THE RUN Last week, I started on my usual 5 AM run. I laced up my shoes, donned all of my safety gear, and started on the route I had planned. I had my Spotify playlist on blast, trying to wake myself up as I took my initial [...]
In early July, I read a poem that stopped me in my tracks: "If I were a racist," by Nate Holder. Through captivating language, he expressed what it felt like the music education profession had been dancing around for years. I read it over and over again, noting [...]
You hold the stakes and the stakes are high. I, too, have held precious things. I’ve weighed the options and made the snap judgments beside the long-furrowed brain circles, when right and left seemed equally tied. I’ve held my breath. As a first-year teacher, walking through halls full [...]
Do you remember singing as a child? What are your earliest memories of singing? I can remember making up songs and singing for my family from a young age. I loved being silly and creating funny lyrics to familiar tunes. I remember singing hymns in church and singing [...]
For the next installment of our Music Beyond the Classroom series, we caught up with Louric Oshay, owner of The Oshay Music Group, LLC and accomplished producer, engineer, beatmaker, and educator. Louric and I connected over of our education (we both attended Temple University at the same time) [...]
Last night, our music department premiered a virtual concert on YouTube. It consisted of virtual performances, testimonials from students, and individual performances. When the show ended, I received an email from one of my administrators. He shared his gratitude for our students and their work and reminded us [...]
I've never had a "traditional" view of my orchestra classroom. Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that I am a non-traditional orchestral director. While that may be a story for another time, it's important to note that I have always strived to make my music [...]
Like many other music teachers, I am in the strange position of being a (sudden) virtual teacher. On March 12th, 2020, the governor for our state of Pennsylvania held a press conference in which he announced the immediate shutdown of all schools in Montgomery County, the county in [...]
(Note: this post will continue to be updated with resources as they come in) As I write this post, I am looking at a dozens of text messages from other teachers in my school district. We just received news that we would be closed for at least [...]
Will and I go way back. I still remember the first time I heard his Philly-based band, East Hundred, in 2008 and fell in love with the song "Slow Burning Crimes." I was playing in a band at the time and female-fronted groups were hard to come by [...]