From 2018–2020, I completed the coursework for Boston University's Doctor of Musical Arts degree in music education. In a 2023 post, I reflected on my learning and dissertation process www.burtonhable.com/blog/bu-dma

Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education at Boston University — Maker Music

In the Fall of 2018, I began Boston University's  Online Doctor of Musical Arts in Music Education . We moved to Charlottesville in 2018 for my wife's position at the University of Virginia, and ...

burtonhable.com

Taking a break from my regularly scheduled programming of highlights from my blog to share: I'm assisting with a workshop in the soundLab—a music makerspace at Duquesne University—with Paul Miller and Michael McMaster. We're using microcontrollers and distance sensors to create and manipulate sound!

From a Bulletproof Musician podcast with Dr. Robert Duke: how people learn through experiences www.burtonhable.com/blog/how-lea...

How Learning Really Works — Maker Music

The other day, I finished Noa Kageyama’s (performance psychologist, Bulletproof Musician)  podcast  with  Robert Duke  (Head of Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas ...

burtonhable.com

In Spring 2022, I recorded a podcast episode with @covingtonedu.bsky.social of @humanrestorationproject.org about my dissertation research and how making and constructionism can inform music education www.burtonhable.com/blog/hrp-pod...

On Constructionism, Makerspaces, & Music Education — Maker Music

At the end of March, I recorded  an episode  with my good friend,  Nick Covington , for his podcast with the  Human Restoration Project . Nick and I were students together at Anken...

burtonhable.com

I spent a long time fussing over how to organize, process, take notes, and ultimately utilize scholarly work in my Masters Project and Dissertation. I think I am finally getting to a flow that works for me burtonhable.com/blog/academi...

Academic Workflows — Maker Music

Throughout my  masters  and  doctoral  programs, I had a need for (1) software to organize all of the scholarly literature I was reading, and (2) a method for taking and organizing...

burtonhable.com

Researchers looked at how maker activities engaged STEAM disciplines. 4 of the 60 sampled activities engaged music. The authors discussed implicit vs. explicit engagement and the implications of arts integration in maker learning www.burtonhable.com/blog/steam-m...

Implementing STEAM in Maker-Centered Learning — Maker Music

Continuing in my series of unpacking scholarly articles around making, I read Clapp and Jimenez’s ( 2016 ) “Implementing STEAM in Maker-Centered Learning.” The researchers analyzed making activities f...

burtonhable.com

The Maker Movement in Education was three things: a symposium of journal articles, a case study of 3 makerspaces, and my first introduction into the world of making. This was also my first attempt at unpacking scholarly work for a music education audience www.burtonhable.com/blog/maker-e...

The Maker Movement in Education — Maker Music

The primary catalysts to my interest in makerspaces were twofold: First, a discussion about how Albemarle County Public Schools have approached implementing makerspaces in  Timeless Learning &n...

burtonhable.com

One more @covingtonedu.bsky.social rec: The Book of Learning and Forgetting frames a lot of how I think about learning www.burtonhable.com/blog/book-of...

The Book of Learning and Forgetting — Maker Music

In this “Spring Break” between my  Psychology & Sociology  and Music Theory courses, I decided to read a book recommended to me by my friend,  Nick Covington , Frank Smith’s  ...

burtonhable.com

Teaching as a Subversive Activity (1969) is another @covingtonedu.bsky.social rec. In the authors' words: We believe that the schools must serve as the principal medium for developing in youth the attitudes and skills of social, political, and cultural criticism www.burtonhable.com/blog/subvers...

Teaching as a Subversive Activity — Maker Music

Over the break between my Fall II 2018 and Spring I 2019 terms in my  BU Doctor of Musical Arts , I have been reading Neil Postman and Charles Weingartner’s  Teaching as a Subversive Activi...

burtonhable.com

Timeless Learning kickstarted my interest in makerspaces. Little did I know, the authors were writing about making in schools in my backyard! Thanks to @covingtonedu.bsky.social for the recommendation www.burtonhable.com/blog/timeles...

