Do An Audition, Get A Cookie
Everyone auditions better when they feel less stressed an anxious. Why not hear the best versions possible of every audition?
You Think I’m A Choir Director
You think I’m a choir director, but actually….
Old Habits
They say old habits die hard. That’s a good thing!
If You’ve Written Two…
Once you’ve done two, it’s easy to write a third. I’m back in my mischief, pre-writing posts and giving myself future vacations. Part of that is that I’m having an increasing number of weekends when I’m offline, so I need to be planning ahead. Part of it is I have […]
What We Procrastinate
Pay attention to what you procrastinate.
Left Handed
If I had been born 100 years earlier, I would have spent my school days with my left hand tied behind my back. Societal pressure would have sought to prevent my handedness from being expressed. We cared more about conformity than about sense of self. When this pressure decreased, there […]
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 […]