Site Mission and Goals

Life is like a roller coaster. It’s one wild ride, but worth every second.

Greetings and welcome to my blog! Thanks for reading and responding to reflections about music, music education, creativity, retirement, and other random but hopefully relevant topics!

The mission of this site is to share issues and ideas “from dawn to dusk” spanning a career in public school music teaching, including (but not limited to) its “inauguration” with strategies of preparing, marketing, interviewing, and landing a job, through to “graduation” – embracing a smooth transition to a happy and healthy retirement.

Never a lost for words, this activity fulfills my need to define, analyze, and offer solutions to problems in music education and to post my perspective gained from 35 years of teaching orchestra/strings, choirs, band. general music, music theory, and theater, as well as serving seven years as Performing Arts Curriculum Leader of the Upper St. Clair School District (Pittsburgh, PA).

This medium will also serve as a “vault” of my personal essays and past/current articles, many submitted for publication in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) state journal PMEA News.

Although geared to past, present, and future music teachers, the intended audience is anyone who values and supports creative self-expression and the nurturing and advancement of arts education.

With your help, I would like to explore numerous subjects:

Creativity in Education (creative teaching and teaching creativity)

• Creativity in education – Are we ready for a new paradigm shift? (MAIN PAGE)
• Creative teaching and teaching creativity – PART I – How creative are you? BLOG 8
• Creative teaching and teaching creativity – PART II – Definitions & rationale BLOG 9
• Creative teaching and teaching creativity – PART III – Creative techniques BLOG 10
• Arts advocacy: BLOG 12
• 52 creative tips to “supercharge” the school musical: BLOG 17
• Creativity in schools revisited: BLOG 24
• More creativity resources: BLOG 28
• If I were a school superintendent: BLOG 33
• Lessons in creativity: BLOG 37
• More lessons in creativity: BLOG 41
• Lessons in creativity III: BLOG 46
• ESSA, PDE, and lessons in creativity IV: BLOG 51
• What is the National Creativity Network? BLOG 58
• Lessons in creativity (part 5): BLOG 62
• Creativity thinking in music education: BLOG 83

Fox’s Firesides

• Does Practice Make Perfect? BLOG 54
• Where Are the Models, Mentors, and Motivators? BLOG 57
• Goals for the Musical Road to Success BLOG 60
• Pizza, batting averages, and the ten times rule: BLOG 67
• TEAM = Together Everyone Achieves More: BLOG 70
• Practice Journals Are “Notable” and the “Key” to Making Musical Progress: BLOG 76
• Summer or Anytime Music Enrichment: BLOG 84
• Daily Ten Minute Warmups: BLOG 88
• Auditions, Adjudications, & Screenings: BLOG 90
• Audience Etiquette and Manners Matter: BLOG 93
• Practice Tips on Becoming a Conductor: BLOG 95
• The Three “P’s” and One “B” of Success: BLOG 98
• Life Hacks for Musicians: BLOG 101

Marketing Professionalism (getting a music teacher job)

