Have you ever used an incentive program in your music studio?
This might be a month-long practicing challenge, an annual assessment period, or a summer music camp (or other break-week).
This is a great way to keep momentum in the studio, encourage good practicing habits leading up to our end-of-year recital, and assess where my students are in all facets of their musicianship.
Looking for a fun, creative theme for your next studio incentive program? Here are five to consider.
We're one month into 2021. Can you believe it?
Whether you're making great strides toward achieving your goals or still trying to find your way in this new year, here's my February challenge for you:
Choose one thing to focus on this month. One thing you want to improve in your teaching or a musical skill you want to cultivate.
Whatever it is, find a few new ways to introduce it and demonstrate it in your lessons and rehearsals this month or carve out some time to work on this new skill on your own.
Most years, the beginning of the new year feels fresh and exciting. Everything is new and bright and full of possibility.
This year, in the midst of a global pandemic and political unrest, things feel a little different.
That’s why today, I’m not here to talk about how to set the right goals or plan out your entire year in one sitting (because who knows what the year may hold!). Instead, I want to share a few unconventional ways to prepare for the new year ahead.
One of my favorite traditions is putting together a book list at the beginning of each year. I try to choose a variety of books (old and new) from a few different categories:
Business, Spiritual & Lifestyle, Fiction, Personal/Intellectual, Nonfiction/Memoir
This helps me be intentional about the books I read and ensure some diversity (so I don’t end up reading only one type of book!).
Looking for books to read this coming year? I hope you find something interesting and relevant on this list.
It was Saturday afternoon.
We were caught up in a good British audiobook and lost in the scenery of the Thruway, traveling east.
A blanket of snow covered the small river town with the brick church on the corner, the red barns and silver silos, the tall spruce trees that line the field.
The grey line of the horizon separated sky from earth, stretched out before us like a pencil sketch. Always ahead, just out of reach.
The word horizon has a double-meaning, of course. It can refer to the limit of our sight but also our perception: the limit of our knowledge, experience, or understanding. What we see is what we know, isn’t it?
I love taking time in December to look back at all the books I’ve read during the year.
As in years past, I set out with a book list, and then I changed my mind as I discovered books in the library (pre-COVID!) and books came recommended by friends. Also, as the world shifted and changed this year, I looked for books to reflect that.
This year, I read 27 books (not counting the ones I started and didn’t finish).
Looking for book recommendations for 2021? Today, I’m sharing the seven best books I read in 2020, along with a brief description of what I liked about each one:
Ten years ago, Steve and I finished our master’s degrees at the Eastman School of Music and set out to build careers in music.
We decided to make a move that was less common in our field at the time: Instead of heading to a big city with lots of opportunities to begin a freelance career, we moved to a small town in rural Massachusetts.
That became the impetus for everything that followed.
This year, December feels a little different.
For those of us used to the rush of dress rehearsals and holiday concerts, dinner parties and family gatherings, neighborhood caroling, and late-night Christmas Eve services, this December is a little different.
We know what it means to be "the people walking in darkness." We long to see a great light.
And we're growing tired of waiting.
But maybe it's here, in this waiting, that we'll find it. Maybe it's not a great light we're waiting for, but small fragments, like the tiny flames that dot the dark sanctuary on Christmas Eve.
Maybe we've been looking in the wrong places.
This year, things look a little different.
The Christmas Eve service will be a little smaller, a little simpler, and maybe completely virtual, with choir members scattered and singing from their homes.
The children’s Christmas Pageant will be presented via Zoom with an array of virtual backgrounds (no really, here’s a virtual Christmas pageant kit).
And the annual choir Christmas party? Well, that’s going to be different, too.
But don’t let a global pandemic keep you from celebrating the season with your singers! You can still have a (virtual) Christmas party even if you aren’t able to gather together in person.
