After 40 years of teaching, I thought I had seen, heard, or thought of it all. I was wrong. I took Alison's introductory course of Musical Minds out of curiosity and was amazed to find that it had me thinking about teaching the violin from a very different angle. Alison's resume shows she has achieved high levels of training not only in the piano and the violin (which is already quite an achievement), but also in dance, eurythmics, and other disciplines. She incorporates and integrates all of these into her highly original courses which would be of great benefit to anyone who takes them. Her holistic approach to learning a musical instrument will ensure that students take more responsibility for their own music education and enjoy doing so as well. I highly recommend her courses to anyone who loves music and loves teaching it. Her curriculum will make your teaching life a lot easier and more joyful. -- Eloise Hellyer Violin Teacher Life Coach blog: www.violinteachersblog.com
Eloise Hellyer
I have read countless books on teaching artistry and attempted to better myself as a player and artist by taking extra lessons and doing much observation. Still, there was no single volume, approach, or cohesive presentation of material in one place that addresses the development of the complete musical artist in the comprehensive way that Musical Minds does. Here you will find the relationship to gesture and movement, poetry and rhyme, art and architecture, and musical context that is sorely lacking in our field. What Alison has done with this work is to distill the best of her extensive educational background and experience, along with her vast curiosity and scholarship, into useable and practical help for teachers and parents alike, in an appealing and accessible way. It is a great gift to all of us who care about our children’s creative development, not just as instrumentalists, but as human beings who value all the arts, and who may then develop their own creative voices as human beings not only in music, but in all their future endeavors. ~Alicia Randisi-Hooker, cellist and teacher
Alicia Randisi-Hooker
I took part in the introductory course for Musical Minds and am just now finishing Course Level 1. I have to say, before I started the introductory course, I was skeptical. I have been a cello teacher in Germany for over 25 years. I have a system that works. Kids make progress. But I’d been feeling a little bit as though I could stand to make things more fun. I felt pedantic. After beginning the introductory course, I realized that what Alison has delved into to come up with Musical Minds is exactly what I could use to enrich my lessons, make them more fun, more accessible to children, more inspiring. Did I say more fun?? I’ve become inspired to examine sources I have in German and began using them right away. My students were immediately receptive and began taking what I had shown them and applied it to other things. And that is what Musical Minds is all about! Inspiring young people to find and recognize musical elements in many different sources whether they recognize them immediately as such or not. They are simply soaking it up. Alison presents things in such a natural way for children. Musical Minds is like planting little seeds and then watching them sprout, grow, form flowers and fruit. I’m SO glad I’ve gone down this lovely path!! Carol Werbow-Schier, cellist and teacher
Carol Werbow-Schier