It's almost the end of the year... recitals are full on happening for the next few weeks. I have a mini-tour this weekend with Sweet Soubrette and a few private events. This makes for a music filled couple of weeks. I'm so thankful.

I'm about to head out, ride my bike to the Conservatory through the park. The breeze has been so fresh this past week, the foliage so green. Cliché or not, I'm forced to pinch myself quite frequently lately to believe this is my life:)

I found some books on a stoop in my neighborhood last week. They must have been left out by a university student studying education. No one would believe what incredible books the stoops of New York have supplied me with. And always at the perfect moment.

I've been teaching now for over 10 years. And my passion is continuing to grow for this work, important work. It's not glamorous and it's back breaking, but so worth while. I'm ready to dig deeper, work on my craft, learn new skills. And Voila... magical NYC hands me some great books to study. At no cost at all!

One of the books I found is called Teacher by Syliva Ashton-Warner. She taught the Maori in New Zealand in the 50's and 60's of the last century. Her organic view on teaching was so visionary that she has so much to teach the "modern education system" about using children's creativity to constructive means. 

"The design of my work is that creativity in this time of life when character can be influenced forever is the solution to the problem of war. To me it has the validity of a law of physics and all the unstatable, irrepressible emotion of beauty." - Sylvia Ashton-Warner, Teacher