Essence

Last week in rehearsal we began talking about the concept of finding the essence of difficult passages in the repertoire. This is a rehearsal technique that I have been developing over the past several years and wanted to introduce to this fine ensemble. This technique is by no means uniquely mine. But, I believe I have created some wrinkles in the technique that allow for greater learning by each member of the ensemble, regardless of their technical proficiency.   (If you heard the Mendelssohn Sinfonia last night, you heard this without knowing it.)

In virtually every ensemble there is some range of technical ability exhibited by the members of the group. There will almost always be some who grasp the most difficult technical passages quickly and others who take longer to learn the passages or, perhaps even find those passages to be above their technical capabilities. This is the case this week and virtually every summer here in the Intermediate Concert Orchestra. Again, I would stress that this is the case in most youth and community orchestras.

So, as music directors, we have one of two choices. We can either program all music in which everyone in the ensemble can play every technical passage. Or, we can give the musicians tools for seeing the deeper meaning in passages and finding ways to adapt technically so that they are enhancing the orchestral performance, not detracting from it. In several of the conducting situations in which I find myself, the latter is the better choice. (Let me stress to young teachers that sometimes the former is the better choice. It depends on your particular situation and requires great thought in reference to the goals of the ensemble and the type of musician that you are reaching.)

My friend, conductor Scott Speck, put it this way: think of a meter in front of the orchestra. For every right note you play the meter goes to the right. That is good! For every wrong note you play, the meter goes to the left.  That is bad. If you don't play anything the meter stays straight up and down. No harm done. The goal for each musician is to make the meter go to the right constantly. That said, by not playing a wrong note, the meter is not impacted. I am trying to get young musicians to make that meter go to the right. If they play in correct rhythms or incorrect pitches, that meter goes in the wrong direction. It is hard to convince young musicians that they are helping The Ensemble by leaving stuff out. So, in response to this I created this rehearsal technique. If done correctly, the musicians that ought the for playing the essence not only serve a benign role of not hurting the ensemble. They also help the ensemble by stabilizing rhythmic and pitch information for the other players.

I called my technique finding the ESSENCE of a passage.  It works like this:

Many times in the repertoire there will be very fast passages of 16th notes, difficult fingerings or shifts or, perhaps, very high notes that are technically challenging. I can always tell from the podium when there are students who are struggling to keep up with the ensemble.  It is at this point that I invite the ensemble to step back, listen to the passage, think about the passage, and ascertain the essence of the passage. Sometimes when we are simply seeing a difficult fast passage or technical requirements that are above our level, it's easy to get lost in the forest and missed the trees. Many times in a sixteenth note passage the essence is the first note of the 16th . Or, perhaps if the passage is very high and require shifting on the part of the string player, simply taking note of the name of the note can be an enlightening activity. I always say that correct pitches are way more important than high notes. A pitch that is difficult to find up high on the fingerboard is better off being played an octave lower in a position that is accessible to a less-experienced string player.

In addition to finding these essence passages when left hand is in focus, I will also look for rhythmic essence at times. If an ensemble is struggling with a rhythmic passage, I try to look for the fundamental rhythms and break the difficulties down into manageable pieces. Sometimes this means adding sixteenth notes to a tricky eighth note passage that may be rushing or slowing down. Sometimes it means just finding the accented notes in a fast passage. Other times, it means clarifying who is providing the rhythmic information in the passage.  Really, it is the same process: find the technically difficult passage and break it down into manageable parts that still fit into the greater work.  After a while, musicians get quite good at doing this!

Please bear in mind that these are my values as a conductor and ensemble leader.  My thinking might be different if I was working as a private instructor on solo repertoire.  As a conductor, my ultimate goal is an accurate and moving performance.

Once I have established exactly what the essence of a passage includes, we go to work on using it meaningfully.

• We play the essence passage by itself. 
• We add the rest of the ensemble playing the actual part while the section in question is playing the essence. 
• Sometimes I will have the outside player play the written part and the inside player do the essence. 
• I will then reverse that. 
• Sometimes I will have the front three stands play the written part and the rest of the section play the essence. 

I typically give musicians the choice as to what they will play in a concert. In other words, a student might play The essence in rehearsal for several weeks while they are perfecting the difficult passage. I always make it clear that I would prefer essence in performance over a sloppy technically difficult passage. Essence always makes the ensemble stronger. Wrong notes make the ensemble weaker.  And, I always remind students that no one in the audience will have any idea that they are playing something other than what is written in the part.  At the core is the notion that each players' responsibility is to make the ensemble better!  Sometimes that means playing the essence.

So, this is a brief description of my thoughts on finding Essence in Ensemble repertoire. Sometimes it is absolutely imperative that this be defined and that students know that they can use it as a purposeful tool as part of the rehearsal process and perhaps even part of the performance . I welcome your comments and thoughts on the subject.

Until next time.

Peace.

Scott

Yes, Please

I just finished devouring Amy Poehler's 2014 memoirs, entitled Yes Please, This is a fun, light read with plenty of laughs and great stories of her childhood, as well as her time in the improv comedy scene in Chicago, SNL, and Parks and Recreation.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book and finished it in about a day and a half.  I love to read about the lives of artists and the experiences they encounter. This one didn't disappoint.  There are about 3 quick remarks that I am eager to make as a result of reading the  book.

First, the title.  Yes, please is a result of her work in improv comedy and theater where the cardinal rule is to always affirm the statement of direction that your fellow actor takes the sketch.  You always say yes. You never say no.  I have  heard this numerous time from my friend, Theater Instructor at NCSSM, Adam Sampieri. So, this is not a new concept for me.  I really enjoyed getting Poehler's take on this to add to my understanding from Adam.  And, if you read my post, "I Want More," a few days ago, I think that I said the same thing in a different way. As a fine arts instructor, I believe it is my job to say, "Yes."   The trick is to say, "yes," and then provide the framework or direction to get to the destination.  This is the essence of teaching and particularly the essence of teaching elective subjects.  Students want to get there.  We must say yes.  But, we need to have a plan (sequence, system, nomenclature, and harmonic underpinning) for getting to the destination.  I will continue to try to say, "Yes."

The "please" aspect of the title reflects her understanding that please isn't ever a bad thing to say.  Polite is good.  Appreciative is good.  Manners are good.  A phrase I use a lot is "love works."  I continue to believe this.  Amy Poehler affirmed that for me this week.

Next, I tweeted out two quotes from her book that I  want to reiterate here as well. 

