Starting as a kid in elementary school through high school, my focus was on music and art.
As I progressed through high school, music had more of a pull over me. As an only child, the social implications and connections of music had a big effect.
When did you first get the bug for music? At which age?
Lucky for me, all of my music teachers (with the exception of two) were working musicians. They taught me on Saturday mornings.
That is to say, I didn't attend an elementary week-day general music class with the Silver Burdett book put in front of me in order to learn the next song from Argentina or the Galapagos Islands.
In fact, my first through eighth grade parochial school didn’t even offer music or art.
Most of my Saturday morning music teachers were men, demanding men who had very little patience. Some were playing society gigs, some played in seedy bars, some were jazzers, and some of them played in the symphony orchestra. A few of them were WWII vets. All of them had larger than life personas.
By high school, as focused as I was on music, I was deliberately unfocused within music. I was trying everything.
As a buck-tooth fourth grader, I started out playing trumpet, moved over to baritone, and played a little mellophonium anf frnch horn in elementary orchestra.
As a high school freshman, I was conscripted into the tuba/sousaphone section because, at six foot, I was one of the tallest and biggest kids and could it up without dropping it.
My band directed convinced me that, because I was learning bass clef, I should take double bass lessons and play in the orchestra. I fought the orchestra idea until he confided with me that the boy/girl ratio was significantly leaning to the girl side of things and I would enjoy the comradery. He wasn’t wrong.
I branched out into composing and orchestration. I had a growing desire to pick up a pencil and write the sounds that I was playing on my instruments as well write music for other people to play.
As far as playing opportunities, it didn't matter to me if it was band orchestra, choir, jazz, folk mass, piano trio, tuba, trumpet, or double bass - it was all music and it was all good.
As a newly-minted teacher in an exclusive private day school, I had a similar undisciplined, unfocused approach.
My lesson plans were all over the place my first two years.
They were clever. They were eclectic. And they engage kids in the Arts.
I was constantly experimenting and learning how to capitalize on my strengths.
My career was basically a three act play. Act one and three were extended, long stints in elementary general music.
What I noticed in as I started act three was that time in the classroom with kids was more precious then it seemed in act one.
As an experienced teacher, I was now much more focused on what had worked in previous classes and finding ways to efficiently streamline it and sequence the lesson plans to make more sense and ensure more success for the kids.
It's not that I didn't have to be creative anymore. I had already created a extensive backlog of great lesson plans, ideas, and songs. Now my strength would not lie in creativity but in how to supplement my catalogue of compositions and lesson plans.
I was shaping shape my creativity and sequencing it in ways that compounded the positive results.
My focus had matured.
Just as we learn to simultaneously read multiple notes, I was learning how to accurately visualize the arc of a school year in one focused vision.
I got to the point where I realized that I did not have to reinvent the wheel every year - that I had designed an impressive wheel, that I primarily needed to focus on keeping it rolling, checking the tire pressure, and make adjustments as needed.
Try charting your focus, strengths, and areas of concentration over the span of your career.
Are there any trends or patterns?
Is your focus narrow or broad? How’s your "peripheral vision"?
If you are just starting out, keep in mind the adage “begin with the end in mind”. Try planning the trajectory of your skill sets and focus over the next few decades.
No matter where you are in your career, dial in your focus and plot your destiny.
The more adept you get at this skill, the more you’ll like what you see.
As I progressed through high school, music had more of a pull over me. As an only child, the social implications and connections of music had a big effect.
When did you first get the bug for music? At which age?
Lucky for me, all of my music teachers (with the exception of two) were working musicians. They taught me on Saturday mornings.
That is to say, I didn't attend an elementary week-day general music class with the Silver Burdett book put in front of me in order to learn the next song from Argentina or the Galapagos Islands.
In fact, my first through eighth grade parochial school didn’t even offer music or art.
Most of my Saturday morning music teachers were men, demanding men who had very little patience. Some were playing society gigs, some played in seedy bars, some were jazzers, and some of them played in the symphony orchestra. A few of them were WWII vets. All of them had larger than life personas.
By high school, as focused as I was on music, I was deliberately unfocused within music. I was trying everything.
As a buck-tooth fourth grader, I started out playing trumpet, moved over to baritone, and played a little mellophonium anf frnch horn in elementary orchestra.
As a high school freshman, I was conscripted into the tuba/sousaphone section because, at six foot, I was one of the tallest and biggest kids and could it up without dropping it.
My band directed convinced me that, because I was learning bass clef, I should take double bass lessons and play in the orchestra. I fought the orchestra idea until he confided with me that the boy/girl ratio was significantly leaning to the girl side of things and I would enjoy the comradery. He wasn’t wrong.
I branched out into composing and orchestration. I had a growing desire to pick up a pencil and write the sounds that I was playing on my instruments as well write music for other people to play.
As far as playing opportunities, it didn't matter to me if it was band orchestra, choir, jazz, folk mass, piano trio, tuba, trumpet, or double bass - it was all music and it was all good.
As a newly-minted teacher in an exclusive private day school, I had a similar undisciplined, unfocused approach.
My lesson plans were all over the place my first two years.
They were clever. They were eclectic. And they engage kids in the Arts.
I was constantly experimenting and learning how to capitalize on my strengths.
My career was basically a three act play. Act one and three were extended, long stints in elementary general music.
What I noticed in as I started act three was that time in the classroom with kids was more precious then it seemed in act one.
As an experienced teacher, I was now much more focused on what had worked in previous classes and finding ways to efficiently streamline it and sequence the lesson plans to make more sense and ensure more success for the kids.
It's not that I didn't have to be creative anymore. I had already created a extensive backlog of great lesson plans, ideas, and songs. Now my strength would not lie in creativity but in how to supplement my catalogue of compositions and lesson plans.
I was shaping shape my creativity and sequencing it in ways that compounded the positive results.
My focus had matured.
Just as we learn to simultaneously read multiple notes, I was learning how to accurately visualize the arc of a school year in one focused vision.
I got to the point where I realized that I did not have to reinvent the wheel every year - that I had designed an impressive wheel, that I primarily needed to focus on keeping it rolling, checking the tire pressure, and make adjustments as needed.
Try charting your focus, strengths, and areas of concentration over the span of your career.
Are there any trends or patterns?
Is your focus narrow or broad? How’s your "peripheral vision"?
If you are just starting out, keep in mind the adage “begin with the end in mind”. Try planning the trajectory of your skill sets and focus over the next few decades.
No matter where you are in your career, dial in your focus and plot your destiny.
The more adept you get at this skill, the more you’ll like what you see.
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