Boonshaft’s Blog

#62. Stravinsky Knew

#62. Stravinsky Knew

In the first moments of your next rehearsal, after getting the students quiet and focused, go to the board and with no words of explanation simply write...

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#60. A Soprano?

#60. A Soprano?

I am often asked by band directors for suggestions about books to read.  And I always worry about doing so for fear it will be like recommending a...

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#59. Impossible

#59. Impossible

Cicero, the great philosopher, held that one of The Six Mistakes of Man was “Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.” When I...

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#56.  Buzz

#56. Buzz

During your next rehearsal, while working on a chorale, ballad or lyrical passage in a piece, ask your brass players to buzz their parts on their...

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#54. Hope

#54. Hope

Do you ever get frustrated with the progress of your ensemble?  Me too.  But no matter the cause of our frustration, no matter the hurdles we must jump, no...

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Dr. Boonshaft, Director of Education for KHS America, is the author of the critically acclaimed best-selling books Teaching Music with Passion, Teaching Music with Purpose, and Teaching Music with Promise. He was honored by the National Association for Music Education and Music For All as the first recipient of the “George M. Parks Award for Leadership in Music Education.” Dr. Boonshaft was selected for the Center for Scholarly Research and Academic Excellence at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, where he is Professor Emeritus of Music.