First, Poehler reminds us that  "Ambivalence is key. You have to care about your work but not about the result; not about how good people think you are."  This is such a good reminder for all of us in this age of social media, public commentary, youtube concert broadcasts, and a general air of criticism.  I have definitely learned over the years to trust and care about my work.  There will always be critics. Stay the course and your work will speak for itself.  Trust me, not everyone digs my work.  I usually take it really hard. We all want to be universally liked and  respected.  I don't think anyone gets that luxury.  I think the very best sports commentator on rado or television is Colin Cowherd from ESPN.  I love his interviews, intellect,  style, commentary, and his sense of humor.  He gets absolutely killed by bloggers, critics, and every other random dude that thinks they know better.   He is totally ambivalent (at least publicly).  He knows that his work stands on its own.  I know that my work stands on its own.  You can rest assured that yours does as well.

 Finally, she tells us that, "You need to be where you are to get where you want to be."  This is such a good reminder for me this summer.  I am up  in Michigan, teaching at Interlochen, doing really important work.  I truly believe that these kids in ICO need me.  I have a unique perspective as conductor, parent, improvising musician, classical musician, teacher, husband, and colleague.  I really try to impact my students, the young folks that are on staff for the summer, colleagues, and parents.  I also really try to be impacted by all of them.  I want to grow every day.  That said, my wife and kids are at home. I miss them a great deal.  I am missing baseball games, conversations around the dinner table, weekend trips to the beach and relatives, holidays (today is July 4), and numerous other events this summer.  I am very fortunate to have a wife that loves me and understands my work.  When I questioned whether it was a good idea for me to be here this summer, she texted me that "It is ok.  You are doing important work."  I am really blessed.  I really try to be present when I am at home.  She has often told me that is one of my gifts as a father.  I don't know if that is always true, but I really try.  You really do need to be where you are to get where you want to be.  I know it in my heart.  I am glad that Amy Poehler reminded me of it  this week. Her timing, as usual, is really good!

 Thanks, Amy.  I loved to book. 

 Peace.

Scott

I want more!

I want more!

Who wouldn't want to hear this from their top students? After all we want our students to thirst for more. We want them to grab as much as they possibly can, to truly desire excellence, and to live, eat, and breathe their instrument.  That said, as instructors, we have to be ready to respond to that charge in an affirmative and realistic manner. We have to know ahead of time what we're going to give them when they ask for more.   Material must be realistic and appropriate.  Tasks must be authentic and lead to real-world performance techniques and skills.  And, for goodness sake, we never want to squelch that enthusiasm.

If you read my post from yesterday, you know that I encountered this very situation this week. Honestly, I'm not sure that I really responded in the best way. I encouraged the students to give it time and they would find the challenge and difficulty in passages of the repertoire that I had selected. I've been thinking about this for the past 24 hours or so, and I'm convinced I really didn't give their remarks justice at the time that they presented them to me. I've been thinking a great deal about what I can give these students to really challenge them in their pursuits water here at camp this summer and certainly want to meet any challenge that a student might present to me.

So, with that in mind, here are some thoughts for members of each section of a string orchestra and ideas for conductors to use in order to give their students that truly desire an extra challenge, or "more." I am sure that many of you will have additional ideas to add to this list. This is in no way comprehensive. And, I would love to hear your ideas as well. But, for now here is some of my thoughts after about 24 hours of reflection.

First violins

I feel like the biggest challenge with the first violin section is encouraging them to use upper positions on passages that don't necessarily require them to play high pitches. It always seems to be a trick with young musicians to get them to see what would be an open A as a second finger on the D string in third position, or some other finger, if the passage calls for 2nd or 4th position. I encourage them to seek the best opportunities for shifting, opportunities for playing a passage on a single string with shifts, and to look for possibilities of altered fingerings to encourage a sweeter vibrato on sustained notes.

Another great challenge for a first violinist is to hand them a cello part or a viola part and encourage them to learn to play those parts on their instrument. There is no downside to learning how to play bass or alto clef on the violin, transposing by the octave where necessary. And really, in that same vein, shouldn't the first violin section learn to play the second violin part as well as their own? That can only enhance their true understanding of the work and the musical ideas that the composer is trying to develop.

Second violins

So, the obvious challenge for a second violinist, is to learn the first violin part. There is no downside to this challenge for a student in the second violin section. Additionally, all of my previous thoughts on playing in upper positions are options for these students as well. This can be particularly meaningful, as so many of the second violin parts, particularly for student orchestras, are in the lower register of the instrument. It is a wonderful challenge, for a second violinist, to get off of those open strings and up into 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or even 5th position, particularly for sustained passages or repeated notes.

Additionally, I always challenge the 2nds to concentrate on richness of tone and the role of the inner harmony in the ensemble.  Training young ears to hear that role is a full time job and those that figure it out will go far!  I also always encourage my 2nd violins to listen for their opportunities to be in the spotlight.  When do the 2nds have a moving part while everyone else is sustaining a chord?  That is the time to "sit a little straighter" and play like a diva!!

Violas

When in doubt, TREBLE CLEF! I really feel like any violist that is ready for extra challenge must be encouraged to develop their skills in reading treble clef. Hand them a first violin part. Or, hand them a first and second violin part. Encourage them to learn them all. Again, this will only enhance their understanding of the composition, and make them a better player in the long run. It will prepare them for all kinds of performance situations where they will be required to read from treble clef. And, if they do a great job and learn those parts, find a way to feature them in a performance. Perhaps you could add a small repeat somewhere in the midst of a piece where violas could take over the first and second violin part as a feature passage.

All of my previous remarks about shifting also certainly apply to the viola section. I would encourage violist that desire an extra challenge to think about fingering in relation to the tonic and key of the work. Have them consider how their scale study relates to the passages they are performing. If they are doing scales that begin with first finger on the tonic, then finger passages accordingly. If they are working on scales with second finger on the tonic to begin, then encourage that philosophy in fingering passages in the orchestral repertoire. Drawing these connections between scale study, concepts in theory, and the repertoire is invaluable.

I also always encourage violists to be extraordinarily cognizant of musical line and direction. a fine violist must always find the direction of the phrase and work to enhance the understanding of that line for every other member of the orchestra.

Finally, obviously, the tonal implications of the viola section are huge. Violists that are looking for more, should be encouraged to be thinking about their vibrato, bow weight, bow distribution, balance, and tone production throughout every rehearsal and whenever they have their hands on  their instruments.  After all - that is the real-world role of the viola in the orchestra:  richness, inner harmony, color.  This is what the violist loves and our viola students need to learn to embrace that  challenge.

Cello

For cellists, I would reiterate many of the aforementioned concepts. However, one additional concept is to focus on fluid movements while playing and performing with an orchestra. I have noticed, over the years, a deep divide in musicianship between those cellists that move freely when playing versus those that are rigid in their posture.  The cellist (and all other musicians for that matter) that moves, typically produces a musical line that sings!

