Boonshaft’s Blog

#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 matter the...

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#52. Confidence

#52. Confidence

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

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#51. Be A Turtle

#51. Be A Turtle

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...

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#50. Don’t Do It Again!

#50. Don’t Do It Again!

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...

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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.