Teacher Summer Reading: Play It From the Heart by J. Steven Moore

I've been doing a lot of lazy reading on the couch this summer and figured I would write about some of those books (in addition to picture books to use with students). To be clear, I don't *expect* teachers to do summer reading... we work hard enough during the year! But for those of us who enjoy reading over break, here we go!

One of the first books I read this summer break was Play It From the Heart: What You Learn from Music about Success in Life by J. Steven Moore.

The book contains a number of anecdotes about the extra-musical values and skills learned through music education, weaving together anecdotes about student attention, engagement, and perseverance with tales about ensembles truly coming together to support one another. It's a refreshing read for me, as it's so drastically different from the dryly academic grad school readings I've been doing the past few months, full of statistics and footnotes more than passion. This is a book that is truly from the heart, and contains many poignant reminders of why we teach, why we are musicians, and why we teach music. While it didn't tell my story, exactly, it was easy to connect to the students discussed in the book just as much as the teachers. I remember that feeling of pride after a long rehearsal, the steadfast determination to play a show in pouring rain, the desire to take care of one another as a family even when things were difficult. 

The book never preaches, though it does include a few philosophical tangents about how music education inherently includes real-world skills that apply far outside the band room. Lessons such as promptness, determination, pride, and cooperation are a nice reminder for teachers who can get very caught up in the music during the school year. The book never strays into discounting the musical benefits of music education, which I really appreciate after hearings years of "music makes you smarter" demusicalized music advocacy.

For those who believe we teach students in addition to teaching music, this book is a quick, inspiring, honest read. It left me hopeful and eager to get back into the classroom with my students. Also awesome (for those of us with a library database subscription) is that I was able to read it for free online via my university library (shoutout to BU!). So read this, then play from the heart!