Explore big-picture ideas about the role of music learning as well as day-to-day advice on topics like curriculum and lesson planning.
The essay which follows is written by a Caucasian-American in his mid-80s, summarizing his thoughts on where we have been and where we are heading as he approaches the end of his life. He has been privileged by superb parental guidance, the privileges of his race, an excellent education, and hard work, to rise from
-> Continue reading Some Private Thoughts on the History and Future of Race and Music in America
Certainly, we would all agree that the world of music has changed markedly since the time our nation was founded 244 years ago. Many would agree that we have gradually developed a remarkable series of collegiate music schools and departments, all over the country. But the academic world changes slowly, and as a result we
-> Continue reading A Brief Guide to the Appointment of Visionary Music School Deans
Norman Lebrecht’s ever-controversial blog, Slipped Disc, has just posted a list of what Lebrecht calls the world’s ten leading music schools, “based on our readers’ recommendations and disapprovals.” This list is followed by several dozen comments from Lebrecht readers from all over the world. Inspired by similar lists with entirely different results drawn up in
-> Continue reading How to Rank the Best Music Schools
Guiding Principles for Agreements It was the spring of 1975 when Paul Katz, cellist of the Cleveland Quartet, sat down to work out the details of the Quartet’s appointment as members of the faculty of the Eastman School of Music, whose director I was at the time. We both understood at the outset that the
-> Continue reading Resident Chamber Groups at American Universities: How to Foster Effective Relationships
The Community of Musicians Proposition It was May 1987 when Ernest Fleischmann, the champion executive director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, gave a famous commencement address at the Cleveland Institute entitled “The Orchestra is Dead—Long Live the Community of Musicians,” a speech that long roiled the musical world. Its principal argument was that orchestral musicians,
-> Continue reading Saving American Orchestras from Themselves
Pianists: Air-Force-Certified Masters of Complex Tasks Several years ago I had the privilege of listening to a talk by Lex Braun, Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, at an annual Advisory Board meeting of the Texas Medical Center in Houston’s National Center for Human Performance. The Pentagon, Mr. Braun told us, was concerned that the
-> Continue reading Music-Making and Neuroscience
I’m not sure when I first learned to pay attention—or, in fact, whether at age 83 I am truly paying attention to the extent I would like to. I certainly learned as a child that, if I wanted to play even a simple piece on the piano, it was important to be able to hear
-> Continue reading Paying Attention and Musical Learning
I was ten years old when my father joined the Boston Symphony and I went to my first Red Sox game, a mile from Symphony Hall at Fenway Park. That game took place in the summer of 1946, when the Red Sox won the pennant and should have beaten the Cardinals in the World Series!
-> Continue reading What Music Educators Can Learn from Baseball Commentators
Most parents understand that it is a good thing for even very little children to study music, and for all sorts of reasons besides one day becoming a professional musician. Dalcroze Eurhythmics was developed early in the 20th century by Swiss musician and educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950), teaching concepts of rhythm, structure, and musical expression,
-> Continue reading Who Should Study Music and Why?