The Size of the Problem
Students come in with baggage from their week. Ok, sometimes from their lives. Some of them are overwhelmed, some guilty, others defiant. Occasionally they get in a preemptive strike. Here's one…
Vintage PA: Leaving People Better Than You Found Them
It's easy to teach when everything is going well, when families support each other, when children are perfectly behaved, when students are healthy. It's a lot tougher when parents are…
Playing With Wolfgang: Do Or Do Not
I stomped in the house, blew past my Mom and slammed my bedroom door behind me. Actually it might have been the first time I had ever done such a…
PA Shorts: Time Is Time & Some Cats
"Time is time. You understand it? We have to be first to the_______" A tour guide said this multiple times each day while we were in his charge and it has…
Vintage PA: On Your Way To Wonderful (and a little family history)
Bill Withers, Singer, Songwriter, & Soul Icon, whose credits include the hits Ain’t No Sunshine, Lean On Me, Lovely Day, & Just the Two of Us, once gave the following…
Playing With Wolfgang: Exotic & Forbidden?
On the first day of my freshman year at San Jose State, I entered the music building and immediately found myself at an open classroom door. The sounds coming from…
Playing With Wolfgang: A Romantic Accusation 2
“You’re a romantic!” said my teacher in a surprised voice, as though this explained everything he found perplexing about me. I had never been accused of being anything but a…
PA Shorts: Famous Amateur Pianists
Just after reading a rather nasty comment on amateur pianists (the location shall remain nameless), I heard a performance of The Archduke Trio on the radio. What do the two have in…