Often we are blaming the wrong party for mistakes that repeatedly happen!
Category: General
A philosophical break from just music and conducting posts…
For some of us the first week of school is in the books! For others this long weekend is the last “free” time until what seems like ten years from now. For those about to begin, enjoy the weekend! For those of use about to begin week two, what did you learn this week? How
For me the school year starts tomorrow. It is the first day of classes and a week of ensemble auditions, instrument sign outs, locker assignments, a million student questions, and much more. Goodbye social life and hello long days at school until some time deep in to 2019? Wrong! Here is some advice for everyone
I am constantly looking for different and better ways to teach my courses and run my rehearsals. If you were to ask me what my philosophy was for classes and rehearsals, my answer would change probably even before I finished my answer. It is the never ending journey of being an effective teacher. It is
I sit here drinking my coffee from my lobster mug and outside the fog is literally lifting and revealing a new school year! This time of year, most teachers are sort of in that middle area between happy for summer, looking forward to the school year, and coming to the realization that they are dreadfully
It’s the course we all take! We show up to learn the basics of conducting. But when pushed for an answer to the question: “What is basic conducting?” I received so many different answers I began to wonder the same thing. And I teach the class!!! About a month ago I sent out an email
Disclaimer: Score study, rehearsal preparation, and post rehearsal reflection are incredibly vital parts of our conducting lives. We cannot be successful if we avoid any part of these three processes. But when is it too much? When do we so over prepare or over analyze so much that we lose sight of what is really
Communication. It is all about how we communicate, in life and in our teaching and conducting. Take it from me, someone who used to constantly struggle with communication skills, in both my personal and professional lives. (I am still proud of my epic awkwardness in some social settings, and my occasionally weird moments talking to
I finally got a chance to get out and be a New Hampshire tourist this week. The New England Band Directors Institute was over, there was no music festival to run production for, and I only had one Seacoast Wind Ensemble rehearsal. I was finally going to find out what that summer everyone who doesn’t
