Music
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Playing Piano and the Brain
When I taught piano, I noticed something about my students’ learning. The first two years were easy and a student got satisfaction quickly from playing recognizable melodies. Year three, however, separated the long-term gain students from the others. Pieces are more difficult at this point and practice time is lengthier than 15 or 20 minutes a day. Continue reading
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Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity
When I teach science, I look for opportunities to integrate the arts because the arts are means of expression for everyone. To me, it doesn’t matter if you know much about classical music. It’s more important to use music and help others to enjoy it by making direct connections with other disciplines. You can do Continue reading
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Haydn for Happiness
Introduce a little classical music that washes your children with happiness. One piece from Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Surprise Symphony” (No. 94 in G) may sound familiar to you and your children, which makes listening to it even more fun. Part of the happiness comes from Haydn’s surprise sounds written in this piece. Some of it is that Continue reading
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Teacher-Learner Leonard Bernstein
Many educators believe that teaching and learning are the same—two sides of the same coin. It’s because when we teach, we learn and when we learn, we teach. For example, when you teach a math topic you know well, and then have students pick it up in different ways, we learn more about how we Continue reading
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