Trust Them
If you want to be able to trust them later, you have to trust them sooner. This is a core tenet of my approach as an educator and as a parent: let your trust spread as wide and as deep as it possibly can. The key to making this work […]
Education
Posts discussing education, both in and outside of music
I Have Nothing New To Say
Do you ever feel this way in rehearsal? “I’ve taught everything I know how to teach. Everything I know, I’ve said.” When I start to feel that way, I remind myself these things: Repeat yourself – the turnover of students is faster than you think. In other words, I haven’t […]
Voting With/For Love
I’m voting for candidates who embody love for their fellow human beings. For me, that’s a core value. We can agree or disagree about economic policy, about educational policy, about almost anything. But we need to agree on love as a core motivation for decision-making. Love is a cornerstone of […]
What Did You Listen To?
Every lesson should start with this question. What did you listen to this week? What did you love, what did you not respond to? In every lesson I’ve ever taught or taken, part of the equation was working to master a style, one that I wasn’t necessarily fluent in. In […]
Unanticipated Part Recording Gifts
I’ve found an unanticipated gift in my increased commitment to preparing sung part recordings for my students. I’ve written before how they have positively impacted my students, and why I came around to a tool I was initially opposed to. It’s certainly not the time and effort – I wasn’t […]
If It’s Friday, The Stadium is Packed
How do you convince a community to show up? Like many high schools, my own school has full parking lots and a packed stadium all fall for all its home football games. I love the way the community comes together to support the school’s pursuits, and to respect the hard […]
Appalling? Really?
“I want to be very clear: The results in today’s nation’s report card are appalling and unacceptable,” said Miguel Cardona, the secretary of education. From The New York Times today How many ways is this incorrect? The dip in standardized test scores is not appalling. It is anticipated and understandable. […]
Make Time For Observing
Do you find time to watch experts do your job? When you were in college, you observed experts teaching and rehearsing. Every rehearsal I’ve ever sung in included ample opportunity to watch the conductor do the work of running a rehearsal. Every well-taught class I’ve been in was well-taught, and […]
Learning What Makes You Happy
How is it not obvious? It seems an almost universal challenge to learn to differentiate between things we do to make ourselves happy things we do to make the people around us happy. As an educator, it’s essential that we master the art of helping our students find what makes […]
Three Ways to Use a Streaming Playlist for Learning
Playlists in music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music are powerful tools for curating the music you listen to. They can also be of great use in creating passive and active learning. Here are three ways to advise students to more effectively use the playlists you create. (For example, […]