Like what you're hearing? Have topics you want to hear more about? Drop us a note at notes@utheory.com.
Show Notes:00:00: Introductions
03:28 What does the fundraising landscape look like these days?
04:00 Traditional fundraising: Sales and Raffles
06:00: How to choose the right time and the right...
Eurhythmics teaches music through movement, improvisation and play. In this episode, Greg Ristow shares some favorite games for teaching solfege drawn from the Dalcroze approach to music education.
Videos:Bodyfege for teaching solfege: https://youtu.be/ArVsGHZ8pTE
Doop Canon for teaching Quarter, Eighth, Half and Whole Notes: https://youtu.be/kj7tNtNHeVM
Links:Urista, Diane. The Moving Body in the Aural Skills Classroom
Rhythm counting systems: what they are, how we use them, and why might we choose one over another. We break down the plethora of approaches (including 1-e-&-a, Takadimi, Gordon, Kodály, and Orff) into groups, and share tips from our own experience teaching these from preschool to college.
Links:Free Printable Rhythm Resources on uTheory
Eastman/1-ti-te-ta Counting System
What is perfect pitch and why do some people have it when others don't? How does it work and is it possible to learn it? In this episode, Dr. Elizabeth West Marvin (Eastman School of Music, and an author of the Musician's Guide series of textbooks) answers these questions and more.
Links:Elizabeth West Marvin's Faculty Page at Eastman
Veteran music educator Denise Eaton shares a plethora of tips on how to teach sight singing in choral rehearsals, gleaned from her nearly thirty years of leading high school choirs. She's written down this approach in her SMART, STEPS, and InSIGHT sight singing books, which she created to help high school choral conductors like herself overcome the challenges of building independent musicians.
Links:
Denise Eaton's website: www.den...
Dr. Andrew Machamer joins us to talk about how to teach and build the skills students need to be successful sight readers, not just for contest, but for life.
Show Notes00:00 Intro
0:26 Welcome/Introductions
0:30 Introducing Andrew Machamer, Asst. Prof. of Music Education at Baldwin Wallace
1:45 What do you teach at BW? Band music ed. faculty, teach instrumental methods, woodwind methods, oversee student teaching placements and su...
- Greg: Note...
Leah Sheldon and Greg Ristow introduce a new podcast from the creators of uTheory.com.
Notes from the Staff features conversations about pedagogy, music theory, ear training, music technology and more. In our first episode, which lands Jan. 15, uTheory team member David Newman joins us to talk about solfege systems: what are they, why do we use them, and which one is best? In our second episode, Leah and Greg talk with Dr. Andrew M...
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