Bass

I had a wonderful conversation this evening with my dear friend and colleague, AaronTenney, bass instructor here at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, about this very subject. He suggested that young bassists that claim they need more must be reminded to concentrate on issues that truly define the essence of bass playing. These include: concentrating on a consistent vibrato, working to generate a "room-filling" tone, always performing with a classical pizzicato technique (as opposed to jazz - yes there is a difference), and considering tone, rhythm, and balance on every note of a work.  In a word, mindfulness is the challenge.  The essence of bass technique is the goal.

I hope that you find some of these suggestions to be helpful. I am certain that many of you will have additional ideas for challenging your top students. Please share them with me. I would love to hear from you and continue a dialogue.

Peace
Scott

Duo Amantis

On Tuesday, July 3, I had the pleasure of catching a wonderful performance by Duo Amantis, a virtuoso flute and guitar ensemble that specializes in music of the twentieth century and features Dr. Tara Schwab, flute and Dr. Michael Kudirka, guitar.  The performance was in an intimate rustic room on the Interlochen Campus and, while it was a hot and muggy afternoon, served a perfect venue for the recital. 

Tara Schwab and Michael Kudirka happen, also, to be family’s next door neighbors at the Interlochen facility and we have really enjoyed hearing them rehearse for the recital for the past week as we were winding down from our activities of each day.  On our first night at camp, my son, Matt, and I listened as Michael worked a passage on his guitar with incredible accuracy and precision until it was simply perfect.  We both remarked that it was a wonderful lesson on perfect practice: 1. Identify the passage in question, 2. Slow it to a speed that it can be played perfectly, 3. Slowly and accurately practice the passage, 4. Bump up the tempo in small increments with care to maintain the accuracy, 5. Insert the passage back into the work and practice through the transitions. 

The performance was a true demonstration of virtuosity, musicianship, and exceptional ensemble.  First, they performed a Grand Duo Concertante, by Mauro Giuliani, Op. 85.  Guiliani, apparently was a contemporary of Beethoven and this was apparent from the first note to the last.  My favorite movement was the Scherzo and Trio that included a wonderful hemiola figure that returned over and over in the first strain of the “Bethovensque” Scherzo.  Next, they performed Songs and Dances from the New Village, by Dusan Bogdanovic, which featured a melancholy Shepherd’s Song and Prophets Song as well as a more up-tempo Gankino Oro and even a Milsho’s Boogie that recalled the first movement shepherd’s song at one point near the end.  This work was completely mesmerizing and the duo really captured the essence of the piece in every way.  Next was a programmatic piece entitled, Nastrond, by Jeffrey Holmes that conjured up images of an icy Nordic afterlife for warriors that had died with dishonor. This piece featured a variety of interesting and wonderful sounds and colors for the flute and guitar that included third-tones for which Tara had to create fingerings on the flute. Finally, they finished the program with Le Tombeau de Couperin, by Maurice Ravel, a piano piece that they arranged for their ensemble.  Again, the colors and images that they were able to create with this new instrumentation were simply magic.

In addition to my interest in this performance for all of the obvious musical benefits lies another interesting relationship.  Dr. Schwab served as principal flautist in the Eleanor Roosevelt High School Orchestra, which I directed, in the mid 1990’s when she was a teenager and exceptional young musician.  It is so gratifying to see former students grow to become such wonderful scholars, musicians and professionals.  I beamed with pride as I listened to this performance.  I am so honored to have a place in the music education of this wonderful musician, however small it may be.  I recall a wonderful relationship with Tara and her Mom as we navigated the waters of Tara’s high school experience together.  At one point, Tara performed a movement of the Chaminade Flute Concerto as a soloist with my orchestra.  I remember her preparation and musicianship in those years to be exceptional and she has certainly maintained and expanded that level of commitment!

Congratulations to Duo Amantis on a wonderful performance last night and I wish you much success in the future. 

Peace.

Scott

Pedagogy from the podium

This weekend, I have been conducting an Honors String Orchestra Festival at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. My thanks to Emily Crane and all at Austin Peay for inviting me.  It's been a wonderful event and, as a result of my rehearsals here, throughout the weekend I have been giving a great deal of thought to my upcoming educational sessions at a couple of different conferences. A session that all be presenting in coming months, including at the National ASTA Conference in Tampa, is "Pedagogy From the Podium." This is a session that I began giving many years ago while I was still teaching in Palmyra, PA, based on some of the "best" practices that I had discovered in my daily teaching life. But, as you can imagine, over the years the content and the approach have changed a great deal. 

 Those of you that pay attention to this blog know that last year I was strongly considering the anatomy of any strong pedagogy. I presented a model where there were four components of any pedagogical concept that needed to be addressed. Those components are as follows: 

1. A SYSTEM is developed 

2. The system is SEQUENTIAL

3. There must be strong NOMENCLATURE introduced to clarify the system

4. The instructor provides a HARMONIC UNDERPINNING to any skill that is introduced modified . 

So, my task over the last several months has been to consider the systems that I have developed over the past several years. As this has been in the front of my mind, I've become more and more aware of the myriad of systems that I've developed or utilized over the years. Last year, I spent a good deal of time discussing, creating resources for, and teaching about the system of Finger Patterns that I had acquired from other great pedagogues and modified to suit my particular needs. Continuing on that theme, I have become more and more aware of other systems that have become an integral part of my teaching over the years.  Some of these were developed by others, some I have modified, and others I have developed.

Those of you that attend Pedagogy From the Podium, will get a strong dose of my belief in the model for these systems, and a number of specific systems that you can use in your classroom which utilize the model. I am still weeding out the final content of these sessions, but right now these are the areas that I will potentially be addressing. 

• Ensemble Tuning
• Ensemble Playing Position
• Finger patterns as a vehicle to ensemble intonation
• Rhythmic stability and Inner Rhythm
• Watching the conductor and general ensemble awareness
• Movement and breathing into phrase
• Dynamics and the dynamic nature of ensemble playing
• Spiccato and other intermediate to advanced bow techniques
• Bow speed/placement
• Pizzicato accuracy and technique
• Musical "essence" and the art of self editing difficult passages
• Precepts of bow direction
• Bow weight as it relates to bow placement
• Bow style as it relates to historic era of composition

Obviously, this won't all be addressed in a one-hour session. So, as you can see, some of this will be "weeded out" in coming weeks and months. I hope that you find some of these topics interesting and truly hope to see you at one of the sessions. Please let me know if any of these areas particularly resonate with you, or if there is something missing here that you would like to see.  Here's what I can promise: I will certainly be thinking about these systems and my approach to the ensemble development in the coming weeks and months. I will do my best to offer specific and pertinent content for everybody who attends.

For those of you on the East Coast: stay dry and safe this weekend. To those of you here in Clarksville TN, thanks for an awesome weekend of music making, sharing, and collaborating. You all have been wonderful to work with and I know our concert today is going to be magnificent!

Peace.

