Greetings everyone! I hope the fall semester has been successful and you are learning a thing or two. Soon it will be time for a well-deserved long break to relax and enjoy the company of others. During the holidays, consider making a resolution to which you can commit. For example, make more time for yourself throughout the week, including 30 minutes a day to decompress. This will save you a lot of anxiety over time. Music students are all very busy and involved in their various activities, so make sure to care for yourself because there is only one you!

In college, students are talked at a lot. Sitting through lectures, advising appointments, and critiques during lab courses, we are told a great deal of information from experienced professionals. Does that mean we hear what they are saying? Maybe, if we are not struggling to stay awake during an 8:00 a.m. class. But, do we listen? That is the whole point of an education, to learn from those who know it better than you. As students, we often do not take full advantage of the opportunities available to us, and I am a firm believer you can learn something from everything.

I was reminded of this recently while completing an assignment for class. Several of my courses require students to video record themselves conducting short rehearsals in front of the class. The purpose is for us to take it home and watch ourselves (ack!) for self-evaluation. As a senior, this is my third year of completing such self-evaluations; however, this time I realized something my instructors have been telling us since we began these assignments. By watching the video, I could not only critique my own conducting pattern, rehearsal sequencing, and the odd things I say in front of the class, but I could also see how effective my rehearsal was overall. For example, what instructions did not work so well, particular improvements students made throughout the rehearsal, and where to begin rehearsing the next time.

Answering the specific questions on the self-evaluations seems pretty self explanatory, right? But when you factor in the amount of homework music education students have, how much time they have to do it after a long day of classes and work, and the difficulty level of each assignment, how often do we put in enough energy to raise the level of homework productivity? Once you figure out the right amount of effort for an assignment, it is hard to break the habit. Until recently, I was watching the videos, but for the wrong reasons. Now I know how valuable a tool these recordings can be, and not just to complete assignments or make DVDs at the end of the semester. After all this time, I finally feel like I am making the most out of watching myself in teacher mode (which is agonizing, by the way). Most importantly, I am learning from myself.

With all that said, I am reminded of a very important philosophy: It is never too late to learn something new. Knowledge can come from anywhere and everywhere, if you are searching for it. As tempting as it is to quickly get things done, make sure the effort extended is appropriate for the task. Everything will come together in the end and you will learn all the knowledge the class has to offer (well, more or less). You owe it to yourself to invest completely, including your time, in your education. After all, you are paying for it.