About

When I was young the school band was essentially my entire life. At times in high school it was the only thing that kept me from dropping out altogether! It came as no surprise to anyone when I decided to pursue music education in college and become a school band director myself. After an amazing experience at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC I had the honor of student teaching with David S. Albert of the Leesville Road High School Band and then becoming the band director at the middle school in my home town. Along the way I picked up some experience with early childhood and elementary general music, but band has always been my primary passion.

In the end life (and marriage!) forced me to leave the middle school band job I loved and search for a gig in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. Now here I am teaching music at a public preschool in the area, looking constantly for ideas that work. Some of my favorite activities are high tech and super-stimulating, and some of my favorites are also old-fashioned and involve little more than me, some kids, a guitar and all of our voices. I think music educators (and all educators!) need to embrace the past, present and future and grab hold of ideas that WORK, no matter how much or how little technology is involved.

3 Comments »

Geejay Arriola Said,

May 18, 2008 @ 7:26 am

Hi Martha,

Thanks for leaving a comment in my writeup “Art Equals Peace.” I’d like you to know that I also included you in my blogroll as I find YOU and your site fascinating.

May your tribe increase!

Geejay
Kyle Weary Said,

November 10, 2008 @ 7:06 am

I LOVE your peter and the Wolf notebook page, I have a question, where did you get the FLASH program to do the matching? I am trying to use that idea for other activities, but there isn’t anything on Smart Notebook like it, and I can’t find it anywhere else…please email me!

Kyle
Laura Said,

January 30, 2009 @ 9:08 am

I’m a musician and former teacher and I really appreciate your blog. Thanks for writing!

If you haven’t already seen it, you should check out the new PBS show, Lomax, the Hound of Music:

http://www.pbskids.org/lomax

Inspired by renowned music educator John Feierabend’s “First Steps in Music” curriculum, Lomax was created by John Feierabend and the award-winning creators of Between the Lions to provide scientifically-based music education to children aged three to seven.

It’s a wonderful show (my 3-year old and 6-year old love it!) and there is some great info and teaching tools on the PBS website. There’s also a Facebook Fan page and a MySpace page too:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lomax-The-Hound-of-Music/40782977775

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=447139897

I’d love to hear what you think of the show!
laura