I am enjoying the Write Like Mozart class from www.coursera.org. I am taking it along with a number of my students, and I am finding it to be an excellent way to reinforce music theory with the use of analysis and generative (composing) point of view.

At the aforementioned Suzuki Academy, in one of my repertoire classes I accompanied the students with my new Martin Guitar. I invited parents to bring guitars if they had one (one did) and I passed out guitar chords for them to play along.

I uploaded the Guitar Chords that I typed up to here. Feel free to download them, use them, and offer any feedback you might have.

Wow! What a week with the Academy!

Violinist Laura Tagawa and I are co-Directors of the Chaparral MusicFest Suzuki Academy. This year we are a Suzuki Association of the Americas sanctioned institute. Violinist Sarah deLaveaga, Suzuki violin teacher Barbara McClymonds, and percussionist Maria Flurry all chipped in for the extra-curricular classes and activities with the students.

The faculty recital with Laura, Sarah, Maria and myself was phenomenal on Wednesday evening. We played works by McLean, Saint-Saëns, Teleman, Mozart, Bartok, Bach, Faure, and (of course) Flurry.

The week with the students was intense, as usual, but we covered a lot. I love teaching the master classes with the students. It is rare as a teacher to be able to focus on only one piece for multiple lessons a row.

The final student recital on Saturday was inspiring. The pianist soloists all played with heart and confidence. The violinists played the group repertoire and fiddle tunes taught by Barbara. And one of the highlights, I thought, was when the pianists and violinists had the opportunity to play various duets together from my (still unpublished) 5-minute Duet series. These are short duets written for Suzuki violin and piano students that are designed to be taught in as a little as 5 minutes.

Some late nights for the co-Directors as we worked each evening for the next day, but I expect that each year's Institute will be easier and better than before. Feedback forms were universally quite positive, even from those who had attended the large Suzuki Institutes across the country.

Thanks, Laura, Sarah, Barbara, & Maria!

I completed a one week residency on the Navajo Reservation last week with the music students of Many Farms High School. They have a fantastic piano lab up there with an enthusiastic teacher, Carol Ridley.

With the piano students, we worked on the basics of composing a melody, question and answer phrases, AABA form, using motifs, and writing harmonies for our melodies.

With the 13 member choir, we took the poetry of one of the students and set it to music. Here's the poem:

Last Day
by Jovonna Sandoval

The sweet scent of oaks and pines
in the morning after
A rainy night.  The air is fresh,
the sun is barely peeking
over the mountains.  She feels
the damp soil underneath
her moccasins as she runs.

She feel free, breathing
and filling her lungs with
cool, crisp, fresh air.
She runs back into the
hogan and catches her breath.

This is her last day as a
child.  Now begins the rest
of her life as a mature
woman.  Some think it's the
best feeling in the world,
to accept more responsibility
and challenges, and more freedom.


I really enjoyed my time with the students. They were very kind and engaged during the whole residency. I hope to visit there again next year!

This summer (June 9 - 11, 2010), I and Suzuki violin teacher Laura Tagawa are starting a Suzuki Piano & Violin Camp (or, as we call it, Academy) in Prescott, Arizona. Currently, the nearest Suzuki camps are in Colorado, New Mexico, and California. With strong Suzuki contingents in Flagstaff and Tucson, one wonders why Arizona doesn’t have a camp.

We are not yet Suzuki Association of the Americas endorsed - that is a lengthy process that must start almost a year before the camp. Next year, we’ll expand the camp a bit and apply for SAA endorsement.

Visit our informational page and download our brochure and print out our registration forms for more info. Read More...

(This is a repost from my Prescott High School Wind Ensemble residency blog)

When I compose, I sometimes like to bounce ideas off of my wife, Maria. It has its risks, though. An idea that I have in my head may provoke a completely different reaction from her than what I envision. But one of the nice things about being married for almost 20 years is that I no longer need to tell her if I disagree with her. She can read that look in my face … the one that (unintentionally) says, “OK, I hear what you’re saying, but I disagree, and this conversation is no longer helping me.” And she politely backs off from her point and lets me take what ideas I did like from her.

I find it well worth bouncing ideas off of her, because sometimes, as a composer, I need a fresh perspective to throw in some new directions.

So, today I took a risk, and I learned what it was like to get fresh perspective from a high school band. Read More...

I've added a download area of some documents I use in my teaching. Feel free to use and modify these documents.

Congratulations to all of my students for one of the best recitals yet! Everybody played great, and the Beethoven Skit afterwards was hilarious. Congratulations, Group C class! A few pictures that came out can be found here. A copy of the recital program can be downloaded from here.