Trouble with Devices / Technology Addiction
From circa 2017 until January 31, 2022 my life was ‘enriched’ by a silly game I had on my iPhone called Wizards Unite. I thought it was a wonderful excuse…
Invalidating Excuses in Our Practice Routines
Casually chatting with a teen violinist about a month back, the comment was made that “I’ve plateaued on violin and want to branch out to other instruments”. I understand the…
Collaborating Together—It’s more fun making music with friends!
One of the things that I really love to do as a musician is make music with others. Not only is it fun and rewarding, it provides many opportunities to…
Reflections on Festival & Ratings
su·pe·ri·or /səˈpirēər/ adjective 1. higher in rank, status, or quality. 2. having or showing an overly high opinion of oneself; supercilious. noun a person or thing superior to another in…
The Importance of Routine in Practice
Now that we are a few weeks into school, routines should be settling in and the newness of everything wearing off. Of course, your music teacher wants to hear excited…
Glancing back, but looking ahead
I started writing a post in reflection on the year we just completed, and what a crazy year it was! And although I'm so proud of the students and all…
Explorations in Language Learning
I love to learn new things! As some days our world outlook as looked very bleak recently, I turned a bit unsociable (I know it's probably hard to believe that…
Preparation without Procrastination–Part 1
A brief note of reflection on developing planning on organizational skills through music study. As our deadline is approaching in less than 2 days, I’ve been observing the students who…
Memorization Tips & Tricks
Back in my time as a young student, I was troubled and vexed by the very idea of memorization. This may be because I did it poorly, and I know…
The Benefits of Performance
As we approach our first performance opportunity of the season, I often get asked if students 'have to' do it. So, although I want to put it out there that…