Alison Stevens
@anstevens.bsky.social
not one thing, but a world of possibilities. she or they, check your assumptions at the door
www.alisonnicole.com
www.alisonnicole.com
I like to occasionally fantasize about what a university program for participatory music could look like, and despite considering it not really capitalist it would totally cover this or something close. Might actually be very practical outside of music…
December 5, 2025 at 1:23 AM
I like to occasionally fantasize about what a university program for participatory music could look like, and despite considering it not really capitalist it would totally cover this or something close. Might actually be very practical outside of music…
the personal motto I adopted in 2020 is “all blanket statements are bad”. sounds like I wouldn’t enjoy threads lol
December 2, 2025 at 1:31 AM
the personal motto I adopted in 2020 is “all blanket statements are bad”. sounds like I wouldn’t enjoy threads lol
Education shouldn’t be a contest between teacher and students! I have always been grateful to get to teach people who have *chosen* to study a thing, but like, that is how it *should* be?
December 1, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Education shouldn’t be a contest between teacher and students! I have always been grateful to get to teach people who have *chosen* to study a thing, but like, that is how it *should* be?
I was just reminded of the weird folks who show up here sometimes and talk about fiction books as if the writer is fighting readers and the way to “win” is to like…lure readers in and then trick them? It’s like the people who seem to think conversations are a thing a person can win
December 1, 2025 at 10:32 PM
I was just reminded of the weird folks who show up here sometimes and talk about fiction books as if the writer is fighting readers and the way to “win” is to like…lure readers in and then trick them? It’s like the people who seem to think conversations are a thing a person can win
The undergrad music education program I was in got us visiting schools in the second semester, to help us understand early on what we were getting into. Quite a few people left the program after that and that’s good! Better to find out after one year than after four years. (end)
December 1, 2025 at 9:25 PM
The undergrad music education program I was in got us visiting schools in the second semester, to help us understand early on what we were getting into. Quite a few people left the program after that and that’s good! Better to find out after one year than after four years. (end)
Some amount of adjusting teaching to suit the current actual humans being taught is generally a good thing. But I think we need more support for students to move or be moved to somewhere that’s a better fit, and have this not automatically viewed as failure on anyone’s part.
December 1, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Some amount of adjusting teaching to suit the current actual humans being taught is generally a good thing. But I think we need more support for students to move or be moved to somewhere that’s a better fit, and have this not automatically viewed as failure on anyone’s part.
But I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with some standardized curricula and more formal course structures. The problem is when an educational offering doesn’t match a student’s needs AND there aren’t good ways to address that.
December 1, 2025 at 9:25 PM
But I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with some standardized curricula and more formal course structures. The problem is when an educational offering doesn’t match a student’s needs AND there aren’t good ways to address that.
I did actually change up my teaching plans significantly a couple months in, because of how students had been responding. I had a lot of freedom to adapt what I knew generally about teaching violin to these specific students and their needs.
December 1, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I did actually change up my teaching plans significantly a couple months in, because of how students had been responding. I had a lot of freedom to adapt what I knew generally about teaching violin to these specific students and their needs.
