Keeping every student engaged in a virtual lesson or rehearsal when they are playing “one at a time” is daunting to say the least. Wandering minds, blank stares, and dazed looks...

Whether we are teaching completely remotely or in a hybrid model of some kind, “screen fatigue” is an ever-present concern. The best way to ward off this silent problem is to...

So much about being a music teacher has changed in the past months. How’s that for an understatement of epic proportions?! Much of how we taught in the past has had to...

In his wonderful book, Expect The Unexpected Or You Won’t Find It, Roger von Oech shares a fabulous story that is as insightful as it is adorable. “Folklore has it that explorer...

I’m guessing the only saying about practicing that is more famous than the words that title this blog are those from the story of a visitor to New York City who asked a local,...

All too often, I’ll ask a student to do something, and when they do, I take comfort and pride in the fact that they did it. At those times, I find myself feeling there should be...

Ken Blanchard wrote, “There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed...

When I think of all the goals we set for our students, of all the hopes we have for our teaching, of all the things we want to linger as our influence on them for the rest of...

For many of us, our “second-period concert band” of 76 students has become four sections of 19 students, our 42-minute rehearsal is now a 30-minute Zoom meeting, seeing our...