Rethinking Genius

I took a bowing workshop taught by Cathy Lee a few weeks ago.  It was fantastic.  Totally worth going even if you don't specifically play the violin. What I love about teacher development courses is that often the thing you "get" out of the class isn't necessarily a new idea.  It will be an idea or ideas that were already floating around in your head and the course helps to pluck them, lay them out and organize them into an applicable teaching strategy.  For example, you may know  that your students need phrasing work and you may have dabbled in trying to teach phrasing.  But the person teaching your development course may have found a way to logically approach the massive concept that is musical phrasing. The thing that stuck with me the most at the end of this bowing course was the idea of development rate.  Something that I often discuss with students is the idea of the "three players."  In order to play a difficult section you have to real...