Ashley Danyew

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014 - What Will You Learn This Summer?

Ashley Danyew

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014 - What Will You Learn This Summer? Ashley Danyew

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*Disclosure: I get commissions for purchases made through some of these links.

Hello, summer.

After a long winter and a cool spring, all it took was a few warm, sunny days and suddenly everything is lush and green. The azaleas and lilacs are blooming, the ferns have uncurled along the fence, and we’ve been enjoying quiet mornings and slow evenings on the porch whenever possible.

This can mean only one thing: It’s time for unit studies.

Now, bear with me here. When I was growing up, summer was a time for self-directed learning. That meant choosing a topic I was interested in learning about, taking trips to our local library, reading, writing, drawing, and making posters (my love language, really), and learning at my own pace.

Yes, I was that kid.

I guess it’s stuck with me through the years because even as an educator, I feel the shift from teaching to learning in the summer months. I feel the urge to read and write more, to be creative and try something new. To step out of my routine and study it a bit. To plan and create and prepare for the year ahead.

Perhaps you’ve heard me say it before, but I believe that taking time for reflection and evaluation is a healthy and productive way to check-in and stay engaged in your work. It provides a useful framework for planning and goal-setting and it's also a vital part of the learning process — taking the experiences you've had this past year, observing them from a new vantage point, and considering what you've learned and how this will affect your work in the future.

How have the events of the past few months changed us as teachers, as musicians? What will we do differently going forward?

In summer, I usually find myself reading about the creative process, catching up on online courses and webinars, and organizing content and teaching materials; I spend time researching new music and collections for my students, finding ways to develop my musicianship skills, and creating art (whatever it is that's inspiring me).

What about you? Do you find yourself drawn to being a learner again in the summer months? Do you read more or study a topic that’s interesting to you, learn a new skill, take a class, or try something creative?

This summer already looks a little different than normal: events have been canceled, trips have been postponed, and most of us find ourselves (still) staying home. But there’s a gift in that if we’re willing to receive it.

One of the things I love about summer is the slower pace: the invitation to create a new routine, a new rhythm, the opportunity to learn and work and rest at my own pace. And that hasn’t changed.

Looking for a few ideas for how to spend your time this summer? Here are a few things to explore:

Things to Explore This Summer

No. 1 - Music Study & Listening

Remember what it was like in college or grad school to have a listening playlist for your music history classes? A list of repertoire to study and learn, anthologies to mark up and analyze, and listening notes to help you prepare for the next exam?

There was something kind of nice about sitting down to listen to a piece of music with the score in front of you. Taking the time to learn the piece and understand how it was put together. Learning about each composer’s voice, their approach, the style period in which they were writing.

Summer, I find, is a great time to get back to some of this.

Create a playlist for yourself of pieces that you want to study and learn and listen to. Whether or not you have the scores in front of you, listen with a critical ear: listen to the instrumentation, the form, the articulation, the character. Listen to the key structures, the harmonic progressions, the use of color. What do you observe? What can you learn?

No. 2 - Reading

As I mentioned before, I often find myself reading books about the creative process during the summer months. Two years ago, I read Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley and David Kelley — a book I pulled off the bookshelf at a little lake house we were renting for a few days. Last summer, I read Zig-Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity by Keith Sawyer, which I talked about in Episode 011.

One of my favorite quotes from that book is this: “Never turn down a chance to learn something . . . . no authentic, thoughtful experience, no new glimmer of knowledge, is ever wasted.”

This summer, I want to read some books about pedagogy and teaching. I want to pull out my notes from grad school when I went to observe the teachers at the New School for Music Study in Kingston, NJ.

On my reading list is Frances Clark’s Questions and Answers, Richard Chronister’s A Piano Teacher’s Legacy, and Elvina Pearce’s The Success Factor in Piano Teaching.

What’s on your reading list?

No. 3 - Online Courses & Seminars

For many educators, summer often includes a conference of some kind. Whether you planned to travel out-of-state for a week or visit your local college for a Saturday workshop, many in-person events of this kind have been canceled this summer due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

However, there are still numerous opportunities to learn through online courses and seminars and even conferences.

Given the events of the past few months, I decided to do something new this summer: I'm teaching an online Summer 2020 Session for church musicians and music educators (think of it like those unit studies I was talking about at the beginning of the episode).

