Good Enough For Today
At the beginning of the school year, this is an important phrase.
Education
Posts discussing education, both in and outside of music
You Don’t Have To Be A Professional
A message to students everywhere.
First Week Exhaustion
What accounts for the tiredness of teachers (and students!) this time of year?
First Day Jitters
I’m not someone to get school anxiety. Several of my nearest and dearest have “Sunday Scaries” pretty much every Sunday, but that’s not my demeanor. The one exception is the first rehearsal of the year.* For as long as I can remember, I enter that day absolutely convince that I’ve […]
Measuring Success
How do you measure your success as a teacher? Maybe it’s in a polished performance. Maybe it’s in mastery of music theory concepts. It could be in tone development, musicality, musical sophistication. These are all things you can assess, at some level or another, as part of your teaching. But […]
Dreading Starting Over
When the school year ends and I’ve just conducted our final performance, I can get a bit morose. I think, “the next time I’m with my ensemble, we’ll be starting over.” All the capacity we’ve built, the trust, the group musical instincts, the repertoire – it’ll all be gone, and […]
Start The Year With Ken Robinson
A new school year means revisiting Ken Robinson. As I begin teaching, I almost always spend a few minutes listening to Ken Robinson’s lectures and conversations about education. I haven’t ever found a more compelling, interesting, engaging person talking about education and education policy. As you begin your own school […]
All Starters
I often say to my students that they are all starters. In the world of high school sports, there are starters and there are bench warmers. A popular no-cut team might have four players at every position…some of whom barely ever get to play in a game. It’s meant, and […]
At The Mercy Of Your Calendar
Being at the mercy of your calendar can be a great gift – if you only choose to see it that way. As summer ends, teachers ramp up. I don’t know any choir teachers who aren’t at the mercy of their calendar from August to June. Concerts, rehearsals, trips, personal […]
Good Enough
Tell your students: when you’re pressed for time, you have to accept work that is good enough. Busy working adults learn this, over time. We learn that when there are multiple projects with tight deadlines, we must relax our standards and deliver less than our best work if we want […]