• The definition and “best practices” of professionalism: BLOG 2
• Unified philosophy of music education and avoidance of “specialization” in focus and teacher prep: BLOG 4
• Pre-interview preparation and marketing strategies: BLOG 6
• The “alphabet soup” of current educational jargon – terms, acronyms, and trends: BLOG 11
• S is for storytelling at interviews: BLOG 14
• Criteria for selection of the “ideal” school teacher candidate: BLOG 15
• A blueprint for success – Preparing for the job interview: BLOG 18
• The do’s and don’ts of interviewing: BLOG 20
• Planning the “perfect” professional portfolio: BLOG 22
• Tips on personal branding: BLOG 25
• All eyes on the job resume/music teacher resumes revisited: BLOG 27
• Becoming a music educator – the ultimate guide: MAIN PAGE
• Hints for the job search process: BLOG 30
• Interview questions revisited: BLOG 32
• Networking niceties – the how-to schmooze guide: BLOG 35
• Those tricky interview questions: BLOG 39
• 21st Century job search techniques: BLOG 43
• Ethics for Job Seekers: BLOG 45
• Happy Thanksgiving, newbies: BLOG 48
• Body Language & Interviewing for a Job: BLOG 52
• The PMEA State Conference Primer: BLOG 55
• inteREVIEWING the situation… and jobs: BLOG 59
• Dressing for success at teacher interviews: BLOG 63
• Ethics for Music Educators – Part I: BLOG 64
• Ethics for Music Educators – Part II: BLOG 65
• Ethics for Music Educators – Part III: BLOG 66
• Ethics Follow-up: BLOG 69
• Help! How Does One Keep Up? BLOG 72
• The Professional Website: BLOG 74
• Transitioning from Collegiate to Professional – Part I: BLOG 77
• Transitioning from Collegiate to Professional – Part II: BLOG 78
• Transitioning from Collegiate to Professional – Part III: BLOG 80
• Social Media – Boon or Nemesis? – BLOG 81
• Summertime Prep for Music Ed Majors: BLOG 85
• Ethical Conundrums Revisited – Part I: BLOG 87
• Ethical Conundrums Revisited – Part II: BLOG 91
• Stress, Burnout, and Stage Fright in College: BLOG 94
• “Top 10” Organizing Tips for 2019: BLOG 99
• A Collection of Collegiate Treasures: BLOG 100
• Tips on Student Teaching: BLOG 102

Retirement Resources (post-employment transitioning and living a healthy life)

• Tips on a smooth and well-prepared transition to retirement: BLOG 3
• Maintaining a balance of good health, exercise, & happiness in retirement: BLOG 5
• Advice from music teacher retirees to soon-to-be retirees: BLOG 7
• Happy trails, retirees! PMEA retired members rock-on: BLOG 13
• Retirement = reflection + renewal + altruism: BLOG 16
• What I Learned from My Dogs… in Retirement: BLOG 19
• It’s time to “dust off your chops” (join a community band/orchestra): BLOG 21
• Tips for retirees on managing stress during coming winter celebrations: BLOG 23
• Random acts and other resolutions: BLOG 26
• Retirement = deferred gratification: BLOG 29
• An engaged mind makes for a happy retiree: BLOG 31
• Downsized and out… coping with unexpected loss of a music teaching job: BLOG 34
• Sing your heart out, now and in retirement: BLOG 36
• Retired from what: BLOG 38
• Three exit lanes to self-help retirement guides: BLOG 40
• Post-employment prep – new places to go: BLOG 42
• Reflections on the glory days: BLOG 44
• Is it autumn: BLOG 47
• PMEA in retirement: what’s in it for me? BLOG 49
• Act well your part; there the honor lies: BLOG 50
• How retirement has changed me: BLOG 53
• Pet Ownership and Retirement: BLOG 56
• Seniors helping seniors: BLOG 61
• New dreams and horizons… self-realization – the key to resolving retirement conundrums: BLOG 64
• T-Minus Three Years… and Counting – Countdown to a Smooth and Satisfying Retirement: BLOG 68
• How Retirement Has Changed Me… Revisited: BLOG 71
• Retiree Concepts – Random Terms Re: Retirement Transitioning: BLOG 73
• Retirement… It’s a Private Matter: BLOG 75
• On the Road Again: BLOG 79
• Social Media – Boon or Nemesis? – BLOG 81
• Unique Retiree Resources: BLOG 82
• The Myths of Retirement: BLOG 86
• WHERE Should You Retire: BLOG 89
• Retiring “Against Your Will” BLOG 92
• One Retiree’s “Tech Rant” BLOG 96
• Resolutions for Retirees: BLOG 97
• “Top 10” Organizing Tips for 2019: BLOG 99
• Unconditional Love (Dogs!): BLOG 103

You are encouraged to peruse this additional FREE online resource: Pennsylvania Music Educators Association http://www.pmea.net/retired-members/

Comments are welcomed! I invite you to “join in the fun” and submit your thoughts!

Music makes the world go round and round!

PKF