I like to begin every lesson with a warm-up. The warm-up serves many purposes. First, it invites the student into a musical mindset and helps prepare their attention for the next 30 minutes. But during this time, I’m also looking for something more important: their instinct for play. No two students are the same. Some have fiery energy and need to move their bodies. Some are deeply focused and subtle. Some are inquisitive and want to understand every detail of the game. Other

To listen. It seems simple enough, yet we all know it’s far more challenging than the instruction implies. Any parent can testify to the difficulty of getting a child to listen. At the same time, many of us recognize how hard it can be to listen wholeheartedly to our own children amid the constant demands of daily life—not to mention our own very real needs and responsibilities. There is great value in learning the art of listening. A compassionate listener is treasured by fr