Scott 

South Carolina Region 2

Hi Friends.
Last weekend I conducted a wonderful Regional Orchestra event in South Carolina. (It was such an honor to work with your students in Region II.) As part of the event, I was asked to present a 1 hour professional development session for the participating teachers.  Initially, I planned to do my Pedagogy from the Podium session which I have presented many times over the years.  But, after my first evening of rehearsals, I decided it would be cool to share some of the broad ideas I was presenting to students as part of the rehearsal process.  I thought the teachers would enjoy hearing some background and context to my musical and ensemble priorities. 


All of these are designed to empower kids as independent musicians.

• Functional Musicianship
• Music-making with Joy
• Essence
• Lean forward, Lean back, Groove
• Approach, Arrive, Depart
• Dynamic/Static Passages
• Listen for inner rhythm
• Teacher/Student
• Brain and Practice, Molly Gebrian
• Pedagogy from the Podium
• Taxonomy

Pedagogy from the Podium Handout

Pedagogy from the Podium Presentation

I hope that some of this resonates with you and that perhaps your students will bring some of the concepts back to your local school orchestra.
Again, thanks for having me this weekend!!

Peace.
Scott

Trying To Be Better

As we start the second semester, I am coming off a period of reflection throughout the winter break and January term.  When we finished up the first semester of the school year, I felt quite good about the results of my planning and instruction throughout the fall. Teaching in this remote and hybrid environment is difficult. My Orchestra managed to put together some incredible virtual performances and, on the whole, I feel like I met the needs of my students. With that said, I know that I can be better. I have been reflecting on areas for improvement for the past two months or so and was able to outline some changes for the spring term to my Orchestra at our first rehearsal last Tuesday. I would like to share some of those changes today, in hopes that one or more of them may resonate with you or you may be compelled to consider how you can be better as well as we head into the spring.

First, many of you know that I have been creating audio guides for my students to use remotely in lieu of a conductor. To create these guides, I record all five parts of the string orchestra score using my electric violins. I have written and spoken about these guides extensively in the past. Even with the success of those guides, I have felt that I could probably do more. So, one of the changes I am making this term is, in addition to the full string orchestra audio guide with click track, I will be providing students with their individual part with click track. I am anxious to see how this impacts student performances. One or two students have already told me that there were sometimes rhythmic questions when they only heard the full ensemble audio guide.  The individual recorded parts will permit students to zero in on their part, associated styles, articulations, specific intonation, and other aspects of the piece. I will provide these at full tempo and at reduced tempi for further customized practice opportunities.

Another addition to my instructional model will be weekly videos outlining specific performance practices for the pieces we are learning and performing. Obviously, I gave this type of instruction through Zoom last semester. But, one would have had to dig through the Zoom recordings to find those specific instructions. This term, I will make a Youtube video for each voice in the Orchestra, outlining performance practice, dynamic considerations, tricky fingerings or passages, and potential use of essence for students who may not have the technical capabilities or confidence to fully perform a section or passage within the piece.

Another change or addition for second semester will be an increased live chamber experience for on-campus students during our Tuesday night rehearsal time. Due to the large size of our ensemble and the split nature of our rehearsals, I kept Tuesday nights as fully remote classes and group lessons. After some thoughtful conversations with our choral director, we decided to combine my string class and his choral class together in small chamber ensembles during our common Tuesday evening rehearsal time.  Singers will be masked with special singing masks and separated with plexiglass drum shields. The masked strings will double vocal parts. This will provide a small facsimile of the live ensemble rehearsal for small groups of students. We are hopeful that this opportunity to play and sing together will be meaningful for everyone.

Another change for this term will be a stronger plan for individualized performance and grading expectations. Last semester, I noticed a subset of the Orchestra did not complete all of the recorded performance expectations. Following my individual meetings with students, it became clear that some students felt overwhelmed as the semester went on. So, for this term, I will have a set of basic universal repertoire for everyone to learn and submit. This will include primarily Grade III and IV repertoire that is straightforward to learn and record. Then, there will be several additional, more challenging pieces which students can opt into playing. Following my individual meetings with students, I was pleased that about 75% of the orchestra indicated an interest in playing all of the repertoire. But, for the 25% that requested a lighter load, it is my pleasure to offer this alternative. Recording for a virtual ensemble experience can be stressful for some. I want to make sure that I honor these various levels of stress and the various amounts of time it may take for students of different playing levels to prepare a piece of music. This more individualized plan is a step in the right direction, I believe.

Finally, I intend to meet individually with each of my students more regularly this term. At the very least, I would like to have another 10 minute check-in at midterm and again at the end of the semester. As I indicated in my last post, these opportunities for personal interaction are invaluable.  

I believe each of these slight changes in my plan for the second semester will pay huge dividends.  What changes are you making as we begin the second semester? What worked during the first half of the year? What needs a little tweak? These are always important questions for us as teachers. I am certain that I will have new ideas as we finish this semester also. This is the beauty of teaching. We are never finished. We never have all the answers. I firmly believe that we can always do better. I invite you to consider these questions as well.

Here's to a great second semester and a great spring.

Peace. 

Scott

Pedagogy from the Podium #ASTA2016

Hi to all who are attending my session at ASTA 2016!
Thanks for coming to my session!!

Here is a link to the completed handout

Also, here is a link to the Finger Pattern Playlists

And, here is a reprint of my October 2015 post on this topic.

This weekend, I have been conducting an Honors String Orchestra Festival at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN. My thanks to Emily Crane and all at Austin Peay for inviting me.  It's been a wonderful event and, as a result of my rehearsals here, throughout the weekend I have been giving a great deal of thought to my upcoming educational sessions at a couple of different conferences. A session that all be presenting in coming months, including at the National ASTA Conference in Tampa, is "Pedagogy From the Podium." This is a session that I began giving many years ago while I was still teaching in Palmyra, PA, based on some of the "best" practices that I had discovered in my daily teaching life. But, as you can imagine, over the years the content and the approach have changed a great deal. 

 Those of you that pay attention to this blog know that last year I was strongly considering the anatomy of any strong pedagogy. I presented a model where there were four components of any pedagogical concept that needed to be addressed. Those components are as follows: 

1. A SYSTEM is developed 

2. The system is SEQUENTIAL

3. There must be strong NOMENCLATURE introduced to clarify the system

4. The instructor provides a HARMONIC UNDERPINNING to any skill that is introduced modified . 

So, my task over the last several months has been to consider the systems that I have developed over the past several years. As this has been in the front of my mind, I've become more and more aware of the myriad of systems that I've developed or utilized over the years. Last year, I spent a good deal of time discussing, creating resources for, and teaching about the system of Finger Patterns that I had acquired from other great pedagogues and modified to suit my particular needs. Continuing on that theme, I have become more and more aware of other systems that have become an integral part of my teaching over the years.  Some of these were developed by others, some I have modified, and others I have developed.

