My name is Joel and I am a recovering band dork. Actually, to use the term “recovering” would imply that I am overcoming it or trying to be less band dorky, neither of which are the case. I still am, but now I get paid to do it, which is definitely a good thing. Along those lines, I came across a few videos on YouTube the other day that I just couldn’t pull myself away from. I wanted to go tweet them out to all of my followers on Twitter (follow @sywtt), but then I realized that most of my followers aren’t music-types so the takeaway they might get would be minimal. [Read more...]
The ‘Little Voice’-Dealing with Doubt
03/23/10 By 2 Comments
While I try to keep all the content here at MusicEdMajor.net original in nature, there are times when someone else posts content that is so perfect for Music Education Majors that I choose to share it here on the site. This is one of those cases.
Over the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of getting to meet Brian Wis (@teaching_music), a public school music teacher who has begun a blog entitled “Teaching Music in the 21st Century.” Brian recently posted an article that has particular significance to future music educators. The article focuses on what Brian calls “the Little Voice,” and the doubt it can plant in our minds as to whether music education is the right profession for all of us:
When it comes right down to it, being responsible for educating hundreds or even thousands of children over a career can be a scary proposition. Music education majors are so busy taking so many classes (for so little credit) that the future isn’t something they have had much time to think about. So I believe that there are periods of anxiety that arise whereby entering the profession feels completely wrong. We all went through it, in fact I’ve started to think that the more you’ve worried about it, the better teacher you might become. It’s ironic to say the least, but sensing the responsibility can seem too much to bear, yet being able to sense it is integral to becoming an effective teacher.
Brian goes on to discuss some of the reasons that this “Little Voice” seems so loud to many of us, and why we should not succumb to it. This is an issue that I know many future music educators deal with, myself included. I strongly encourage you check out the rest of Brian’s article, and the rest of his great posts:
Music Education Majors: Stifling The Little Voice [Teaching Music in the 21st Century]
Have you dealt with doubt before as a music education major? Have you gotten past it? If so, how? If not, what steps have you tried?