Teaching

My wife and I went on a wonder filled two-week vacation this past summer where we visited 16 National Parks in the states of Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Utah.  I was struck by the parks beauty and enormity.  Each park was new, different and built on multiple millennia of the building up and tearing down of rocks and...

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Ever since companies like Napster, pirated music has created a standard of music listening that is free to consumers. As a result, consumers have valued music less and less. Bands and artists used to make all their money from CD’s and tapes and would further that revenue through concerts and performances. Nowadays, everyone has access to streaming apps such as Spotify, Pandora, Youtube, Apple Music and...

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About two weeks before school starts, students and parents spend copious amounts of time and effort on back-to-school shopping. That begs the question: how many students upgrade and repair their stringed instruments before heading back to orchestra class? If you haven’t thought about it yet, consider doing a little back-to-school maintenance. Below is a list of common repairs I recommend to my students: Get new...

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Last week a promising young student came in for his lesson somewhat down and despondent. A sophomore in high school, we are beginning to talk about his options for college and subjects he may want to study. Naturally, being a talented student I suggested studying music as an option and we discussed several different majors and other possibilities. The student was intrigued so I told...

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Fostering the habits of a successful music major I often meet students who have high hopes of pursuing music on a collegiate level. Sometimes these students are elementary school students just beginning their musical studies, and sometimes they’re in high school and much closer to their college career. No matter what age, there are habits that I believe set a student up for a better chance...

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