Posted by mco on Jan 15th, 2007
I heard a recital this afternoon in Lunenburg — Marcia Swanston came down and sang two song cycles by Dominick Argento: From The Diary of Virginia Woolf and Miss Manners on Music, neither of which I had heard before. What fabulous pieces, especially the Woolf, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Loved them. And Marcia sang so wonderfully — she has an insinuatingly beautiful voice and a great gift for communication, especially of the very difficult texts. And they’re hard songs! What a treat.
Posted by mco on Oct 25th, 2006
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
– from Walden
Posted by mco on Oct 22nd, 2006
- Do what has to be done;
- When it has to be done;
- As well as it can be done; and
- Do it that way every time.”
– Bobby Knight
I’ve had this printed out and pinned to my bulletin board for years, but never realized until idly googling stuff today that Bobby Knight was a basketball coach. It’s not my game, for sure (unless they want me to be the basketball) but Mr. Knight is right on about discipline. I find it helps me when I want to procrastinate (which is all the time, sometimes) to look up and see those uncompromising words. Strangely inspiring.
Posted by mco on Oct 17th, 2006
“What I cannot teach–and what frustrates me as a teacher–is courage and a willingness to put that talent out into the world and fail or succeed–both of which take great nerve and great heart.
“It often seems to me that the more talented a person is, the more frightened they are, and the more they turn that talent and desire into fierce negative judgment which protects them from risking failure or success. I myself have failed and succeeded many times. There is no problem with that. The problem lies in the times I have also been too frightened to put myself forward. This was because I was ignorant of how frightened I actually was.
“This is why so much of my work as a teacher is about self mastery: following your heart’s desires, being awake, allowing yourself to be supported–in other words, the four principles of The Process: Commitment, Being Present, Relaxation, Communication.”
E.Katherine Kerr, Acting Teacher
