Not my job.

The answer is “I don’t know why they can’t ________, we covered that in class.” Now, more importantly, what was the question? Too often, music educators utilize this answer to a myriad of questions about why their students could not, would not, don’t, or can’t demonstrate a vital component of “musicianship” on demand. Unfortunately, the real question should be about whether that lesson really “covered it in class.”

When lessons are taught, understanding should be our goal (of course, that does not mean memorization). Allowing students the opportunity to engage with the material in relevant (to their own lives) and multi-perspectival ways is vital for students to continue developing understanding of that material (with both breadth and depth). Read more of this post