There is no question that music makes a significant contribution to the quality of human life and that music can play a valuable role in the learning of virtually all subjects taught in the elementary schools. Music for Elementary School Teachers is a concise, easy-to-understand book that covers the essentials of what future elementary classroom teachers need to know in the area of music. It emphasizes the cooperative-supportive role of elementary classroom teachers with music teachers and demonstrates how music can be used with other curricular and classroom activities to enhance and enrich the learning of all subjects. Furthermore, the text's comprehensive coverage is more than adequate for those teachers who find themselves responsible for all the music instruction their students will receive. Outstanding features include: Hoffer's presentation is easy to comprehend and is unintimidating for future classroom teachers who have had little music instruction themselves; the number of topics and the depth of coverage are in sync with what most future classroom teachers will use; many helpful suggestions on how to involve music with the teaching and learning of all subjects and with classroom management are valuable for both prospective and practicing teachers; the inclusion of "projects" and "review questions" ensures the maximum comprehension of the material presented in the text; "Skill Development" sections facilitate the learning of rudimentary skills in making music and understanding music notation and provide the opportunities to practice and perfect these skills; a variety of songs and other music complement the text and add to the enjoyment and ease of learning the material.

This book teaches the ideas behind adding chords to melodies. It begins with basic chords and progressions, and moves to more complex ideas. With an introduction and two appendices. Two CDs of additional material.

Opens a conversation about the life and work of the music teacher. The author regards music teaching as interrelated with the rest of lived life, and her themes encompass pedagogical skills as well as matters of character, disposition, value, personality, and musicality. She urges music teachers to think and act artfully.

Drawing on decades of teaching experience and the collective wisdom of dozens of the most creative theorists in the country, Michael R. Rogers's diverse survey of music theory--one of the first to comprehensively survey and evaluate the teaching styles, techniques, and materials used in theory courses--is a unique reference and research tool for teachers, theorists, secondary and postsecondary students, and for private study. This revised edition of Teaching Approaches in Music Theory: An Overview of Pedagogical Philosophies features an extensive updated bibliography encompassing the years since the volume was first published in 1984. In a new preface to this edition, Rogers references advancements in the field over the past two decades, from the appearance of the first scholarly journal devoted entirely to aspects of music theory education to the emergence of electronic advances and devices that will provide a supporting, if not central, role in the teaching of music theory in the foreseeable future. With the updated information, the text continues to provide an excellent starting point for the study of music theory pedagogy. Rogers has organized the book very much like a sonata. Part one, "Background," delineates principal ideas and themes, acquaints readers with the author's views of contemporary musical theory, and includes an orientation to an eclectic range of philosophical thinking on the subject; part two, "Thinking and Listening," develops these ideas in the specific areas of mindtraining and analysis, including a chapter on ear training; and part three, "Achieving Teaching Success," recapitulates main points in alternate contexts and surroundings and discusses how they can be applied to teaching and the evaluation of design and curriculum. Teaching Approaches in Music Theory emphasizes thoughtful examination and critique of the underlying and often tacit assumptions behind textbooks, materials, and technologies. Consistently combining general methods with specific examples and both philosophical and practical reasoning, Rogers compares and contrasts pairs of concepts and teaching approaches, some mutually exclusive and some overlapping. The volume is enhanced by extensive suggested reading lists for each chapter.

The complex art of conducting may look effortless to the casual onlooker, however, it requires a great deal of knowledge and skill. The success of a performance hinges on the director's ability to keep the group playing together and interpreting the music as the composer intended. The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Conducting Music shows student and novice conductors how to lead bands, orchestras, choirs, and other ensembles effectively through sight-reading, rehearsals, and performances.