About the Presenter:

I have been teaching for almost 25 years, and one of the biggest changes I have seen in my students is their lack of resilience. About 10 years ago I was starting up the annual "Instrument Petting Zoo" where prospective band students get to try the different instruments. This is usually a joyful and LOUD event, but for the first time the kids were hesitant to hold the instruments, and I kept hearing the question "what if I suck? what if I am not good at this?"

As Henry Matisse says "Creativity takes Courage". Making music is messy, loud, and full of opportunities to make mistakes. I expect a bit of hesitancy, but to be afraid to even make a "bad" sound really derails learning.

I realized the kids didn't know how normal it was to make mistakes. They may have had adults in their life who appeared to know it all, and have it all together....but lucky for them, they were stuck with me...I may be an adult but I can't help being myself. Part of this is due to my neurodiversity, but honestly I am just a bit of an weirdo...so I decided that instead of doing things right...at least initially...I would give them opportunities to figure out what didn't work, and apply it to future learning so that they could be more indpendant in the long run...and hopefully not terrified to make a mistake.

This presentation is some of the things that have worked, and haven't along this journey. I hope that you will gain some ideas to try, or some validation for your own methods, and that you will share what you have learned with others so that we can create music rooms where kids can become not just better musicians but humans who, to quote Ms. Frizzle "Take chances, make mistakes, and get messy"