After working with students in low socioeconomic schools for 16 years, I have found that the label “low-SES” is very misleading. This really doesn’t tell us anything about the students. Here are the more helpful questions: What is their family background? What are living arrangements ... Read More about So I Teach at a Low SES School…Language and Delivery.
Articles
“The Pre-Contest Syndrome”
The Pre-Contest Syndrome Have you noticed the following strange behavior from your band director lately? 1. Repeating things 2 or 3 times. 2. Repeating things 2 or 3 times. 3. Repeating things 2 or 3 times. 4. Pacing back and forth when not in the sitting position. 5. Calling 2 extra ... Read More about “The Pre-Contest Syndrome”
There’s a Time and a Place for Every Fingering (Sax – Bb)
There are a handful of conversations that come up in saxophone lessons with great regularity. One that I’d like to discuss here is the “Favorite Fingering” talk. This is where I tell the student, for instance, which B flat fingering to use and they counter with a variation of, “Actually, I prefer ... Read More about There’s a Time and a Place for Every Fingering (Sax – Bb)
Use a Stopwatch, Not a Timer – Practice Tips for the Modern Musician Part 1
This is the first of 3 posts on "Practice Tips for the Modern Musician." The link to Part 2 is at the end. In my years of teaching and playing, I have watched the landscape of distractions and attention grabs increase exponentially. Can we just agree on something? Smart phones are a problem. Don’t ... Read More about Use a Stopwatch, Not a Timer – Practice Tips for the Modern Musician Part 1
A Note Before a Rest…
Have you ever heard a colleague use a phrase and thought “Yes! Those are the perfect words!” And from then on you repeat those words over and over when teaching that concept? That happened to me a few years ago. I was walking through a rehearsal and I caught one of those phrases. The director told ... Read More about A Note Before a Rest…
Teach Style First
Teach Style First It seems that many of us are really caught up in the details of learning music that sometimes we actually ignore some of the most important musical elements, making it more difficult to add them later on. I believe I was probably guilty of this also, at least for a while. So ... Read More about Teach Style First