I read this trilogy as a kid/teen and I remember enjoying it though I don’t actually remember much of what’s in it! Possibly this was a case where I was impressed by a sequel being better than the first book
The Seeing Stone
The year is 1199, the place the Welsh Marches. Young Ar…
www.goodreads.com
December 1, 2025 at 7:20 PM
I read this trilogy as a kid/teen and I remember enjoying it though I don’t actually remember much of what’s in it! Possibly this was a case where I was impressed by a sequel being better than the first book
I believe this is one of several birds named by people looking at dead specimens. They either didn’t realize that some features would be difficult or impossible to see in the field, or didn’t care/think about it! I could be wrong but this is what I’ve heard
December 1, 2025 at 6:15 PM
I believe this is one of several birds named by people looking at dead specimens. They either didn’t realize that some features would be difficult or impossible to see in the field, or didn’t care/think about it! I could be wrong but this is what I’ve heard
I read a thing once, I think maybe by @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com? saying grief is like a form of emotional scurvy. Healing is always an ongoing process. Where do I get the emotional equivalent of vitamin C
November 30, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I read a thing once, I think maybe by @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com? saying grief is like a form of emotional scurvy. Healing is always an ongoing process. Where do I get the emotional equivalent of vitamin C
folks may benefit from reading this first, because it’s what the WaPo article is responding to (it is linked in the WaPo article)
November 30, 2025 at 4:10 PM
folks may benefit from reading this first, because it’s what the WaPo article is responding to (it is linked in the WaPo article)
I am super into this stuff! I now also think there are prepositions and things that look like prepositions but aren’t really. Maybe actually from studying Spanish?? where verbs don’t “need” prepositions the way they often do in English. Like buscar = to look for, mirar = to look (at)
November 29, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I am super into this stuff! I now also think there are prepositions and things that look like prepositions but aren’t really. Maybe actually from studying Spanish?? where verbs don’t “need” prepositions the way they often do in English. Like buscar = to look for, mirar = to look (at)
I am wondering if some of it is just a weird numbers situation—a LOT of people attend university now which means in absolute terms a large number of students might be disengaged even if percentage-wise they’re a small minority
November 29, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I am wondering if some of it is just a weird numbers situation—a LOT of people attend university now which means in absolute terms a large number of students might be disengaged even if percentage-wise they’re a small minority
When my job was teaching 10yos to play violin I noticed many wanted to play violin, not learn to play violin—no concept of process. This is fine for kids at age 10 but I feel like so much adult behavior now is like this. People want a credential or job title and don’t want to actually DO the thing!
November 29, 2025 at 3:58 PM
When my job was teaching 10yos to play violin I noticed many wanted to play violin, not learn to play violin—no concept of process. This is fine for kids at age 10 but I feel like so much adult behavior now is like this. People want a credential or job title and don’t want to actually DO the thing!
Maybe it’s just who I follow but I do not see authors pretending anything! So many are entirely honest about day jobs and family support and how publishing works. I know some claim a false independence but telling them to “stop pretending” seems unlikely to work and undermines the honest ones!
November 26, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Maybe it’s just who I follow but I do not see authors pretending anything! So many are entirely honest about day jobs and family support and how publishing works. I know some claim a false independence but telling them to “stop pretending” seems unlikely to work and undermines the honest ones!
Only related to this thread via music, but I think you would enjoy this video!
www.smt-v.org/archives/vol...
www.smt-v.org/archives/vol...
Volume 4 (2018)
SMT-V: The Video Journal of the Society for Music Theory
www.smt-v.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Only related to this thread via music, but I think you would enjoy this video!
www.smt-v.org/archives/vol...
www.smt-v.org/archives/vol...
The combo of sound recording + internet means we can now access ENORMOUS variety of music extremely easily! But one trade-off is that we are sometimes less sensitive to tiny differences than people would have been in the past, when steeped in a much narrower repertoire
November 25, 2025 at 2:27 AM
The combo of sound recording + internet means we can now access ENORMOUS variety of music extremely easily! But one trade-off is that we are sometimes less sensitive to tiny differences than people would have been in the past, when steeped in a much narrower repertoire
I haven’t checked on this recently, but I believe there’s a theory now that (hearing) babies basically all have absolute pitch, but most “lose” it in favor of attending to relative pitch.
November 25, 2025 at 2:27 AM
I haven’t checked on this recently, but I believe there’s a theory now that (hearing) babies basically all have absolute pitch, but most “lose” it in favor of attending to relative pitch.
It’s a third option: she was wrong. I believe that she experienced it, but the mappings are not the same for all singers, just like people with grapheme-color synesthesia don’t agree on all the colors. There may have been ~17thC communities who did mostly agree on key qualities but we do not now
November 25, 2025 at 1:56 AM
It’s a third option: she was wrong. I believe that she experienced it, but the mappings are not the same for all singers, just like people with grapheme-color synesthesia don’t agree on all the colors. There may have been ~17thC communities who did mostly agree on key qualities but we do not now