My wife Maria and I saw Mason Bates’ new opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs this past weekend at the Santa Fe Opera. The audience went crazy for it, and all future shows are sold out. The opera is innovative, engaging, and fun with a handful of flaws. I give it a Net Positive, and I encourage folks to go see it in future productions.
I love my wife Maria. I love that she teaches music. And I love that she shares ideas with me. A couple of weeks ago, Maria gave me a whopper of an idea that I’ve already incorporated into my teaching.
Maria teaches band at Prescott BASIS School. Before the students are given instruments, they are all reading notes. She leads them on a historical journey of how music notation evolved, from early plainsong up to the 5 line staff we know. But, by the end of this 2 week journey through the history of music notation, all of her students can identify notes on any line and ledger line on any clef: The G (treble) clef, the F (bass) clef, and the C clef. They can do this because they can navigate the circle of thirds up and down, if not by memory, then at least by counting their fingers. And that was the idea of hers that I loved: using the fingers to navigate the circle of thirds.
After years of maintaining my website with RealMac Software’s RapidWeaver software (an efficient way to create a website), I’ve decided to migrate to WordPress to make it easier to update the site from anywhere.