Lost.
So I’m new to the area and the GoogleMaps app on the iPhone wasn’t cutting it when I would miss a turn or there would be an unexpected closure, etc. As a stop-gap between getting a full on Garmin, I…
Tag soapbox
Memorial Day
Someone whom I respect and care very much for said about Memorial Day, “It really has no meaning for me at all.” I had my jaw sewn back on before she could turn around to see it hanging completely agape.…
Mark to Market
Actual tweet from a college football player, whose name I will keep to myself: “I do not want to go to school.” As a rabid consumer of college football and active Twitter-er*, I follow lots of “student athletes”, and courtesy…
Identity Crisis
This is partly my fault. But still! Over the past few weeks, I have had numerous students insinuate that I am not a cellist, but only a cello teacher. This bizarre contradiction sometimes makes me laugh. Yesterday however, I stared…
A question of priority
I’ve devoted numerous posts to jackassery. Students, musicians, massage threrapists, clamshell packaging, my own personal flailings. (flailing does not necessarily equal failing, but it sure looks dorky) I’ve even laid into other teacher archetypes from time to time. It was…
First impressions
I have a policy in my studio of never accepting a student who cancels their first lesson. What a meanie, right? And yet, the few times in the past when I have caved into the pressure to be amenable, I…
The Sound of Music (Education)
Lobbyists for any cause will invoke its importance, its relevance, its benefit to children. Music gets decimated because although the benefits to students are overwhelming, the people charged with defending its validity appeal to things like motor skills and math…
A proud Veterans Day, no thanks to Finale.
I had gotten a lot of requests for my arrangement of the Star Spangled Banner, so I thought, “This morning, I’ll notate it and put it up. Won’t that be nice?” Of course, since it involved FAILnale Finale software, I…
When to let your kid quit*
Parents have to tread a pretty fine line when it comes to encouraging/harassing/bribing/browbeating their kids to practice an instrument. My angle is that, after the age of 10 or so, it is up to the student whether or not to…