I saw this beautiful quote and thought of you guys today:

“Teachers are like glow sticks. Sometimes they need a little ‘break’ before they shine. Get ready to shine!”

Chris Pombonyo – FamousinFirst

LOVE IT! Happy new year – get ready to glow, or shine, or whatever!

I am so excited to be part of the pilot program of MusicFirst in Texas and today I was just getting pumped about it (and about something else secret that I can’t tell you until January 6th!!)

It was either that this is really cool stuff happening for music education on the technology frontier, or the Energy B12 stuff that the guy at Costco talked me into buying today…

Sometimes I am such a sucker…

Let’s get back to why you are here. Music Education, right?

I’m new to MusicFirst and definitely a baby user, but I’ve been getting great guidance and advice from a mentor of mine, Dr. Keith Dye. He set me up with the pilot and has been so great at helping all of us who are involved in it! I know that he would love to answer questions about it and/or give you a sneak preview if you are interested in using it so let me know if I can help you all get in touch.

Over these next couple of months, I will be using MusicFirst in my beginner flute class in every capacity that I can think of. Follow here for my honest review (I am 100% volunteering to share this with you here!), my successes and failures, and my tips to come. I will also talk extensively about using it with a more traditional ensemble class, as I think that it very fluidly will fit into a normal (and more advanced) rehearsal setting! I predict that MusicFirst and the online content that I have already created are going to marry beautifully – it’s going that way so far!

Wow I have so many ideas in my brain right now!

This weekend I made sure my class was all set up (with the help of Dr. Dye) and began creating assignments. The planner in me is freaking out at the possibilities for planning huge units of time or semesters all at once (and using that material over and over again each year!). My Erin Condren planner is not even comparable…this is too exciting!

I made a few videos (ya’ll know that’s my thing) that will take my students through logging in to submitting assignments through all the mediums available in this pilot. Check them out on this playlist:

My little fluties start using this tomorrow, and I’ve been pumping them up about it – they feel SOOO special that THEY are the ONLY class that gets to use this for now! I just love excited beginners <3

Here is the cherry on top of my excitement: I am posting this blog post from my brand new Chromebook and my sweet husband got me for Christmas! AHH! I can’t even. Look for a review of the Samsung Chromebook coming soon after I have used it for a while. I am very intrigued at the possibilities of very reasonably (cost-wise) getting these for practice rooms -wait for it- instead of iPads. There is a beautiful time and place for practice room iPads, but a Chromebook is more cost effective, and can use my new friend, MusicFirst more easily…chew on that one.

OKAY – all of you MusicFirst users need to come out of the woodwork and share your wisdom with me. Same for my Chromebook peeps. 2016’s glowstick is already shining pretty brightly. Bring it on, Monday!