Everyone is creative, you just have to give yourself permission. Don’t just run the scale or do the rudiment. At BAM we tell this to our students all the time play your instrument every day. The open mindset is a place of play, humor, and where most ideas worth doing start. While both are important to productivity, we tend to favor the closed mindset and reward children for their ability to operate in that space. John Cleese talked about an open and a closed mindset, the open mindset a place where new ideas are explored and a closed mindset where focus helps complete tasks. Curiously, he pointed me to a talk on creativity by John Cleese, co-founder of Monty Python. I mentioned to him my tendency to pick the first solution to a problem and not explore lots of options. I was talking with one of the BAM board members this week about the challenges I’m working through looking for solutions for BAM to return to in-person lessons. Clint Velazquez Founder / Executive Director Base Academy of Music You are helping keep our families healthy and safe, and making our in-person lessons a reality.

Thank you to everyone in our community for doing your part to continue to help prevent the spread of COVID and getting vaccinated when you are eligible. Much music and much fun will be had as we work to return to and beyond our pre-COVID numbers. Summer Lessons run June 21st - August 7th and we are anticipating a large increase in both in-person lessons and students overall.

At this point about a third of our students have transitioned back to in-person lessons, which has helped us navigate learning our new space at Paseo Baptist Church and work out scheduling logistics in preparation for our Summer Lessons. It brings a lot of joy to watch students eyes light up seeing their teachers and getting to play together. We have really been enjoying the sounds of music in the halls and seeing how much our students have grown during our time away. Back with in-person lessons in over a year, the natural first thing to do is play a duet! Here is a little moment we captured with Trevor and his student M.

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