Curriculum Review
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but one of my aspirations as a music educator is to one day (in the distant future!) develop, design, and write curriculum or teaching resources to share with other educators. I love research and writing almost as much as I love teaching! I realize that one can never know it all, but I do want to get several years of teaching under my belt before I start seriously pursuing anything of this nature. I’m not sure how many people would be interested in books about teaching written by a twentysomething with less than a year’s experience in the school system 
I do, however, believe in starting early! I decided that if I’m going to develop any type of music curriculum or even music education resources, I need to see what is out there first. I need to do my homework. In my reading cue for the next couple of months:
- ”Teaching Towards Musical Understanding” by Amada Montgomery
- “Play, Sing, and Dance: An Introduction to Orff Schulwerk” by Doug Godkin (I also plan to take some Orff level courses in the near future, they do not offer them very often in my area!)
- Several articles related to different philosophies of Music Education
Any other suggestions?
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“Learning Sequences in Music” by Edwin Gordon is a must-read. It’s definitely on the academic side, though, so you may want to follow it up with “The Ways Children Learn Music” by Eric Bluestine. Then go back and read Gordon again…it will make a lot more sense. Gordon’s book on Rhythm is also a bit “out there”, but really makes one question why we learned and continue to teach rhythmic concepts the way that we have. I can’t find that book on Amazon now though…
You mentioned Orff, which is great…you may also want to read something on the Kodaly approach. Look for anything written by Lois Chosky.
Bennett Reimer is who you want to read when it comes to Philosophy of Music Education. You may be tempted to read David Elliott, who at one time was Reimer’s student. All I have to say on that is this: if you do decide to read Elliott, be sure to read Reimer first…especially Reimer’s 2nd edition of “Philosophy of Music Education” (but be sure to read the 3rd edition too…it’s quite different).
Assessment must be an integral, not separate, component of curriculum and instruction. Be sure to read “Assessing the Developing Child Musician” by Timothy Brophy.
For an example of a practical curriculum based in Gordon’s Music Learning Theory, you may want to take a peek at John Feierabend’s “Conversational Solfege”. Better yet, go see Dr. Feierabend at a conference near you.
Finally, for some literal soul-searching and reflective practice, read James Jordan’s trilogy: “The Musician’s Soul”, “The Musician’s Spirit”, and “The Musician’s Walk”.
That should keep you busy for a little while!