by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
Things to Read:
by Timothy De Prey DePrey.Timothy@MacPhail.org
I began teaching Evan in September 2012. Evan was my first On Line student and in the beginning I wondered how I would adapt my teaching for an On Line student. I embraced the opportunity and Evan turns out to be the perfect On Line student. He is …
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
Jazz Essentials by Dean Kelly was one of those books that shows up at the right time and the right place. I was a junior in high school when I became interested in playing jazz vibes. The public library in suburban Chelmsford, Massachusetts (where I grew…
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
This year at MacPhail's New City School partnership, students in grades 6-8 
composed music for solo instruments such as the saxophone, trumpet, and piano. Students composed the pieces using MuseScore and sent them to professional and student musicians, who…
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
Invariably May is the most hectic month of the school year. No matter how cleverly I plan, it always turns into a maelstrom of concerts, meetings, gigs, and other responsibilities. This year Evernote has helped wrap up my semester by giving me new accounti…
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
Here are three books in the Community Partnerships library (located on the 3rd floor) that you could use to teach drumming to groups or individuals. They all assume that you have no background or training in percussion so you should not feel intimidated to…
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
By David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
There are about 1,000 drummer jokes; my hope is this post doesn't fall into too many of them.
As a percussionist, I just might have an obsession with music being on beat and steady. I notice this obsession when I'm performing or practicing but especially …
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
It is May 13th. For K-12 general music teachers, the light at the end of the tunnel is now visible. Spring concerts will be finished in a few weeks, then a couple weeks of teaching, then summer break. Those teaching weeks that are sandwiched between conce…
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
by Josh Osborne Osborne.Josh@MacPhail.org
Now, I love my job. I enjoy that each day is different, the variety of clientele and students I see, the traveling, the successes, and the fact my job revolves around music—one of my greatest passions. Although, if you spend enough time around me, I will t…
by Emily Greenleaf Greenleaf.Emily@MacPhail.org 
In his book The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, Norman Doige describes an experiment carried out by Harvard neurologist Alvaro Pascual-Leone. Two groups of novice pianists – people who’ve …
by David Birrow Birrow.David@MacPhail.org
