I left my teaching job in January to start Grad School; then... COVID. I was working part time at a theatre in DC, but of course... COVID. Thankfully I am in a serious creative mode right now or I would have gone crazy the first week home. 

I watched a documentary last night about background singers. These singers sang behind The Rolling Stones, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Sting, David Bowie, Michael Jackson.. They did background work for some of our favorite Christmas songs, Disney movie themes, and even other Blockbusters. And even though most were black and started out by singing in church, each of them had a different story... 

After college, I began to direct at church and did so for a while. Many musicians and directors stood by me and I learned as much as I could from them. Glean. Decide what type of leader you want to be. Learn from others mistakes. Don't be afraid to be different. On and on, through mistakes, Sunday after Sunday, I continued to learn. To all of you, thank you for believing in me.

This is a continuation from my first post. I think there will be a Part 3. =)

 I don't have to tell you that The Arts are important. I'm sure you already know. You've heard the stories, you've seen the pie charts, and you know that children who play instruments are somehow magically better at Math (I LOVE Math, but know some great musicians who HATE Math.) All that aside, I really thought it needed to share an open letter of thanks to all the music teachers I have had over the years, and the lessons I learned from each experience. Let's start at the beginning and work our way to now.