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...
by Peter Boonshaft | Sep 18, 2018 | Boonshaft's Blog
When you think of what we do, and remember the words of Albert Einstein when he stated: “It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” It is humbling. It is daunting. It is almost overwhelming. But it is also inspiring and...