It has been a rough couple of weeks. Our grandson was brought into this world and left it on the same day. Why do I share this here? Why did I show this picture to my students and tell them with tears about the short life of sweet Isaac? Because all life is precious, no matter how short it is, and it deserves to be celebrated. Because I want my students to share their lives with me, so I share mine with them. Because they are good at giving hugs. Because some of them have similar stories. Because I want them to know I'm human. Because I want to share with them the source of my strength for today and my hope for tomorrow.

On a musical note, all of our life experiences help give us a reservoir of emotion from which we draw when we are communicating a piece of music to an audience. I'm hoping to help my students to draw deep when we are performing, so that our music is more than notes and rhythms and words, so that our music communicates emotion to the audience. And thus we will celebrate life.