The next time you start to chide the students in your band about posture for the umpteenth time, don’t do it. Instead, ask them to sit with terrible posture. Then take a photo of...

The next time you are about to read a new piece with your band, especially if it is during the first few rehearsals of the school year, record them. That’s right! Then hold on to...

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 mouthpieces while the rest of...

When correcting a student in rehearsals, I always worry about whether I make it clear enough that I am speaking about the actions or behavior of that student, not criticizing the...

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 matter the...

Fact: I want my students to relish learning new things. Fact: My students will often model and imitate the things I do. Fact: My students should see me excited about learning...

James Russell Lowell asserted that “More men fail through ignorance of strength than through knowledge of their weakness.” That is probably true, but I would contend even more...

As teachers, we often find ourselves wrestling with whether to "stick with the old tried and true" or "try something new." But it’s scary to try the untested or experiment with...

Have you ever repeated a passage several times in rehearsal only to find that it starts to get worse? One theory to explain that is that after a student does it, his or her brain...