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 [...]
I've done a lot in my online music education business over the last 4 years. All of it has taken a lot of hard work and dedication. I just figured out how to make it happen and took it all one day at a time. But, for some [...]
During the onset of the virus, I became stuck in the United States, unable to go back to my home in China. It was during this time that the world - and specifically the US - seemed to be overwhelmed with injustices. Our social media feeds were filled [...]
“Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen, great to see you? Welcome to our drum class. I hope you are excited… I know that I am. Let’s begin.” As I uttered this opening statement, I was looking into twenty-two sets of 4th-grade eyes, sitting in twenty-two little boxes, staring back [...]
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 [...]
“Okay, that’s it! Anyone who has questions can stay on the call; otherwise, you are free to go. I miss you all! Have a wonderful summer!” (double waves and beams) This was how I ended my last 7th-grade choir class of the year. It took place on Zoom, [...]
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 [...]
We texted, we called, we made jokes, we became angry and defiant, and then we paused and realized it wasn’t a game. It was real. The classroom and traditional education as we knew it, was stopping - at least in person. We were stepping into a pandemic and [...]