August 2012

Word of the Week: CHANGE

The only thing constant is change

The internship period brings about many changes and challenges.  As I learn how to meet the needs of various clients, I am also juggling my own ups and downs.  Sometimes I feel like I am only learning from the obstacles and hurdles that cause me to fail.  Instead, I have found that focusing on the positive and steady improvements propel me to progress quicker.  Here I share an article showing that too much focus on failure may lead to unhappiness.  At the end of the day, it seems to help me think about how I changed for the better rather than what I did not accomplish.

Word of the Week: BRAIN

As I exercise my brain extensively each day of my internship, I realize how much effort it takes to help others exercise their brains as well.  Knowing that mental workouts are tough, I decided to research some ways I learn best.  I stumbled across an article about jazz teachers, and was happily surprised with how accurate the descriptions of teaching styles are to my previous jazz directors and private teachers.

Last week I spent a significant amount of time learning about teaching adapted lessons, and I think that the tools used for teaching jazz can be very helpful for teaching anyone music.  The article I am sharing can help music teachers help any student of music to use his or her brain to its fullest capacity.

Full Moon – August 1st

There’s a full moon tonight, and a fun and creative session around this theme awaits.  Songs to be included are “Blue Moon,” “By the Light of the Silvery Moon,” “Bad Moon Rising,” and “Fly Me to the Moon.”  Of the list, the most popular is “Fly Me to the Moon.”  The 1964 version by Frank Sinatra, accompanied by the Count Basie Orchestra, gained the most acclaim.  Fly Me to the Moon