A Forgotten Six Weeks

The night before a new term always feels like this. You've forgotten how to teach. You reach for a simple major chord and end up in a world of diminished despair. Your fingers have gone numb. By Monday, thirty Year 9s will watch you play something and know you're a fraud.

You're not. You'll sit down, play it once, and it'll be fine. After a week you won't think about it again. Even if, like me, you spend most of your time teaching an instrument that is not your speciality, everything will be fine.

But that's not actually the problem.

The problem is what comes after. A student asks about perfect cadences, and another one immediately says, "Oh, like Ode To Joy?" And now you're stuck. Because yes, Ode To Joy does use one. But if that's all they've heard, they think perfect cadences are this quaint, classical thing. They don't understand that cadences are everywhere — they're load-bearing in everything from film scores to garage rock to jazz standards. Students need to hear that breadth. They need examples that click.

That's the hard bit. Not playing the thing. Or defining the thing. It's finding the right thing to show it off.

I spent years hunting YouTube mid-lesson, or pre-lesson, or cursing myself for not prepping better. Every teacher does. So I built WiderListen.ing to stop doing that part. The examples are already there. Cued. Ready. Your job is just to play them and let the music do the talking.

I hope it's as useful for you as it's been for me. I'm adding to the database every week, and this year I'm building in revision games, quizzes, and interactive elements. The foundation's solid. Now comes the interesting part!

Track of the Week

Rockin' All Over The World by Status Quo — featuring Simple Quadruple (4/4), Major, Distortion, Backbeat, Bend

Listen on YouTube

New in the database this week

• B21: "Darshan" by Jassi Sidhu — featuring Chaal, Tenor, Microtone
• Key To The Highway by Big Bill Broonzy — featuring Acoustic Guitar, Simple Quadruple (4/4), Glissando/slide
• Adore You by Harry Styles — featuring multiple concepts
• Symphony No. 94 in G major, "Surprise" by Joseph Haydn — featuring Piano (dynamics), Accent, Legato
• Music for a Large Ensemble by Steve Reich — featuring Presto, Ostinato, Phase shifting, Polyphonic
• The Rapids (from Jungle Cruise) by James Newton Howard — featuring Tremolo, Scalic, Disjunct, Accelerando, Imperfect cadence, Cor Anglais
• Messiah (HWV 56) by G.F. Handel — featuring Sequence, Interrupted cadence, Bass, Word painting, Monophonic, Trumpet
• St. Thomas by Sonny Rollins — featuring Syncopation, Bend, Drum kit, Piano
• Chaal Rhythms by Manvir Hothi — featuring Chaal

Enjoying this? Forward it to a colleague who teaches music.