What makes learning formal or informal?

Often they’re presented as a dichotomy: Formal learning is learning that happens with a teacher in a structured environment and informal learning is learning that takes place out in the world, between peers, or things the student learns on their own.

In music, genre is often wrapped up in these distinctions. To generalize, classical music and sometimes jazz are taught and experienced in formal situations (like schools, lessons, and community ensembles), and pop, rock, and everything else are experienced in informal contexts (at home, in the car, with friends, in the garage band).

But can music learning be both formal and informal? What does that look like?

That's what we're going to talk about today.

It was 1997.

My piano teacher had just shown us a picture of Belle, Bonne, Sage, a rondeau about love written in the shape of a heart by 15th-century French composer, Baude Cordier. I studied the top two staves, curved to create the top of the heart, the illuminated letter B at the beginning of the first word, Belle, and the unique black-and-red notation.

This signaled the beginning of the annual studio-wide Valentine composition project.

Happy New Year!

The change in the calendar year reminds us that there are things in life that ebb and flow. There's comfort in that familiar rhythm, the cyclical nature of our seasons, our routines. What does the beginning of a New Year signify for you? What kind of season do you find yourself in these days?

I recognized recently that I am in a season of learning.

Of course, I am still actively teaching five days a week, but at the same time, I'm reflecting, jotting down stories and realizations at the end of the teaching day—things I'd like to do differently next time or things I didn't plan but observed or participated in that ended up teaching me something as well as my student.

Welcome, December: A month of parties and pageants, decorations and delight, twine-wrapped packages and twinkling lights.

In the midst of all the end-of-year festivities, I like to steal a few quiet moments for reflection:

• I make a list of all the books I read this year and what I want to read next year (look for the link to that in the show notes, if you're curious),

• I make an end-of-year summary for my business and send a spring calendar to my studio families,

• I write a year-in-review blog post, and

• I reflect on what I've learned as a teacher.

Taking time to reflect on our teaching practice is an important and necessary part of the teaching-and-learning equation. So today, I'm looking back on all the moments I documented on the podcast this year and sharing seven things I've learned as a music educator.