While the original intention may have been networking and connection, musicians now frequently use social media as a way to shamelessly promote themselves, and not necessarily in healthy ways.

We should be focusing on the arts and music without caring one bit about results. My own All State Orchestra chair placement, competition and audition results, and the repertoire I could “play” in high school makes absolutely no difference in my life now. But, I remember Mr. Diehl.

As the years go on, I’m finding it harder and harder to keep a foot in both of my professional and personal camps.

It’s important to ask for help in all areas of life. You’ve got nothing to lose - other than a bruised ego - by telling a student that you don’t know the answer to their question. After all, we can’t all be experts in everything, and seeking out those who have more information can enrich our own knowledge as well as that of our students.

It seems to me that this #MeToo conversation isn't happening because of a latent desire to get revenge or ruin lives. Only by having the conversation, revealing the experiences that people have had, will we progress, making future occurrences less and less frequent, and hopefully non-existent.

It’s not just the notes. It’s not just the rhythms. We educators need to stop allowing our desire to expose students to hard music trump what should be our ultimate goal in a musical education: promoting complete musical excellence at the highest level.

More than a few times this school year, when faced with looming auditions or limited progress, I’ve had to make a decision about what is best for the student: should I teach them a way to play this thing that they are struggling with in the context of this piece, or should I teach them the technique required to accomplish this thing in all contexts, in all pieces?

When it comes to finding a private music teacher, remember: one year of study with an unqualified teacher will take qualified teacher two years to fix. Most of the time, you’ll see better results, faster, if you seek out  the best, most qualified teacher for the student.