It is definitely the catalog season for music teachers. Today I got the Sweet Pipes catalog (all things recorder) and I got pretty excited when I opened it up to the first page. Chris Judah-Lauder has come out with a new recorder curriculum for beginning students which has pdf and powerpoint files. It's called Recorder Success, and I think I will be making a purchase this week. She also has a book called Recorder Games, also with pdfs and powerpoints of short activities.
I know that I the curriculum I have been using and adapting is quite adequate and great for teaching beginning recorders, but I am ready for something new and different. Perhaps these lessons will supplement what I already do and not completely replace my tried-and-true ways.
I am also looking ahead to teaching beginning strings and this year I think I am going to put a notebook together of ideas from Paul Rolland's The Teaching of Action in String Playing. I have been watching the videos and reading the book. Last year I implemented the use of the Bunny Bow Hold chart where each student fills in a grid of 100 squares, one square for each time they make the right hand into the correct bow shape (bunny with ears sticking up) before ever holding the bow. This year I am going to add the Shoulder Shelves chart to the violin and viola students to get them to hold the instrument correctly. I will need to consult with my cellist friend about what to do for cellists....
This really is the New Year for me, not Jan. 1. I love the anticipation of a new school year!
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