jedscott

The mother of one of my Rockford Aces, Cindy Todd, is the chair of the art education program and Kendall College of Design and recently was named Michigan Art Education Association Educator of the Year. In a brief profile in the WMU Alumni magazine (page 29), Cindy said, “In the day-to-day […]

Our society has witnessed a long, steady decline in public music education over the last generation or more. More and more elementary schools are completely cutting elementary arts education, and this inexorably leads to lost opportunities at the secondary level. Meanwhile, in 2015, what we need is more choir teachers. […]

In our first 5K, Mandy and I ran the entire way at a respectable 28:42. About a 9:15 mile pace. The second half of the run, we kept passing and getting passed by another couple. They would sprint for a minute or so, and then walk for about the same. […]

Dear Aces, You never ask, but I see your tired eyes. I see you roll your eyes or slump you shoulders when I ask you to stand. Again.    I work you – and myself – hard for many reasons. Here are a few: 1. There isn’t enough time. Rehearsing […]

Last night I finally got to watch the last episode of Cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson. He gives the following speech near the end of the episode: Only a few centuries ago, a mere second of the cosmic time, we knew nothing of where and when we were. Oblivious to […]

Don’t tell us that music makes you smarter.  How does the football team present football? They don’t tell you that you’ll do better in classes. A kid joins football because she want to play football. You watch football because you learned to watch it as a kid. Your experiences shaped […]

A snow day exists outside the usual routine. Commitments vanish, duties get postponed. Students sleep. What do you do? Perhaps you catch up on some grading or lay out some lesson plans. Maybe you just curl up with a good book and a mug of tea. I challenge you to […]

Is “Follow Your Passion” terrible advice? I’ve heard a lot of recent backlash against the popular mantra. OK, maybe it’s bad advice. But the reason it’s bad isn’t that you shouldn’t do it. It’s bad because it’s incomplete. Jed’s Laws of Success 1. Follow Your Passion. 2. Work Harder Than Everybody […]

If you want to make it as a performer, loving to perform is a plus. But it’s far more important to love rehearsal. For every hour you spend on stage, you will spend ten times that or more practicing – on your own, in lessons, with ensembles. This is obviously […]