Top Ten Things To Do For Successful Procrastination

Now that the academic year is over at the University of Toronto and those of us who are contract teachers are finished with our teaching, we have time to dive into all of the things one has not put 100% effort into...including my least favourite thing to do -  practicing. 

Yes, practicing.

Let me qualify that statement.  I hate the "thinking about", "getting ready to", "learning my music" portion of  practicing.  Which is how I have become one of the most efficient procrastinators*.

So on this rainy day, here is my top ten list of things to do for successful procrastination:

10. Write a blog post;
9.   Do laundry and miscellaneous housework like clean the knife drawer;
8.  Sort your jewelry making sure that all your earrings have backings;
7.  Email all the contacts on your list to update them on your professional life (ok, this is a legitimate and smart business thing to do!)
6.  Talk to your mother;
5.  Talk to your mother-in-law;
4.  Drink more coffee;
3.  Run on the treadmill that you haven't used all winter;
2.  Rearrange the pictures of your kids around the house;

And the number one thing to help you be a successful procrastinator....shine your husband's shoes. Yes, you  know you have scraped the to-do barrel clean when you have shoe polish under your fingernails.

Good luck to all of you out there trying to get your work done....and remember young singers - DON'T do as I DO but as I SAY!

PS - I love this article about procrastination with Netflix as an example!

*for the record, this is a joke only.

I want my MTV...or iPad?

Classical music is  in tradition and as new media and TV and movies have taken over our entertainment sphere, classical groups have spent the many years now trying to find new ways to engage and ever aging audience...think school tours, live stream, HD broadcasts...the list goes on!


The NYTimes published a review this morning called "Classical Conducting?  There's an app for that!"  A headline to grab our attention for sure!  But what they reported was:

Jeffrey Kahane offered glimpses of both the past and a possible future in his performance with theNew York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall on Tuesday evening.....He played the Beethoven from memory, but for the Mozart, he used an iPad instead of a conventional score.

And on Monday, The Globe and Mail reported "Classical Music without the tuxes and pricey tickets?  Its a revolution!"

...there’s live music at Dave’s, a local bar, and the place is packed.  There’s nothing strange about this picture – until you step in the door and hear what kind of music has drawn a crowd on an off night. In the centre of the room, a young clarinetist and an ad hoc string quartet are working their way through Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet.....Welcome to the revolution – the Classical Revolution, that is. Across North America, classical players are returning chamber music to its origins: informal performances among friends in intimate settings.

It would seem that the more we try to change, the more we stay the same.