Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS) Newsletter!
Written and Published by Nicholas Ambrosino
www.musicsimplymusic.com
director@musicsimplymusic.com

Sept 5, 2003

Table of Contents:

1. MTIPS Theme
2. Welcome Notes
3. MTIPS Development
4. Notable Quotables

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1. MTIPS Theme


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2. Welcome Notes

Welcome to Music Teachers Insightful Practices (MTIPS) Newsletter!

This issue of MTIPS goes out to a grand total of 557 subscribers! Thank you to all subscribers who share MTIPS with their friends and colleagues and a warm welcome to all new MTIPS subscribers! This year, I have set the goal of 600 total subscribers before December 31. Would you take a moment to forward this issue to anyone whom would benefit from a positive ezine to assist them in utilizing their fullest potentials as teachers and students? Thanks!


FREE REPORTS! 
http://www.musicsimplymusic.com and follow the links to the FREE report page. This page is only accessible if you are a registered MTIPS subscriber. We have lots of information, and resources you can use. We’re constantly adding and up-dating, so check it often!

Be sure to check our web site at:
http://www.musicsimplymusic.com
We have lots of information, and resources you can use. We’re constantly adding and up-dating, so check it often!

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3. MTIPS Development

My daughters had their first day of school on Wednesday. Upon arriving home, after hearing how excited they were about rekindling old friendships as well as creating new ones with students and new teachers, my wife was presented with a “homework” list; her “homework” was lengthier than my daughters’! Fortunately for my wife’s forethought, she had gone to our local office supply store and purchased most of the school supplies days before the rush. I, however, decided to take a visit to the office supply store, at 5:30 pm on the first day of school. 

As you can imagine, the lines at the store were tremendous. To be exact 8 cashiers servicing a line that was 43 people deep and growing (yes I counted them!)! Parents, with young children in tow, scurrying around, picking up three-ring binders, marble notebooks, and a final box of number 2 pencils (one of my student’s shared a funny joke about the number 2 pencil, he said, “If it’s the most popular pencil, why is it still number 2?!”) Then it occurred to me, wouldn’t it be nice to have that black-out that they northeast of the United States experienced a few weeks ago?

No, I wasn’t wishing for the blackout to encourage looting of the store or the initial mayhem that usually follows, but more for the break, the “mini-vacation” that occurs when out- of-the-norm events arrive without invitation or preparation.

You see, the time to take a breather is not when we have the time, but instead, when we absolutely cannot. Think about it, if we have the time for a break, we probably do not need it. It’s when we don’t have the time, that we need it most.

The intelligence of the universe (give it whichever name you are comfortable with, God, spiritual energy, ki, chi, or luck) is wonderful. I always look at snowstorms and blackouts as the universe’s way of saying, “Take a break. Reunite with your friends and neighbors and yourself.”

This is a crazy month for us music teachers. Parents are vying for different positions in our schedules and we are trying to accommodate everyone’s specialized requests. It never seems like it is going to work out, yet it always does! So, when the world is going crazy around you, take a break. Give yourself a mini-vacation. Remember, as Debussy said, (I’m paraphrasing) music is made up of sound and silence, and most people do not use enough of the latter. Such is life as well.

Thanks Jim for the reminder. Tomorrow, I think I’ll play a round of golf. ===============================================
4. Notable Quotable


Copyright © 2003 Nicholas Ambrosino. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute MTIPS so long as this copyright notice and full contact information about the author is attached. The author of this issue is Nicholas Ambrosino and he may be contacted at director@musicsimplymusic.com or reached by telephone at 631-863-2069

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