arrange • compose • conduct
Posts discussing education, both in and outside of music
It’s great to find people who are crazy in the same way as you. Tonight I attended a concert production of Les Misérables, performed by a cast of seventh through twelfth graders who started rehearsing together on Monday. (The cast featured two of my students/Aces members as Jean Valjean and […]
Every year, I start my garden with hope. I pick delicious herbs and vegetables, prep my garden beds, nurture them and get them started right. Then, of course the summer gets going – complete with out of town visits, family trips, camps, commitments, and all the work I am doing. […]
I love all the many gigs I have: composer, arranger, director, conductor, teacher, mentor, consortium manager, producer, assistant, strategic planner, etc. The best gig I have is father. Done right, as I try to do and as my father did for me, it is the opportunity of a lifetime to […]
What are your summer goals for your students? I like the message from my kids’ middle school ensemble teachers: only take out your instruments on rainy days. It’s the right level of occasional reengagement with music-making. I personally have these three goals for students between when I see them in […]
Overscheduled kids know one thing for certain: every minute is precious. They have so few! Every moment is committed to one event or another, a class project or a math test to study for, plus social commitments with their friends. That’s why, when I’m with my students, I try to […]
What would an alien know if they saw a group of people playing cards? And what does the answer tell us about teaching music? They wouldn’t know if the people were playing poker or canasta or euchre, and if you told them what the game was, the alien would assume […]
It’s the little things that pay off in the distant future. A precious family picture from three generations ago is meaningless if you don’t know who is in the picture. With the names on the back, they are fascinating connections to your personal history. Without the names, they’re just old-timey […]
Do you tell your students what you plan to change for next year? I prefer to be tight lipped about what I’m planning for the future with my ensembles. Part because I like to process my own thoughts independently, and part because I know I’m a slow thinker and don’t […]
It’s not when you start; it’s what you do after you start. I was thinking about my students who didn’t sing in choir in middle school, but decided to start in high school. Sometimes they think, “It’s too late to be successful at this” because other people got such a […]
It’s a question my kids ask me a lot. How do you still remember geometry, algebra, and trigonometry? How do you still remember the Latin you learned in 1992, or 150 digits of pi, or how to perform stoichiometry, and so forth. The answer is simple: I deeply cared about […]