It’s time to go to the fields

            What does it mean to say a school is making “adequate yearly progress”? What is the value of a standardized test that produces an aggregate score for a group of students in one school and has it compared in the local newspaper against scores from another? How does student performance on a standardized exam relate to future vocational aspirations? […]

Let’s start by asking better questions…

I am not one to make a new year’s resolution – the idea of self-regulation only once every 365 days is somewhat unsettling.  If you think that needs to happen only once every 8,760 hours, you might have some personal issues that no amount of blogging can ever fix – sorry to drop the hammer, just a personal view. That […]

Sticking the landing after the big leap…

Four very short weeks ago, the band program at Mercer took a big leap as we started our year with a unit on chamber music that culminated in our Fall Chamber Recital.  Over twenty different selections were presented in the recital ranging from Handel, Haydn, and Mozart to Sousa, and John Williams.  You can read a full copy of the […]

“Feeling” Interpreters

This week I began researching interpretation and feeling as part of my work at Kent State.  At first glance, they seemed unrelated. However, the more I began reading perspectives of different composers and conductors, my conclusion is that great interpretation does not just recreate the composer’s intent but rather conveys feelings that the composer intended. The sources abounded including Mark […]

What makes an effective music educator?

To say I have been buried and been behind – including postings on the blog – this fall is like saying “Sales for Chrysler have been a little down lately”.  There have been a lot of busy things happening, a lot of demanding things happening, and some good things happening in there too.  Parts of my studies at Kent State […]

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