Curate your own learning experience by selecting from online seminars, mini-courses, and full courses on a variety of topics — all designed to help you lead, teach, and inspire others with creativity and confidence.

All courses and seminars will be taught asynchronously, meaning you can start whenever you’re ready and work at your own pace. I will be available inside the course platform to answer your questions and share ideas and suggestions as you work.

No. 4 - Creating

Last summer, I wrote a letter to my email subscribers about the experience of doing things I don’t normally do: sketching texts on the back of a boarding pass on a plane ride south, then setting them to music; reading a new piece with the Music Educators' Wind Ensemble at Eastman; sight-reading Brahms and Vaughan Williams in a community summer sing.

I remember recognizing that the more I dared to step into the realm of the unfamiliar, the more creativity I seemed to discover (or, is it uncover?).

NEW! 2020 Seminars ($29)

for children’s choir directors

45-minute online seminars (from Directing a Church Children's Choir 101) with built-in workshop time for you to put what you’re learning into practice.

Each seminar includes 2-3 in-depth lesson videos on the given topic and a collection of PDF worksheets with notes, resource links, and templates.

Early-Bird Discount: Save 15% on any seminar with code SUMMER (through 6/17/20).

Mini-Courses ($79)

for church music directors

2-hour online mini-courses designed to help you develop the essential leadership skills and teaching strategies you need to direct and lead your choir with creativity and confidence.

Early-Bird Discount: Save $10 on any mini-course with code DIRECTOR (through 6/17/20).

"Great launching pad for those starting a new choir as well as some great reminders and insightful ideas for the more experienced director."

"It was far above my expectations. I felt like we were taught every step we need to take to plan, prepare for and create a successful children's choir."

Full Courses ($159+)

for children's choir directors

Directing a Church Children’s Choir 101: A 4-week (or work-at-your-own-pace) online training course for children’s choir directors in church settings.

This course will equip you to lead, teach, and inspire your young singers and give you the practical skills and useful step-by-step processes you need to plan, direct, and teach on a weekly basis.

Available in three tiers:

  • Premium - video and audio lessons + a bonus module

  • Essentials - video and audio lessons

  • Lite - audio lessons only

Early-Bird Discount: Save $20 on any level with code SINGING

This is one of the things I love about summer — the chance to try something new, to do something you wouldn’t normally do. Pull out your art supplies and paint. Sit down for an hour and write. Try a new recipe. Sketch a portrait of your house or a picture of your favorite vacation spot.

Create for the sake of creating.

No. 5 - Sight-Reading & Practicing

I don’t know about you, but during the school year, it’s hard to find time to practice. Between lesson-planning and emails, looking for new music and planning performance opportunities, there’s not much time (or energy) left for your own practicing. But summer is a different story.

In summer, we can make time to get back to our instrument: To practice on a more regular basis, to sightread new music or brush up on scales and other technique exercises, to learn (or re-learn) a classical piece or pick out something by ear.

I believe this makes us better teachers, as it helps us remember what it’s like to be a learner.

Plus, it keeps our musicianship skills in shape!

No. 6 - Organizing

I like to think that I’m a pretty organized person, but inevitably, I get to the end of the school year and feel that something could be simplified or modified. That tracking document I created for my students wasn’t really helpful and I found myself in need of a different tool or spreadsheet that I didn’t have.

My goal is always to learn from these experiences and find new ways to organize content, musical materials, and teaching notes and simple ways to track student progress throughout the year.

A few tools I’m using right now that help me feel more organized:

  • Evernote: my virtual filing system for teaching notes, student repertoire, studio class plans, writing/reflection, webinar notes, and so much more.

  • Milanote: a new virtual pinboard (a cross between Evernote and Pinterest) for ideas, links, resources, and more.

  • Google Drive: home to all my online lesson recordings, recordings from students, and virtual studio class games, which I talked about in Episode 010.

What tools do you use to stay organized during the year? What have you found to be helpful when organizing your planning notes and tracking student progress?

I hope you take some time this summer to rest and recharge, but also to explore one or more of these things, whether it’s something musical, something creative, or some kind of professional development that will inspire and motivate you for the coming year.

Let me know what you’re learning this summer!

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