Conducting Lesson No. 1
Like many of you, I find myself doom-scrolling on TikTok and Instagram after a long day of teaching. My feed is a mix of everything, but one thing shows up consistently: band directors on the podium working with their ensembles There is some excellent teaching happening in our profession right now. But if we’re being…
Tuesday Tips: Why Won’t They Practice? (And What Actually Works)
It’s the question every music teacher has asked. You walk into the band or orchestra room on a Monday and see instruments sitting exactly where they were left on Friday. Why won’t they just take them home and practice? It’s a fair question—but maybe not the most useful one. A better question is: How do we…
Saturday Sessions: Scales
Scales. Just reading that word probably made a few of you flinch. They’re tedious, repetitive, and somehow manage to feel both too easy and unnecessarily difficult at the same time. And if you enjoy practicing them… well, we might need to have a separate conversation. But here’s the inconvenient truth: scales are foundational to everything we do…