Unconventional lessons learned : a survey of applied horn instructors

Over a period of twenty-four months, between March 2020 and March 2022, societal changes and shifts in academic instruction fundamentally altered the ways in which applied instrument lessons were effectively taught. These changes forced teachers to adapt their curriculum in order to meet the needs of their students. Additionally, the COVID-19 global pandemic further burdened teachers and students alike as the academic world struggled to adjust to a new normal for longer than most teachers, students, parents, and administrators anticipated. Using my research, I will examine how applied lessons are conventionally taught, some of the recent challenges teachers faced during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as potential ramifications from the social unrest that coincided with the pandemic, and deduce what methods and resources worked well for teachers and how these resources can continue to be applied in their curriculum. I will examine and compare methods and resources utilized over a period of twenty-four months and present a resource that details what methods led to positive learning outcomes, as well as what conventional methods produced negative learning outcomes. I will also provide an aggregate of new resources introduced and popularized over a period of twenty-four months that produced positive learning outcomes so that horn instructors have more options to be effective.