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Time was, a student would say “who is Stevie Wonder?” Or “I’ve never heard the Mozart Requiem.” And I would bemoan our culture. How can they not know these things? What is wrong with our society that a seventeen-year-old doesn’t know this? But no more. Now I say this: I […]

Starting a new habit? Maybe daily practice or blogging or early rising?  You will slip. You’ll miss a day or two in your quest. Perhaps you’re about to hit double digits on a practice streak when you miss a day. Missing a day isn’t the end of the world unless […]

The ACDA Michigan 2014 Fall Conference was a great and weird experience for me. Great because it’s always valuable to reconnect with colleagues, share trench stories and get inspired. Weird because I was missing half of my brain. My wife and I have been attending conferences together since January of […]

It might be surprising to you, but I’ve had an incredible response from my choir members (boys age 15-18) when I have included mindfulness meditation in my rehearsal plan. Maybe it shouldn’t be so surprising – American teenagers are clearly overstressed and spiritually undernourished. Plus, in my experience choir members […]

I want to make a sign to hang over our office door. It will read: IT TAKES LESS TIME THAN YOU THINK! What takes less time than you think? Almost everything. Writing a blog post, finishing your homework, mowing the lawn, replying to that email, planning a rehearsal. What will […]

What are two opposing thoughts you hold in your head? Tonight in rehearsal a student mentioned that they had mistakenly sung a different pronunciation of Christmas in class. We usually pronounce it with a short i in the second syllable (rhymes with Swiss Miss) but in class they often pronounce […]

Active listening is a skill I often find lacking in my students. I tend to blame the soundtracking of our culture for this: we have so overloaded our ears with constant background or mood music that we have trained our brains to not pay attention to what we’re hearing. Here’s […]

I’ve just returned from a weekend working and connecting at the ACDA Michigan Fall Conference in Flint. And my drive home was spent thinking about the people. Not the presentations, not the performances, but the people in my profession. Many I only see at conventions – how great to share […]

It seems like at every conference you attend, there is plenty of opportunity for “convention snark.” Nitpicking the performances, criticizing lecture sessions, or just dishing about colleagues and what they’re doing: they are all ways of making yourself feel better about what you do. But I refuse. I celebrate the […]

Learning to practice is the most important skill we can develop in life. It’s the only way to get great at anything. I’m working with a former student who is trying to develop a personal practice regimen. Here’s what we settled in on: He texts, “I practiced.” I text back, […]