Those of you that attend Pedagogy From the Podium, will get a strong dose of my belief in the model for these systems, and a number of specific systems that you can use in your classroom which utilize the model. I am still weeding out the final content of these sessions, but right now these are the areas that I will potentially be addressing. 

• Ensemble Tuning
• Ensemble Playing Position
• Finger patterns as a vehicle to ensemble intonation
• Rhythmic stability and Inner Rhythm
• Watching the conductor and general ensemble awareness
• Movement and breathing into phrase
• Dynamics and the dynamic nature of ensemble playing
• Spiccato and other intermediate to advanced bow techniques
• Bow speed/placement
• Pizzicato accuracy and technique
• Musical "essence" and the art of self editing difficult passages
• Precepts of bow direction
• Bow weight as it relates to bow placement
• Bow style as it relates to historic era of composition

Obviously, this won't all be addressed in a one-hour session. So, as you can see, some of this will be "weeded out" in coming weeks and months. I hope that you find some of these topics interesting and truly hope to see you at one of the sessions. Please let me know if any of these areas particularly resonate with you, or if there is something missing here that you would like to see.  Here's what I can promise: I will certainly be thinking about these systems and my approach to the ensemble development in the coming weeks and months. I will do my best to offer specific and pertinent content for everybody who attends.

For those of you on the East Coast: stay dry and safe this weekend. To those of you here in Clarksville TN, thanks for an awesome weekend of music making, sharing, and collaborating. You all have been wonderful to work with and I know our concert today is going to be magnificent!

Peace.

Scott 

Self Control and Changing Habits

 I have been thinking a great deal lately about self control and decision making.  It is so very difficult to consistently make good decisions for ourselves and others.  There are so many temptations out there, and self control can be really tricky.  I know that I WANT to exhibit self control, but actually doing it is really hard. I always have believed that if we have a strong core philosophy on important issues, we will make strong decisions in critical times.  The key is to know where you stand before that decision needs to be made. I know, it seems like an odd line of thought for the early summer.  But, for me, a couple of things are going on that have led me in this direction. 

First, Dan Airly, the commencement speaker at NCSSM spent some quality time on this subject.  He made some great points in his remarks. (Find them at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT9j-hLgzFY&feature=youtu.be) The things that particularly stuck with me were that we are faced with temptation and difficult decisions all the time.   Temptations like texting while driving, spending just a little more time on Facebook, looking at just one more you-tube video, and other fun and interesting technologies provide temptations for us and as technology grows, those temptations will get stronger.  (I remember hearing that we get a little dopamine hit in our brain whenever our phone lets us know we have received a text.  So, subconsciously, we all want that hit of ecstasy.)   And, that we are most likely to make good decisions when there is both a positive reinforcement to that action AND a negative reinforcement.  In other words, just knowing that we shouldn't text and drive isn't enough for most folks.  We need something more to actually show self control and make the best call for ourselves and others.  (There is much more in the speech, but these are the things that I have been thinking about.)

These ideas are particularly hitting me because I am in the midst of trying to lose some weight.  I know it is hard to believe that a 48 year old man has put on a few extra pounds in recent years.  But, alas, it is true.  And, my doctor has advised me to make a few changes and lose a few pounds. 

This has provided me a great deal of opportunity to think about decision-making and ideas surrounding self-control.  It is so doggone hard to exhibit self control for me when it comes to food and eating.  I have become very aware that that I have developed the HABIT of eating my stress away.  I have the HABIT of eating snacks after dinner.  I have the HABIT of thinking that just one extra piece of cake won’t hurt me.  You get the idea. 

So, here in the early part of the summer, I am trying to retrain myself to make good decisions.  I am trying to develop better habits.  I am trying to develop a new core philosophy about eating and weight. My journey has been interesting to date and I still have a ways to go.  A few months ago, I joined a “pedometer challenge” at my school.  Teachers and students were encouraged to wear a pedometer, join a team, and compete for the greatest number of steps over a 6 week period.  I joined and found that a 10,000 step daily goal was really good for me.  I could look at the pedometer and see just how active or non-active I had been in a normal day.  The results were really interesting.  I could swing anywhere from 17 or 18 thousand steps on an active day, to under 5000 steps on an office-heavy day.  Many evenings included a walk at the end of the day, just to get to a more respectable 8 or 9 thousand steps for my team.  In the end, our team won the challenge and I have continued to wear the pedometer every day.  I get a huge positive reinforcement from a high number at the end of the day and certainly get a negative hit from a low number.

Last weekend, I was visiting friends from high school and one of my buddies is also trying to drop a few pounds.  We decided to hold each other accountable through the summer and try together to get below 200 pounds.  (That will be almost a 20 pound drop for both of us and I haven’t seen the 190’s since college.)  He texted me a few days ago with some encouraging words and an update on his progress.  This has been an incredible motivator for me to make good decisions surrounding my eating. I want to hang with my old friend on this and see it through to success.  In essence, I don’t want to lose the “competition.”

So, to lose the weight, I am changing habits.  I am attempting to exhibit self control. I am avoiding sweets and carbs.  I am really cutting down on the pasta and bread.  I am trying to eat vegetables, fruit, and lean meats.  But, the big one for me is not eating after dinner.  I really like those evening snacks.  There is nothing quite like Trisquits and cheddar cheese while watching a game on tv.  I also love the ice cream at night.  I could keep naming stuff, but it is making me hungry!  You get the idea.  So far, so good. I haven’t had any after dinner food for a week and I have survived.  I am trying to change my habits.

Of course, exercise is part of it too.  But, that is easy for me as I love to exercise. I love to get on the bike, walk, hike, etc. And, now that school is out, I have some more time for this.  I am hoping that I can be really consistent throughout the summer.  I am pretty sure that I can.

The bottom line for me is that losing weight now is a representation, for me, of the ability to make good decisions.  It represents self control and good habits.  I have developed a core philosophy and now, I need to lean on that philosophy when the going gets tough.  I hope that I can finish this race.

For my students and my own kids, I realize that losing weight might not resonate with you.  Many of you don’t struggle with weight loss and eating habits.  But there are plenty of other decisions and temptations that face you now or will face you in the near future.  The question is whether you have taken the time to develop a core philosophy on important issues.  Where will you stand when you are faced decisions regarding drinking, relationships, speeding in a car, texting and driving, drugs, studying, time management, and others as you get older and have more freedom and choice?  Remember, the short term pleasure, isn’t always worth the long term consequences.  I have definitely learned this from a weight gain and weight loss perspective.  Actually, I have learned this from lots of different perspectives.  And of this I am certain: the best decisions are made when a core philosophy has been developed long ahead of time.

Peace.

