The Pedagogy of Pedagogy Saturday.(music education)

Professional conferences can be intense. Non-stop lectures, teaching demonstrations, eating, workshops, socializing, eating, concerts, eating--then again the next day. It is stimulating and exhausting. But when it does take place over several days, you know you can't attend everything, so missing a few hours to take sightseeing breaks or long pensive walks to digest everything feels right.

Therefore, when I attended my first Pedagogy Saturday, I faced a dilemma. The one-day-all-day program was designed like a concert--one did need to be present and engaged from beginning to end to get the full impact. It also did not help that I was already a lifetime member of the "diligentsia," and therefore took copious written notes at every session. Not a single detail would get past me! However, information overload soon occurred as I was expending all my energy taking notes (while probably the most important ideas wafted past my bent-over head). I planned that when I got back home, I would type and organize my scrawl and then I would Be Enlightened, pedagogically.

Once home however, my busy professional life jump-started once again. The stack of notes and materials from the event lay dormant in a corner of my desk. A few layers of dust later, I gave up hope and shelved it all, feeling as if I had failed the "course."

The following year at Pedagogy Saturday, I wised up. I decided I would approach the day as if I were at a good movie: not concerned with what I might remember later, but determined to simply pay attention and think about what I was seeing, hearing and feeling. And then see what stuck.

What a difference. I enjoyed the day (and subsequent Pedagogy Saturdays) even more since it was easier to go with the flow. In the months and years that followed, I was surprised to discover that memories from several sessions stalked me while in the studio or classroom, and even on my days off. They were especially present when I was doing weekly planning for college classes and piano lessons for children. Some of the most persistent:

* How to teach people who are non-intuitive learners in a specific subject. Earl Oremus's keynote address in 2002 forced me to re-think how I had been dealing with ...