exciting times
I was talking with someone about the upheaval that’s been a characteristic flavor of the past few years, and he said, “Well, I know you: it’s about time for your next reinvention.” At the moment, I didn’t think…
Emily Wright
sticky wicket
I need your advice. I have a teenage student who has not responded positively to any approach, though he is progressing as well as anyone who has a pulse and thrashes away at the instrument a few times…
hearing versus listening
One of the most frustrating things about teaching is seeing a student work like crazy and still not make music. It’s part of the Note Salad effect: all of the ingredients are there, but with little or no relation to…
snow day
New video post should be up tomorrow. For now, a picture of the cathedral in the sopping-wet snow of yesterday’s anticlimactic storm.
my life sometimes looks like this
Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Arlington, VA.
riding the dunes
I’ve started to internalize some of the wisdom that has been around for, well, eternity: Do things that make you happy. Screw the economy and the burden of expectations. Things are not the same now, and they will continue…
on creativity, vulnerability and wholeheartedness
The first time I was formally introduced to the concepts of mindfulness and maitri (aka metta or loving kindness) was during an epic meltdown freakout after a relationship tanked in the mid 2000s. I was in a bad way, and…
vulcan mind-meld: a wish list for students from a teacher who really, really wants them to do well.
5 things I wish more adult students would do: 1. Stay focused on whatever we’re working on in lessons. You would not believe how tough this is! I understand the inclination to want to patch every hole in…
what I’ve learned in 2012
I tell my students that much like gasoline is a byproduct of the oil refining process, frustration is a symptom of learning. It means that changes are happening, that you’re bumping up against things that hold you back.…
the science of productivity
Guess which part I screamed “YES” at?