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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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.”...

I am convinced that half the problem with teaching students in a band is that many of them have a very distorted vantage point from which they hear the group, by nature of where...

As I look out at my students while rehearsing, I so often see bad habits reveal themselves. And what gets me is that I have mentioned those bad habits over and over and over. It...

I like a fast-paced rehearsal. No, I love a fast-paced rehearsal. I think I can keep my students awake and energized better, and get more done in less time. But that’s me. I also...