Category Archives: Etcetera

R – When Jarika and I started this blog a few years ago, the landscape as it applied to music assessment in Maine was still a pretty static entity. A few teachers here and there were invested in it, but … Continue reading →

R – Visual and performing Arts educators are in an extraordinarily unique situation in Maine. True for all arts educators, but especially so for PK – 8 and dance and theater of all grade levels. The situation is one of … Continue reading →

R – A rare midweek blog post (and on this post-election morning I could use some humor) to self-congratulate and wish a Happy Birthday to the blog! Jarika and I launched this three years ago today, and it has served … Continue reading →

R – Jarika and I teamed up for this followup post to the one from September where I submitted that in our performance classes – especially in our grade/middle school and high school entry level ensembles – perhaps we might be guilty … Continue reading →

R – “What are you going to do with your life to be more than a dinosaur fart? Think about it! Can you imagine what that must have been like back then? A big deal, right? But what lasting impact … Continue reading →

J – As you think you travel, as you love, you attract. – James Allen This quote is speaking to me right now and is really the premise for writing… well finishing this post 🙂 I am alive. I gave … Continue reading →

R – I embarrass easily. It is not one of my finer traits, and even less one I’m particularly proud of. What that has meant in practice – throughout my entire life – is to resist the opportunity to take … Continue reading →

R – What would happen if… …students universally had more music instruction in their lives each week in 2014 than they did during the Roosevelt administration (pick either Roosevelt)? …music teachers universally used their programs primarily to educate the musically illiterate rather than … Continue reading →

R – I’ve never written on this blog before about feeling worn down. I’m feeling worn down. Fatigued. It is the closing of a school year that has been a good one in so many ways. As a matter of … Continue reading →

R – In the Summer of 2010, Argy Nestor, then the Visual and Performing Arts Specialist at the Maine Department of Education, called me up and asked me if I would be willing to take a week in August to attend … Continue reading →