by Peter Boonshaft | Oct 23, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
The word biography is often defined as an account of someone’s life written by someone else. For us as teachers, our biography, in great measure, will be written by those we teach. Our students – each of them – will contribute to that imaginary tome, that...
by Peter Boonshaft | Oct 16, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
At your next rehearsal, try saying nothing but positive things for 5 minutes straight. It sounds easy, but once you try it, you realize just how hard it really is to do. We are so used to saying positive things and then following those words up with a prescription for...
by Peter Boonshaft | Oct 10, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
I spent a week not too long ago working with a remarkable band. A truly remarkable band. They were performing an extremely difficult program so incredibly well. But I found them to be very stiff, less-than-emotive, almost robotic in their collective approach to making...
by Peter Boonshaft | Oct 3, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
Jim Elliot once wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” As teachers, we can “give” as much energy, enthusiasm, excitement and passion as we can muster in every rehearsal we do, and it will never deplete our supply, for we were...
by Peter Boonshaft | Sep 25, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
When our students start to feel frustrated by that which doesn’t come easy, by that which is a profound challenge, by that which makes them question their efforts, I can think of no better lesson, no better words than those of Eloise Ristad when she wrote, “…it is...