Category Archives: Etcetera

That isn’t a typo. A few weeks ago I finally got around to watching the brilliant Stephen Sondheim documentary, Six By Sondheim. Directed by his friend and collaborator of over 35 years, James Lapine, it dives into Sondheim’s inner thoughts, … Continue reading →

It has been a calendar year since I last posted posted here on goobermusicteachers after averaging one every three weeks for 5 previous years. I was aware it’s been awhile, but I honestly had no idea it had been that long. … Continue reading →

R – I just saw a funny post on facebook, a collection of memes; teachers reactions at common circumstances… “Teachers in May”, “When a student reminds me that I forgot to change the date on the board”, “When a student … Continue reading →

R – This is lengthy even for me, but please stay with me on this. I have spent over 25 years trying to put this into words, so this is not going to be brief. Many times when I have told colleagues that I don’t teach … Continue reading →

R – If I give you a boat kit, and you build it incorrectly and it sinks first time out, was it a bad boat kit or did you construct it poorly? I’m losing patience with schools who have improperly (tragically?) … Continue reading →

Public school music teachers, the game has changed. You can decide for yourself if that’s a good or bad thing, but I’m not happy. If you’ve read anything in this blog for the past four years now, you know my mantra: Music is … Continue reading →

R – The revised national music standards are about music teacher practice and delivery, not student skill development. I didn’t ask for anyone to tell me about my practice and delivery, thank you very much. I asked for a set of … Continue reading →

R- When Jarika and I started this blog 4 years ago, I was a year into a standards based model for my music classes. I wanted to pretty much shout out to the world how crazy I was about it… … Continue reading →

R- My YHS Spring concert was last night. As is usually the case after these concerts, I’m waking up this morning physically and emotionally “spent”. It’s a curious thing to me how my emotions are all over the place. I … Continue reading →

R – What if I told you I was about ready to cry “uncle” and give in? What if I told you that our 5 year efforts of the Maine Arts Assessment Initiative have been for naught? What if I … Continue reading →