Sitting in Sharp and Flat with Dan Healy and Kim Ankney

It is our extreme pleasure to welcome AUTHOR Friends: Kim Ankney & Dan Healy onto the show to chat about their new book: Music Discovery: Improvisation for the Large Ensemble and Music Classroom.

Healy & Ankney tackle the all important balance between control and empowerment, the art of listening, and developing the willingness to take risks in the classroom.

When speaking about improvisation, Kim says “…it sometimes can feel awkward because we always want to know where we’re going and what we’re doing. So to step back, you have to really hold back the reins, a little bit and it can be uncomfortable.”

Both Dan and Kim encourage us to lean into that discomfort for a bit because although we may not have the skills at first, we eventually will become better listeners and better facilitators for our students to really explore and take the lead.

Daniel Healy is the Assistant Professor and Head of Music Education at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He specializes in instrumental music and improvisation.  He co-authored the book, Music Discovery: Improvisation for the Large Ensemble and Music Classroom and the education supplement for the award-winning documentary film, Keep on Keepin’ On.

Kimberly Lansinger Ankney is assistant professor and Director of Music Education at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. Her research focuses on teachers’ perceptions of student thinking in improvisation, responsive pedagogy, preservice teacher development, and string education. She is the co-author of Music Discovery: Improvisation for the Large Ensemble and Music Classroom.