Month: August 2015

It’s time to greet September and say goodbye to August. Perhaps with this lovely poem by Irish poet Francis Ledwidge. August by Francis Ledwidge She’ll come at dusky first of day, White over yellow harvest’s song. Upon her dewy rainbow way She shall be beautiful and strong. The lidless eye […]

In Krista Tippet’s On Being interview with neuropsychologit Rex Jung, titled Creativity and the Everyday Brain, she asks a question about free time that includes this statement: It’s something that’s, to me, proven true in life, that there’s a connection between boredom and creativity, or between not having things given to you to do…. It’s a […]

Finishing a piece is joy and fear. You’ve sweated over the big picture, the arc, the actual writing. The last few hours are spent on fine details, making sure the the piece will be as successful as possible at first reading. And you feel great joy when you decide it’s ready to send to […]

Teachers: be sure that in addition to the days of “professional development” you participate in through your school, you also engage in your own professional development. Activities that are certain to help you on your journey. Ask: What will help me develop your professional skills? Today’s personal PD assignment from me is to […]

How do you stay in the zone? For me, it’s important – and tough – to remember to not overuse it. I’ve been in a really good writing zone for about a week, with progress made on a number of fronts, music flowing relatively smoothly, and results I’ve been pleased with. The […]

Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio’s Choral Stream, I got to enjoy Anúna’s new album, Revelation, last night via live stream. It’s a fabulous new record, from the unique musical perspective of Michael McGlynn. Anúna and McGlynn are probably the best-known Irish choral music today. McGlynn has been leading Anúna since 1987, producing a remarkable […]

As school starts up again across the country, I am always reminded of this fabulous free book on what education should be about. My first time reading it, it had a profound effect on how I think about education and especially about music education’s place in the school landscape. It’s […]

As each arrow left for its target, the archers were caught between success (hitting the ten) and mastery (knowing it means nothing if you can’t do it again and again). -Sarah Lewis, The Rise: Creativity, The Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery It means nothing if you can’t repeat it. […]

Yesterday I said that we should strongly avoid standardized assessment in music class. As soon as I finished it, I heard the protests – but the Senate bill is a great advocacy of of our subject – how can we scorn it? What should we do instead? What we should do instead […]

Music is at the core of our society. It is not a “core class” as we are intent on defining it in the U.S. Along with “core subject” status comes the need to know that students are proficient in this area. And the only way we know to assess their proficiency is … to assess […]