Timeless Learning: How Imagination, Observation, and Zero-Based Thinking Change Schools — Maker Music

In my week off between courses in my DMA program, I began reading Timeless Learning: How Imagination, Observation, and Zero-Based Thinking Change Schools by Ira Socol , Pam Mor an , and Cha d R...

burtonhable.com

From 2014–2017, I wrote quite a bit about Education in Iowa: start dates, educational funding, and collective bargaining to name a few. While the conversations have changed due to vouchers, a lot of the arguments still resonate with what is going on today

After 4 years of teaching, I decided to go back to school to re-learn everything I didn't pay attention to in undergrad. VanderCook is THE place for the practical application of teaching music. While things have likely changed in the past 10 years, I wrote a lot about how the program changed me

Many times after attending a conference, I would reflect in my blog: Iowa Bandmasters Association, PLC at Work Institute, Virginia Music Educators Association, and Arts Education Research Methods Summit. Rather than post them individually, here is a link to all my conference reflections

While Common Core is (mostly) out the door, this continuing-ed elective at VanderCook sparked some great thinking about integrating music with math and language arts, teacher evaluations, and student learning objectives.

While I was teaching in Ankeny, the K–12 music teachers decided to teach rhythmic and tonal literacy using takadimi and solfege. Back in 2014, I wrote about how we were using the systems in our rehearsals and lessons.

The first of many posts on my old blog discussed how we were doing 6–12 Band in Ankeny. In the relaunched version, I've compiled those posts into a description and reflection of how we were teaching vertically in a standards-based system

While I'll keep tweaking things for awhile, I am excited to relaunch my website! I want to create a resource for (music) educators interested in maker activities while continuing to share my reflections and thoughts on education.

This shift in thinking has HUGE implications for the standards-based, PLC paradigm, and I think it is critically important. As a music educator, I want my students to be able to independently solve musical problems. “Knowing” a body of literature will help that, but it won’t get them there alone.

Nick Covington@covingtonedu.bsky.social · 3mo ago

With massive implications for instructional design: not necessarily starting with "what do I want students to know" but "what habits, people, places, practices, dispositions, and experiences should students learn *from*?" And how does the current organization of those experiences stack up? 😬

Erica Halverson discussing learning as a "sticky web" with actors Anjali Bhimani & Owyn P Taylor overcast.fm/+AA7mu0hU_TY...

I think this is SUCH an important discussion, and she was so great. Reupping so people know this is out there. I raved to my husband about it all evening— she was fantastic.

Halfbroke Horsewoman 🌻🏇🌻@tidypony.bsky.social · 4mo ago

If the link between tumbling taxes on gazillionaires & the pay to play, grift, market manipulation, & straight up theft we're seeing every day seems hazy, @hcrichardson.bsky.social & @vanessawilliamson.bsky.social offered a unifying theory yesterday. www.youtube.com/live/aBcPKrw...

The case is not the Dead were more *musically* impactful, their influence was on business, technology and the culture of Silicon Valley. I want to do some writing that explores how the music opened the door to all of that.

Chloe and I accepted faculty positions at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for Fall 2026! She will be an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and I will be Teaching Faculty in the School of Music. We are sad to leave Virginia but excited for new opportunities and to be closer to family!

This is from awhile back, but I discovered it in my notes. On her podcast Arts Educators Save the World, Erica Halverson interviewed musician Dan Lipton and his musical mentor Gena Raps. Something they said sparked the following from Erica: overcast.fm/+AA7mu20SY10...

Something only ‘the most transparent administration ever’ would say🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

Aural modeling, concrete musical instruction, and mental imagery are each effective ways of teaching expressiveness, depending on the context. bulletproofmusician.com/a-comparison...

A Comparison of Three Approaches to Teaching Expressiveness | Bulletproof Musician

A 2006 study compares three different approaches to teaching expressiveness, and identifies some pros and cons of each.

bulletproofmusician.com

Spoiler Alert: by setting goals! bulletproofmusician.com/how-do-effec...

How Do Effective Practicers Make the Most of Their Practice Time? | Bulletproof Musician

A 2021 study of pianists highlights some key differences between effective and less-effective practicers.

bulletproofmusician.com

Erica Halverson & Alek Lev discussing arts knowledge. The clip is 4m15s, but the gist is at about 0:31. She goes on to further unpack in the clip. overcast.fm/+AA7mu0m5044...

More saved reading… Pernille Ripp writes about a lesson plan she uses for discussing with students why they don't read. She begins with the question, “Do you read outside of school?" and helps students navigate their responses. pernillesripp.com/2025/04/18/w...

Catching up on some saved reading... From Peter Greene: “Yes, Middle Schoolers Are Hard To Teach, and Nobody Is Really Lazy” curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2025/04/yes-...

Yes, Middle Schoolers Are Hard To Teach, and Nobody Is Really Lazy

The slightly-cranky voice navigating the world of educational "reform" while trying to still pursue the mission of providing quality education.

curmudgucation.blogspot.com

Erica Halverson discussing Côté & Levine's (2002) three domains of identity formation: ego, social, and personal. overcast.fm/+AA7mu3-piCc...