Episode 3: No Wrong Answers
Hey everybody, it’s Stephen and Anthony. It’s Tuesday, and we often meet on Tuesdays to talk about things and get our act together. Today, we wanted to talk about the idea that there are no wrong answers in our Make It Music deck.
The Make It Music deck is designed to inspire teachers to create Dalcroze-style activities using different elements. We have the Starter Deck, which provides simple prompts to begin a movement experience—usually pure movement prompts to start your class. Then, there’s the Make It Music Deck, which takes those initial prompts and turns them into a more musical and expressive experience. Next, we have the Challenge Deck, which helps expand, create, or transform the exercise using the foundation set by the first two decks. And finally, we have the Teaching Artist Deck, which is very popular. This deck is meant to help teachers deepen their practice, reflect on their role as artists, and explore their creative presence in the classroom.
Each deck contains cards with prompts, but these are not meant to be strict instructions with right or wrong answers. Instead, they are open to interpretation. Whatever a card evokes in you as a teacher is valid. We love it when educators take a card and reimagine it in their own way. Often, in our workshops, we ask participants how they would interpret a card, and it’s amazing to see the different approaches people take.
The way I was originally taught—like many of us here in the U.S.—was that lesson planning meant finding the oneright answer. You’d write down the “good idea,” avoid the “bad idea,” and execute the plan as if there was only one way to do it. That approach took years for me to unlearn. Dalcroze practice has been transformative in that regard. The Dalcroze mindset encourages iteration, improvisation, and responsiveness to students. Rather than seeing unexpected moments in the classroom as disruptions, we learn to see them as opportunities.
Improvisation isn’t just about the music we create—it extends to how we shape our lessons. The closer we tie ourselves to that flexibility, the more vibrant our teaching becomes. One of our biggest concerns is that educators might pick up a card from the deck and think there’s only one way to interpret it. But instead, we want to reinforce that every card has infinite possibilities.
For advanced teachers, we challenge you to explore as many interpretations of a card as possible. Maybe yesterday’s students needed one approach, but today’s students need something completely different. You might draw the same card for multiple classes, but the way you implement it will change depending on the students’ age, experience, and classroom energy. The goal of Make It Music is to foster a responsive and flexible teaching style—not to dictate answers but to equip teachers with tools for adaptation.
For example, let’s look at a Starter Card: Long Claps. It says, “Clap a long note, stretching the gesture all the way to the next clap.” This is a simple, open-ended prompt. If you’re familiar with Dalcroze practice, you might visualize it a certain way—perhaps clapping and extending your arms outward. Someone else might picture a different motion, and that’s completely valid.
The appendix in our book provides additional guidance for the Starter Cards, just in case someone isn’t sure what to do with them. But if you already have an interpretation, go with it! These prompts are just the beginning—they’re meant to spark activity, not dictate a full lesson. Most Starter Card activities last only a few seconds before needing expansion, which is where the Make It Music Deck comes in.
The Make It Music cards build on the Starter Cards by adding a musical element. Let’s say you’re working with Long Claps—a Make It Music card might say, “Try standing in place or moving to a different spot in the room.” One way to interpret that is to clap, stretch the motion, and travel to a new space before clapping again. The subtext on the card gives additional ideas, but ultimately, you should follow your instincts and your students’ responses.
There is no correct way to do these exercises. Some people assume there’s a “right” way to teach Dalcroze, but in reality, the essence of the practice is engaging the body in music. Jacques Dalcroze realized that when the body is moving, it’s difficult to disengage from the experience—it keeps students present and involved. The movement itself is the key, and the exercises are simply tools to achieve that engagement.
Once you have an activity going, you can take it further using the Challenge Deck. These cards are more open-ended, often with short prompts that encourage deeper exploration. One example is a Challenge Card that says, More artist, less engineer. That might mean shifting the focus from precision and counting to expression and creativity. Or it could mean something entirely different to you—and that’s the point!
The Challenge Deck helps prevent an activity from becoming stale. A Starter Card might last only a few moments, but the key is to find variations and keep building on it. Of course, experienced teachers might not even need the cards—they can naturally come up with variations. But sometimes, the Challenge Deck offers an idea you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise. The goal isn’t to memorize these cards but to develop a mindset that constantly seeks new ways to engage students.
Finally, we have the Teaching Artist Deck, which is the most abstract. These cards contain philosophical prompts to encourage reflection. For example, one card says, Be aware of the interstitial—the spaces between. What does that mean? It could mean paying attention to the pauses between actions or noticing how transitions impact an activity. The interpretation is up to you.
Unlike the other decks, the Teaching Artist cards aren’t necessarily meant to be used within an exercise—they serve as broader reflections on your teaching practice. However, some educators might find it helpful to integrate them into their lessons in creative ways.
Ultimately, Make It Music is designed to help you think flexibly and creatively in your teaching. It’s not about following rigid instructions—it’s about discovering new possibilities. By engaging with the prompts in different ways, you’ll develop a more dynamic and responsive approach to music education.
