juliemcook

Music Of the Heart

I believe everyone has a signature song that lives deep in their hearts. This music carries each person’s essence and this music is aching to be expressed. How do we find and play the music of our hearts? In order to get in touch with this deep music, we have to be in touch withContinue reading “Music Of the Heart”

A Million Julies

At a pre-performance lesson, 12-year-old Tim played through his piece from start to finish, then shook his head. “No, that wasn’t good. Let me try again.” The piece was Fur Elise and he had invested a lot of time and effort into learning it. As his teacher, I wanted to go over a few pointsContinue reading “A Million Julies”

Really really listening

On a TED program percussionist Evelyn Glennie talked about her first college-level snare drum lesson. A professor told her to take the drum home for a week – without sticks, without music and without a structured assignment. All she was to do was get to know the instrument –tap it, beat it, drum her fingersContinue reading “Really really listening”