arrange • compose • conduct
Teaching is anti-clickbait. Clickbait is an eye-catching headline that promises more than it delivers…but draws you in nonetheless. The real work of teaching is taking as un-clickbait-y a headline as possible: “Algebra” or “Social Studies” or “Chorus” and, over the course of painstaking months of connection, encouragement, and growth, helping […]
What are your ensemble’s keywords? In preparation for the Rockford Aces’ fifteenth anniversary celebration, I asked our alumni to answer that question. I loved reading their responses and learning about what they carried with them – and how it mapped onto how I think about the ensemble. Some words that […]
This year, I’ve gotten more insistent to my students who are involved in multiple extracurriculars: I ask me to send them their sports or other schedule and a plan for equitable balance. The secret is, I often can and do look at their schedules myself. (They’re all online!) But I […]
Knowing whether to start with rules or whys is a key to effective teaching. I love starting with why in my teaching. “This is a problem we had. Here’s how we solved it.” It’s a great way to get engagement and investment in our students. When I teach the story […]
It’s not because they can’t…and it reflects a philosophy about teaching. My middle- and high-school aged kids get a lunch packed, complete with a daily note, as they walk out the door. I’ve made sandwiches on homemade bread, packed their bags with a balanced meal, and put it out for […]
I love the second week of school! Week One jitters have mostly subsided. The introductions and icebreaker games are behind you. There is more than just sight reading. Now is the time that you can really establish tone, rhythm, and intention with your ensembles. What you do in Week 2 […]
Don’t pursue the career where you have the strongest skill. The most successful among us have a constellation of skills in the same skill area. A constellation is just a grouping of stars that suggest a shape because they’re clustered together in the sky. Likewise, successful people have multiple skills […]
I wish I could choose repertoire early. I intend to choose the music my ensembles will sing at the start of every summer. I’ll take the time to peruse stacks of rep, selecting new gems and old favorites and building a varied and musically interesting program that will enable me […]
Easy questions have right answers. Hard questions have better answers, but not necessarily one right answer. In that context, educators need to make sure we aren’t making a false equivalency by always rewarding the quickest answers. Quick answers are great in multiplication problems, but for anything of lasting impact, the […]
Where are you aiming your ensemble? I think there are valid reasons for wanting your ensemble to aim to be in the top 1% in terms of musicianship, performance, polish. There are equally valid reasons for not aiming for that. I would say that I want the Aces, a high […]