Do you have fun in rehearsals? Do your students have fun in rehearsals? Maybe not every minute of every rehearsal, but in general? I am convinced that if the first is true, the second will be too. I love rehearsals. I really do. They are some of the most intense moments in my life, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be enjoyable. I want my students to see that profoundly hard work can also be profoundly enjoyable. Not by me telling them so, but by me living it. Now I know there are a lot of times when my students roll their eyes with the thought that I really need to “get a life,” and maybe I cherish that equally as much.

Peter Loel Boonshaft, Director of Education
KHS America

About the Author

Dr. Boonshaft is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling books Teaching Music with Passion, Teaching Music with Purpose, and Teaching Music with Promise. Dr. Boonshaft is currently on the faculty of Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, where he is Professor of Music and Director of Bands. He has also been named Director of Education for KHS America. He was honored by the National Association for Music Education and Music For All as the first recipient of the “George M. Parks Award for Leadership in Music Education.”