Scott

A Culture of Grace

A couple of days ago, a longtime friend reached out to me and asked if there would be an opportunity for us to talk about my experience in arts administration.  He is a retired Arts Supervisor in PA and is now teaching arts admin classes at a couple of different institutions.  Later that morning, we connected by phone and had a great conversation.

I was happy to share some of my story of serving as Fine Arts Coordinator at NCSSM for much of my 18 year tenure here.  The Coordinator position is a unique one, because I really serve as a peer-advocate for my colleagues in the arts at a variety of levels.  I am not their supervisor, but I do have the opportunity to lead our discipline in many ways.  I promote our programs, provide feedback on events and activities, allocate foundation funding, provide feedback, lead interview and hiring efforts, and generally set philosophy and tone for the arts at our school.  All of this is in addition to my role as Music Instructor and Orchestra Conductor at the school.

During our conversation, I had the opportunity to articulate many of the core philosophies that have driven our success over the past 15 years or so.  I brought the seeds of many of these ideas to NCSSM in 2001, but others have been developed or refined as a result of my unique experiences here at this unique school.  I have been privileged to teach in a variety of circumstances over the years and certainly bring expectations and models from each to NCSSM.  I was reminded in the conversation of the stellar organizational structure that I witnessed during my student teaching at Williamsport School District in PA.  I also worked with and modeled much of my teaching after one of the most dynamic teachers I have encountered in my career, Walter Straiton.  Walt was always quick to remind me to develop my own style and to be ever mindful of my style/substance ratio.  One without the other is significantly less effective.  I was also reminded of the wonderful teachers and mentors I encountered in my first position in Palmyra PA.  The music instructors at the elementary, middle, and high schools were all top quality teachers and incredible mentors to me.  The community embraced me completely and my colleagues cared for me as I navigated the difficult early years of a career in music education.  They let me make my mistakes and always encouraged me to find my voice.  As I moved on to Eleanor Roosevelt High School, I encountered colleagues and leadership that expected excellence at every turn.  They were truly "world class" educators, musicians, and directors.  They provided models of stellar leadership and musical outreach that positioned me to significantly expand my sphere of influence, not to mention my confidence as a pedagogue and conductor.  All of these experiences came with me to NCSSM.  But, I had no idea how my perspectives would change as I got to know this new and unusual residential learning environment.

After a few years of introduction to NCSSM, it became clear that the traditional K-12 music program philosophies were not going to be sufficient at this place.  Students come here as basically math and science "majors."  They are here for this unique academic residential program - not exclusively (or primarily) for the orchestra.  The academic workload is heavy.  The expectations are high in every class and department.  The residential experience can be exhausting.  Student and parent goals and expectations are different than even the science and technology magnet school I had worked in for the previous decade.  I had to come up with some revised guiding principles if I was going to survive here and if the music and arts program was going to thrive in years to come.  I must admit, I thought about leaving more than a couple of times.  It would be much easier at a wealthy suburban high school.  I knew that scene.  I could kill it there.  But, there was something about NCSSM.  I knew I had a mission here.

During our conversation, my friend asked me to describe the arts culture at NCSSM today.  After thinking about it for a few minutes, I responded that I believe we have a "culture of grace."  I heard him typing.  He had never heard of that before.  I told him that many years earlier I had read a book called Love Works, by Joel Manby  The booked helped to shape some of the ways we look at student involvement and participation and faculty leadership in the arts now at NCSSM.  I also believe that in our arts hiring over the past several years, we have looked for folks that understand the complexity of life at NCSSM and embrace the challenges (and sometimes frustrations) that go with teaching in the arts here.  We have built and incredible team who all embrace the concept of "grace."   It is also important to note that for grace to occur, there must be a great deal of trust.  We have to trust colleagues (within and outside our discipline), administration, and students. Students have to trust us and the school.  As a residential school, our students' parents must have an incredible amount of trust in us as mentors and guides for their kids in order to send them here for the last two years of high school. And, our administration must trust us to make good calls at every turn.  Yes - trust and grace go hand in hand.

Last Saturday, my orchestra performed Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor. The students did a wonderful job and I could not have been more proud of their performance.  One of my cellists was at the state swimming championships earlier that day and made the finals.  She had not expected to go that far and fully expected to be back in time for the concert.  She e-mailed me about the situation and I encouraged her to swim and miss the concert.  Grace.  I dropped her a quick note after the concert to see how she did.  I received this note in response:

"I actually did really well! I hate that I couldn’t be there and my mom was planning on coming to see the concert and then I realized that we were going to make finals and I was honestly crushed and stuck between two very hard decisions. I ended choosing finals because I knew my team was counting on me to be in our two women’s relays and I didn’t want to let them down. Thank you for understanding and I am looking forward to Trimester 3 :)"

I can't tell you how happy this note made me. She trusted me.  I trusted her.  Love works and a "culture of grace" works.

There are other guiding principles and philosophies that I haven't touched on here.  We try to consider the individual before the ensemble.  I try to always find a way to say "yes." We believe in mastery based learning.  I believe the concepts of "essence" and "functional musicianship" are key to great ensemble success - musical and otherwise.  I could go on.

But for now, I am so appreciative of that conversation.  It inspired me to reflect on how the heck I got to this point.  There are many new hurdles to clear in coming months and years at NCSSM.  My close colleague and friend, Phillip Riggs recently retired and I am trying to re-imagine what life and work here will look like without him here with me on a regular basis.  Another long-time colleague and musical collaborator is looking at retirement in the very near future. We are opening a new campus in Morganton, NC and there are many decisions to be made regarding curriculum, staffing, etc.   Technology keeps marching on.  We have to keep up!  New students, programs, and opportunities continue to show up in Durham and we will work to stay in front of all of it.  But, I am certain that I will continue to believe in and promote a "culture of grace."  This we need.  This, we ALL need.

Peace.
Scott

Mission Mentality

Today is the last day of 2020. Obviously, it's been a challenging year for everyone. There have been huge health challenges for so many people across the world, income and economic challenges for workers, teaching challenges for folks in education, learning challenges for students across the world, social, racial, and political division and mistrust, and certainly emotional challenges that accompany all of these for folks in so many ways. 

Our world is in desperate need of healing. And, individuals are in desperate need of direction, purpose, and peace. This has been the topic of many conversations for me in recent days and weeks. and I would like to share just a couple of thoughts as we move into 2021.

I will begin with a quick story about my college age son. He is currently a sophomore at the University of North Carolina and has experienced his own challenges with the pandemic and all the uncertainty which accompanies it. Last year, as a freshman, he made the decision to become a leader in the Young Life program. As a Young Life leader, he is tasked with leading Young Life activities and club meetings at a regional high school. In addition, he will forge relationships with the high school students who attend the meetings and endeavor to be a positive role model in their lives. The Young Life leaders at his high school were very good to him and he is giving back in a similar way. During his freshman year, when he was deciding if this was a good activity for him, we had quite several deep conversations. At one point, he told me that when you are a Young Life leader, you wake up every day asking yourself, "How can I care for someone else today?" I have thought about that quite a bit over the past year or so. I am not sure that I could have said that when I was 20 years old. That is a pretty cool daily mission for a college sophomore.

