Touch & Go
Megan sighed, “I’ve never been able to play louder with one hand and softer with the other. I just can’t do it.” We had been working on balance of layers…
Smoke & Mirrors: A Rant
I love getting unexpected packages in the mail. And by unexpected packages, I mean unsolicited materials and recordings submitted for possible review. It’s like Christmas to tear open the packaging…
The Anti-Masterclass
Antimatter: Any substance that, when combined with an equal amount of matter, results in the complete and direct conversion of all substance to energy. () Anti-Masterclass: Any masterclass that, when…
Vintage PA: Yodeling Puff The Magic Dragon
It started with a performance of a method book piece with the word Yodel in the title. “It sounds weird,” said my young student, “and I don’t understand why that…
PA Shorts: Boundaries
"You can’t fill up when you’re holding your breath. And writing is about filling up, filling up when you are empty, letting images and ideas and smells run down like…
A Personal Lesson In Promise
The following is a portion of a speech I gave last Saturday at the local kick off for the National Veterans Creative Arts Competition. I was asked to speak, to…
PA Shorts: Not Exactly Pre-Reading
My students have been full of questions about how to best help their beginning readers- especially those who look at the score as though it had lobsters crawling out of…
Creativity & Method: Redux
It's the start of the school year and with it has come much discussion among colleagues, questions from new students, and personal observations about transfer student readiness. I have read…