If you knew that your next rehearsal would be your last rehearsal, how would it be different? Time is a gift promised to no one.

Peter Loel Boonshaft, Director of Education
KHS America

About the Author

Dr. Boonshaft, Director of Education for KHS America, is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling books Teaching Music with Passion, Teaching Music with Purpose, and Teaching Music with Promise. 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.” Dr. Boonshaft was selected for the Center for Scholarly Research and Academic Excellence at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, where he is Professor Emeritus of Music.

RECENT BOONSHAFT'S BLOG POSTS

#308. Why Make It Vivid?

#308. Why Make It Vivid?

When rehearsing an ensemble, one of the challenges is to convince our musicians that they must make the piece not only come to life, but do so incredibly vividly. The best way I have found is to ask them how many times we will rehearse a piece before a...

#307. Don’t Say A Word

#307. Don’t Say A Word

I have often suggested that you should write a quote of the board at the start of a class or rehearsal, and then simply point to those words or tap on the board. I wouldn’t say a word. I would just stare at the words, and then start teaching. The following quote by...

#306. “Change The Ending”

#306. “Change The Ending”

Seemingly every day I teach, I realize something I am doing that I need to improve, correct, or completely reimagine. It might be my choice of words, the tone of my voice, my sounding exasperated, how I sequenced the material, my choice of examples, my rushing the...