Happy 2016! Well it’s all about social media now, so to celebrate the start of a new year Noteable now has a new Pinterest page! There are boards about all sorts of fun stuff: TED talks, Music games, Free resources, Composition, Teaching performance, Conducting – you name it – It’s on a board!!! Come and have a look. […]
It’s that time when we rev ourselves into action and make big plans for the coming year. The aim is to achieve! Or at least have a sense of purpose and not just get buffeted about by the year and lunge from one drama to the next. Goal setting is a great thing to do with […]
So we all know what ‘man-spread’ looks like.The phrase was coined to by people trying to get a seat on the train when some guy is sitting with his legs so spread out he takes up two seats!! Grrrrr. It turns out that this ‘taking up space’ that is perfectly natural to some people (not […]
This year I started to play the viola. I am naturally a trombonist. I have been amazed at how my brain works or actually doesn’t work while trying to learn this completely new instrument. Luckily I have a very patient teacher because I think it is safe to say I am not gifted. I think […]
The Noteable Blog! Introducing our new blog. From now on articles and ideas will be shared with you once a week through our blog. You can access them through the website or facebook. If you don’t want to miss one then sign up under one of the blogs on the website and they will be […]
I have many sneaky teacher tricks that I am a bit too proud which work brilliantly to get my message across to students. This one is based around the simple placement of the end of the period, preferably with a nice long gap before the next class. I’m talking about getting students to ask how […]
Music teachers usually end up conducting something. Even if we hate it, we are still expected to be able to do it to some degree. I used to think I was pretty damn good at it. I have conducted excellent school ensembles, youth orchestras, big bands and community groups. As I say – I used […]
I love teaching performance but it has taken me a while to nut out exactly what I need to teach. To be honest I used to think it was mostly the instrumental teacher’s job and that I should just encourage students to keep up the practice. Well that was my excuse for not really being […]
I love group composition lessons! Not only are they fun for both student and teacher but they have got me out of some sticky situations. Here are some examples (these things never happen to anybody else – do they??) Your school has a new ‘integrated learning’ plan so each subject has to teach the same […]