by Peter Boonshaft | Jan 8, 2019 | Boonshaft's Blog
As Bernard Baruch so perfectly put it, “Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why.” Getting our students to wonder and question “why” something is or isn’t, must-be or shouldn’t-be, can-happen or must-not-happen, may be even more important than getting them to...
by Peter Boonshaft | Dec 19, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
Before your next rehearsal, try a few things that will make all the difference in the world. Simply slide the first chair in the second row over so that the middle of that chair is behind the gap created between the first two chairs of the first row. Align every chair...
by Peter Boonshaft | Dec 4, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
One of the hardest aspects of being a teacher is remembering the difficulty of first learning something that now comes so easily to us. Something that we probably found so difficult when we first learned it. Breaking down a technique we have mastered, a skill we do...
by Peter Boonshaft | Nov 28, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
On October 28, 2018 the world lost a great treasure with the passing of Richard Gill, Australia’s world-renowned conductor, teacher, and advocate for music education. But that description of this remarkable human being doesn’t even scratch the surface of who he was or...
by Peter Boonshaft | Nov 14, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
Before your next rehearsal, write this wonderful old saying on the board: “Why is it that there is never enough time to do things right the first time…but always enough time to do them over.” Ask your students to think about those words, really think about them,...