jedscott

The conference bonus is, you get to recharge with your colleagues. You get to sit at dinner and share stories from the past year, hear their stories, celebrate joys and commiserate about the challenges you are all facing. My first music conference was the Atlanta IAJE Convention of January, 1996. […]

Revitalized literally means “made alive again.” And I am pleased to share that the 2015 Michigan Music Conference has revitalized me in the best possible ways. Every January I look forward to this opportunity to connect with colleagues, hear new ideas and performances, and springboard into the second half of […]

As I’ve written before, clarity in your writing is just as important as what you write. If I can’t read it easily, I’m not going to ever perform it well. So however advanced your music is, you need to notate it as clearly as possible. Today’s lesson: Show Beat Three. […]

In The Art of Asking, Amanda Palmer says there are three phases for an artist’s creative process: Collect When you gather new experiences or observations. Reading, listening, tasting. Connect When you literally connect the dots between what you’ve collected. This is when your art gets created. Share When you stop creating the art and […]

Isn’t it amazing how fast an experience can go from living present to “did that even happen” past? Six months ago I had just gotten back from my first European choir tour as a conductor. Fifteen days, five countries, more than ten performances. It was a life-changing trip in the […]

I wrote recently about the universality of singing. Some reactions to the post reminded me that there are teachers out there who choose to squash the musical spark in children. With the lengths many of us go to turn on lights in students, I get terribly angry about those turning […]

I love keyboard shortcuts. I love knowing that if I hold command+option+F, my copying will be filtered in Finale, and that if I add shift to that combination, I can edit the filter. They’re tough to learn, though. Because most times, you are replacing a known pull-down menu. But once […]

I’ve written about how curiosity is one of the most important habits I look for in my students. Another is self-motivation. And I do not think our industrial-model public school system is designed to teach it. Indeed, I think Self-Motivation is actively discouraged. We work to keep the class together, […]

A friend of mine recently vented on Facebook about their child’s elementary PE class. She asked her friends if she was old-fashioned to expect skills-building such as sit-ups, pull-ups and jumping jacks rather than just playing games. Whether or not the PE teacher is using sound pedagogy, the fact is […]