My wife has been listening to a the Spotify Daily Quote recently which  encourages folks to consider a quote and then expands on that quote to some extent. Recently, the quote of the day was from reggae rapper, Bad Bunny. While the quote itself doesn't have strong application to my thoughts today, the insights that followed the quote precipitated some interesting thoughts for my wife. In the pandemic environment, we like so many others have been home constantly. So many of the daily tasks have become repetitive, mundane, and at times laborious. The one that is hit her hardest has been cooking for our high school senior son. He is an athlete and on a special high protein diet to build muscle and strength. In support of that diet, my wife finds herself making baked chicken, roasted sweet potatoes, and white rice every day. His diet involves five meals a day and the work to keep this specific food available to him is never ending. It could easily become a very negative chore on her list. She was explaining to me that it is so much more positive to view this to-do list as an opportunity, rather than a chore. She mentioned to me that the concept of chores was strong in her home growing up. And, it is so much more enjoyable to accomplish things, rather than simply complete chores. Her mission, in this task of cooking, is to support our son's athletic goals. Viewing those darn sweet potatoes as part of a mission is a much healthier way to approach the task.

I feel like I have been fairly successful in this pandemic environment.  I have been able to maintain a positive attitude, starting each day with a sense of joy. The word I have used with regards to my work over the years is mission, which brings me to the point of this essay. For me, approaching each day with a mission mentality is an important key to happiness, fulfillment, and a general air of positivity in my daily life. When I approach my tasks as mission, there is a much greater purpose. Mission implies importance. Mission implies commitment. Mission speaks of doing something for the greater good which is much bigger than one's self. I believe that we can find mission in virtually every move we make during the day. 

When I was a young man, I had an awesome job at a local jewelry store in Indiana, PA. My work at the store began as simply a way to make a little bit of extra money. I learned how to engrave jewelry, do basic bookkeeping, and greet the public on the floor of the store. But, after a period of time, the work at the store became more of a mission. I became much more committed to my close friend who managed the store, the ownership, and most importantly, to the mission of providing folks with friendly service, reliable quality, and a trusted voice in their purchases. I developed a true loyalty to the mission of the store and developed deep relationships with the folks that taught me about the business. I approached my job with a mission mentality.

As I finished up college and began my teaching career, my first teaching opportunity was in Palmyra Pennsylvania. I have written about it before, so I won't spend too much time on that work here. But, suffice it to say, that I approached that work with a mission mentality. The string program was quite small when I arrived at the school and I was challenged to develop the string program for the school district. I had a mission. It was clear. I committed to it fully and spent six years giving all of myself to that mission. (As a sidebar, I was having a conversation with my son about success in the workplace yesterday. I told him that I really believe that early in one's career, you must commit fully and be willing to put in long hours, hard work, and not be concerned about work-life balance so much. It's really not a popular stance in today's society, but in 1987 that was the way we did things. It was the era of the yuppie, long hours, and getting ahead quickly. I think this was seminal to my commitment to mission mentality.) My mission at Palmyra was successful and other opportunities came quickly. I had a similar experience at Eleanor Roosevelt high School and spent nine years there pursuing my mission before coming to the North Carolina School of Science and Math.

In the ensuing 20 years at NCSSM, my mission has changed from time to time. Most recently, I have been named Fine Arts Chair for the Durham and Morganton campuses. This is a new mission for me and I'm really excited about whatever the future holds. We are currently in the process of hiring administrators for the new school in Morganton and I am also happy to be guiding two new music faculty members through their transition into our school environment in Durham. I have a mission.

Obviously, the mission changed in March of 2020. Suddenly, the mission was to keep engaging students in Orchestra and music while caring for them as individuals through the two-dimensional Zoom environment. It is a tricky mission. And, throughout that time, to continue to support my other Fine Arts colleagues, advance the school’s mission, and navigate all of the stresses that go with working from home, family trials and tribulations throughout the pandemic environment, and personal emotional ups and downs. But, the great thing about having a mission is that one bad day doesn't change the mission. In fact, in some ways, it can galvanize one's resolve to do better in the future. That has certainly been the case for me. I have found that my failures of today become my challenges for tomorrow. This is the essence of mission mentality. 

So, I challenge you today to consider what is your mission? What is your purpose? What do you hold in highest importance in your tasks throughout the day? 

I believe there can be multiple answers to these questions. Some days, my mission is in family matters. I work to be a good example to my kids, a partner to my wife, and a helper wherever possible. Other days, my mission is in my art. I am practicing, writing new music, recording audio guides for my students, generating blog or video content, and other artistic endeavors. On the other days, I am a colleague, a teacher, a friend, a student, a son. Yet, in all these rolls, I can have a mission mentality. These roles and accompanying tasks are important to me. I approach them with purpose. And, I try to approach them with joy and good humor. As I often say in this blog, I am not perfect. I don't always achieve my goals. Sometimes, I lose sight of my sense of mission. Sometimes the tasks in front of me simply become chores. Those are my worst days. They are the days that I feel unfulfilled, unhappy, or downright depressed. So, I try to keep the days I lose sight of my mission to an absolute minimum.

Let me encourage you today to find your mission. It requires some deep thought.  What do you hold as truly important - so important that you are willing to dedicate your time, your heart, and thoughts. What is your true purpose? Certainly there are multiple answers to these questions.  You are likely doing many of these things already. But, are you committed to them as your mission?  Perhaps 2021 is your opportunity to refocus or refine your sense of mission. Even the exercise of putting my thoughts in writing today has provided that opportunity for me. I wish all of you the very best as we move into 2021 and the continuation of the academic year. I know that so many of us are growing weary of distance learning and the pandemic environment. Hang in there! You have a mission. You can do this! 

 Peace. 

 Scott

Spinach Dip Recipe

Back in 1992, I left my first job in Palmyra PA, to become the Orchestra Director at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt MD. As part of my move from Pennsylvania to Maryland, I had to do some professional development to keep my teaching certificate up to date. This included two summer classes. One was in reading and the other was in special education. My new position was at a science and technology magnet school teaching orchestra. At the time, I was having great difficulty finding the value in doing this professional development and was dreading the classes. My colleague, the band director at the school, encouraged me to go and find any positive in the work that was required of me. In her words, I should "seek out a really good spinach dip recipe" as a result of my time in the classes. Her point was that we can find positives in virtually any situation. I used that phrase for many years when I opened professional development sessions I was teaching. Professional development is not ever going to hit every participant in the sweet spot. Participants must be open to the little benefits of a day or more of professional development. Sometimes we making a new friend, gain a new perspective, or, find "a really good spinach dip recipe" shared among friends. 

