Pedagogy
How to Teach a Child to Read Music at Home
A gentle, sound-first way to teach a child to read music at home, even if you don't read it yourself: what to teach first, in what order, and why writing helps.
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Reflections on composition, teaching, and the craft of music
A gentle, sound-first way to teach a child to read music at home, even if you don't read it yourself: what to teach first, in what order, and why writing helps.
How homeschool parents award a high school fine arts credit in music: what counts, how many hours make a credit, what to call the course, and what to keep.
Receive new reflections on composition and the craft of music.
Music curriculum is usually an eligible ESA expense. What education savings accounts cover, the paperwork your file needs, and how to submit it simply.
Homeschool music programs teach very different things. The four main kinds of music curriculum, what each gives your child, and how to choose the right one.
You don't need to read music to teach your child to compose. How children learn to write music at home, what the parent does, and where to begin.
The composers who score blockbuster films, the jazz pianists who reharmonize standards, the singer-songwriters who make you cry at the bridge — they all drew from the same well. The craft has one foundation.
Conservatories, video masterclasses, and private instruction each have a legitimate place in a composer's education — and each has real limits. Between them sits a gap: a rigorous practice system, available anywhere, that demands you write every day.
A student can define an authentic cadence, explain a suspension, and describe the rules of first-species counterpoint — and still write nothing usable. This is not a talent gap. It is a practice gap, and it has a name.
The internet is full of shortcut frameworks and ten-tip lists for writing better music. Mastery is built differently — through sustained practice of the same disciplines that trained Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms.
Most students cannot afford a private composition teacher. The critique Maestro provides is what the student should be getting between lessons — specific, analytical, and grounded in the actual score they wrote.
Most music education teaches students to identify chords and label forms, then calls this composition. It is not. Knowing the name of a thing and being able to do it are two entirely different skills.