Well, the trumpets did okay today. I'm really happy at how their mouthpiece sirens are coming along, but I was really hoping for more improvement on note recognition and such. I'm reminded of a talk I heard at the MMEA conference given by Dr. Peter Boonshaft on motivation, discipline, and inspiration. It was truly an inspiring talk, and I dearly wish I had recorded it because he was going through so much good information at such a break-neck pace.
One of his may points was (and correct me if I'm wrong, anyone else who saw it) that motivation, discipline, and inspiration are one in the same. Letting the reader mull that over for a second, I continue : I had given my trumpet players some motivation (the concert was soon), some inspiration ("Look! You can do it already! Just practice to make it solid"), but as for the discipline, I don't know what to think, exactly. They're all in a baseball league, and the progress I've seen in one weekend is great compared to what I've seen in other sports-minded kids who have the same kind of schedule, but there's always that feeling of "what if they had time to practice more?"
I'm reminded that we don't find time for things; we make time.
Still, today didn't sound like a Monday, and I am very very happy for that. Way to go, trumpets!
-Greg
P.S.: anyone have any better grasp on motidispiration than I do? Dan? Dr. Boonshaft? :)
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2 comments:
Peter Boonshaft was a classmate and colleague of mine at The Hartt School of Music years ago (too many to mention now that I think of it). I have no doubt he gave an inspiring address.
You're on the right track with your students. The fact that you know about their lives outside of music shows that you have taken an interest in them on a personal level. Don't sweat the concert, they will come through in the end I'm sure.
He did the Motidispiration presentation at TMEA this past February. TMEA has made audio recordings available for nearly the entire convention. Email me and I can get you more details.
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