RGIII, China, and Me

It’s 5:00 on a beautiful snowy Sunday and I am finally able to exhale; this much needed release of oxygen has nothing to do with school or work, it has to do with another week of NFL contests coming to a close.  This is my first year of participating in fantasy football and, it is with a knock on wood and some salt thrown over the shoulder...

Read More

A Whole Note

I recently wrote this Thank You/Note of Support to the Locked Out Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra. Thought it was fitting to post on here.A few months ago, musician and violist (get it? Musician AND violist...) Sam Bergman, wrote a blog about society’s obsession with amazing moments at different events. He wrote about how a home run in baseball...

Read More

The First Day

When I was entering my first year of teaching, I remember being asked countless times, "Are you ready for the first day?"  Ready I was!  I had my best shirt and tie picked out, a new pair of red Chuck Taylor's to balance out my freshly ironed black dress pants, and I even had a few lessons planned.  Of course, I had the room set up,...

Read More

F is for Focus: Part 1

What a week for the healing power of classical music!  Okay, maybe not literally, but I was suffering from a bit of a chest cold last week and after two wonderful orchestra performances in the last 4 days, I am starting to mend.  It could have been the extra rest and the chicken noodle soup, yes; or, it could have been the sounds of Rhapsody...

Read More

Did you miss me?

Something interesting happened today; on my drive down to Owatonna (part of many interesting events from the past three months) I found myself listening to a piece that I have always dreamed of conducting.  I have spent literally hours listening to this piece; daydreaming about the future I know to be attainable, yet distant...  I turned...

Read More

Glowstick Symphony

The signs that summer vacation is looming are quickly becoming more obvious than those for the failed rapture.  I had my final band concert of the year last week and the students (and their teacher) are having a hard time trading their daydreams of golfing and bicycling for reappearing concerns over the intonation issues at m9 of Pomp and Circumstance...

Read More

Another Brick in the Wall

It’s hot, sticky, perspiring, and fantastic!  Even though my colleagues and I are sweltering away in our classrooms (our high temperatures over the weekend clocked in around 65 degrees, while three days later we skipped past our first 80 degree day and hit 92 degrees), I can’t help but enjoy this heat.  I had a romanticized conversation with...

Read More