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Like many of us in the music-making profession, it’s been about two years since my last big tour. Since the age of 10, I have performed for part if not all of my income. Before the pandemic, taking a break…

I have been asking my teaching friends the big question, “what are you able to do now that you were not able to do before last March?” Their answers run the emotional gamut from despair to elation that they are…

As a string teacher, I often reflect on the joy my fellow string players experience at bluegrass jams, folk festivals, and rock concerts. These are all genres based on instruments that include strings that are widely popular. I often wonder…

As string educators, we must be aware of more than a few changing realities in both the classroom and the job market that our enthusiastic, diverse and technology driven students will pour into. Here are three critical shifts in the…

My band, The Savage Hearts, is headed to Raleigh, North Carolina, to play a series of showcases at the International Bluegrass Music Association Ramble and Business Conference. The following is a series of observations I have had in a 30-some…

Core values. Strategic plan. Standards and benchmarks. This is the dry language of the profession that is infused with perhaps the most love of all professions: teaching. I remember the first time I realized that I was a teacher. I…

I spent the last month teaching and touring on the east coast. It’s a gift to have these outings really. Life can get into a habit of itself and it is a good thing to break it. Play new music…