Last Friday, the Friday before Labor Day weekend, our students were gone for a long four-day weekend. The day was labeled a professional development day and the faculty at our school were required to attend a professional development session on Restorative Practices. I have to say, the timing wasn't good. It has been a trying beginning of the school year. Faculty are working hard to teach through masks. We are just coming back together as a community after being in a hybrid learning mode for over a year. Folks are worried about health, large groups, and the spread of the virus. In addition, there is much discussion in our community about self care, workplace flexibility, and the emotional well-being of our staff and faculty. And, lots of folks were ready to get out the door for a much deserved long weekend of rest and relaxation. In fact, I was planning a weekend trip to the beach and was in fact a little annoyed that I would be getting away from work so late on this final day before the Labor Day weekend. However, in spite of all of these factors, the professional development session on Restorative Practices from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. was scheduled and was definitely going to happen. The facilitators had been booked and paid, and the plan was set in motion. But, it would be fair to say that a large portion of our faculty was apprehensive about participating in the in-person sessions throughout the day, skeptical about the facilitators ability to understand our unique community, and not in a good place to receive the information that was being presented. 

It would be fair to say that many folks were not in a place where they could be looking for "a really good spinach dip recipe" on that day. In actuality, it seems kind of ironic that a professional development day on Restorative Practices could possibly have so much potential negativity surrounding it. But, this is where we found ourselves last Friday. 

I didn't know much about the topic. I had looked it up on Wikipedia briefly before the session. But, in actuality I was starting from scratch. Restorative Practices is an approach that proactively builds positive school communities. It is defined as a social science that studies how to build social capital and achieve social discipline through participatory learning and decision making. The day was built on providing models and a framework for implementing Restorative Practices in the classroom and school community. Our first meeting of the day was in a large room with our faculty split into "small groups" of about 30 to 35 people and a facilitator. These numbers of folks together caused a lot of concern among my colleagues from a health perspective. It really was too many people to be sitting in a circle in a room indoors when we have been so careful about the health of our community up to now. The facilitator was a really great guy. He had a history as a high school football coach, graduation coach, and has been working for the Department of Public Instruction for several years, teaching Restorative Practices. He was articulate, friendly, and very knowledgeable on his subject. That said, it became clear quickly that he was used to a very different audience than my school's faculty. As many of you know, I do not teach at a traditional high school. NCSSM is a residential high school of academically motivated students. Classroom management and discipline are not our biggest issues at NCSSM. We, as instructors, are focused much more on students social and emotional learning, health and well-being, and obviously, high level content for high achieving students. Much of the early stages of the presentation were built around classroom discipline, challenging students, and other common concerns in traditional high schools. At NCSSM, we tend to get the students who are not causing problems in class. So, understandably, our focus and concerns are different. We operate in a unique school setting for sure. (Hence, our mascot is appropriately, the Unicorns.)

About an hour into the presentation, after a couple of challenging and difficult interactions, I could tell that the presenter began to realize that he didn't truly understand our community. But, like the professional that he is, he let us know that he was trying to figure out exactly who we are, and move forward with an open mind and curiosity about our students, faculty, and environment. In truth, he handled it perfectly.

Throughout the rest of the day, our facilitator went on to explain many of the principles of Restorative Practices to our small group and led a sometimes difficult discussion. I was impressed with his ability to pivot and flow with the curveballs he was thrown throughout the day. I must admit, as the day continued, a small wave of positivity went through the room and I could feel participation become more open as the day went on. 

As for myself, I found a number of wonderful nuggets in the models of restorative practices that were presented that day. I knew I had a 4-hour car ride to the beach ahead of me with my wife and made several notes about topics I wanted to bring up with her to discuss in the car as they related to our relationship, our family, and our work. I had found my "spinach dip recipes."

One of the topics that I found to be quite interesting were the Nine Innate Affects as defined by the Restorative Practices Handbook. The positive affects were listed as interest, excitement, enjoyment, and joy. Neutral affects were listed as surprise and startle. Negative affects included shame, humiliation, distress, anguish, disgust, fear, terror, anger, rage, and dissmell. I considered these fairly deeply during the day. I believe that I live most of my life in the midst of the positive affects. I tend to begin each day with interest and excitement. And, for the most part I am open to, and seeking, enjoyment and joy in all that I do. As I considered these ideas, it occurred to me that my wife and I both live primarily in the positive affects. That is probably one of the keys to our 31-year marriage. I was anxious to share this idea with her in the car.

Another model that spoke to me a bit was the Compass of Shame which was presented to us. Mind you, shame is not an emotion I relate to a whole lot. But, it is part of all of our lives. The East/West poles of the compass include attacking others (on the west) and attacking self (on the east.) These are two very opposite reactions to shame. The north/south poles are withdrawal (on the north) and avoidance (on the south.) Again, these are very opposite reactions to shame. I would equate withdrawal to stewing in the shame and avoidance to denying the shame or moving on to other things in order to to mask the feeling. This was a lot for me to consider in my own life and as it relates to the lives of others. Interesting stuff. When do I feel shame? Why do I feel shame? And how is it changed over the years? Which poles are my default reactions to shame? I thought about all of this stuff a good deal throughout the afternoon. It was a good topic of reflection for me on this day. It also made for great conversation in the car on the way to the beach.

There were a few other concepts throughout the day that provided food for thought as well. I found the Social Discipline Window to be interesting and spent some time reflecting on it. If you want to know more about the Social Discipline Window, spend some time in the Restorative Practices Handbook for Teachers, Disciplinarians and Administrators, by Bob Costello, Joshua Wachtel, and Ted Wachtel. It is a comprehensive handbook and covers these concepts in detail.

In the end, the professional development session on Friday isn't going to change my life. It also certainly didn't kill me to participate. I left the day with food for thought and some interesting ideas to consider throughout the weekend. I thought a great deal about how these practices apply to the orchestra classroom. Also, it was interesting to consider how many of the philosophies I have developed over the years fit firmly into the ethos of Restorative Practices. I was particularly pleased to see how my concepts of "Essence" as a rehearsal discipline fit strongly into the model. I had a wonderful conversation with my Dean over lunch where we discussed these ideas. Another "spinach dip recipe!"

Isn't this the way professional development goes. Sometimes it hits a home run and other times it can be a strikeout. But, there is usually a "spinach dip recipe" to be found. 

As we move through the upcoming academic year, I wish you all the opportunity to find those spinach dip recipes. Keep an open mind and an open heart. Good things will come from our work. And, if you have the chance, check out Restorative Practices as a wonderful model and tool for your interactions with students, colleagues, and family. I feel certain you will find some value there. 

Peace. 

Scott