from East to West

The Minnetonka School District has two middle schools, and I visited both of them this week. Yesterday morning I went to East, and this afternoon I visited West. Sarah Finn-Sommerfeld is the orchestra director at both schools, and she runs those classes with contagious energy!

It's always fun for me to ask, "Who likes to practice?" ..."Who doesn't like to practice?" ...pause... "Who decided not to answer that question?"

I encourage students not to see practice as drudgery, but as something FUN. Yes, the point of practice is to get better... but the point of getting better is that music is more fun to play (and to hear) when it sounds good and tells a story.

Practice doesn't make perfect. You can do something a hundred times... or a million times... but if you do it incorrectly every time, it'll never be perfect. Instead, practice makes permanent. This was a favorite saying of one of my former teachers, Alice Preves, who passed away on Wednesday. She was an amazing teacher, full of love, patience, and understanding. And her wisdom lives on.