GroseSellars479

ow should "integrity characteristics" be Integrated Lifeof the whole musician - the musician with all the different parts working well and delivering the functions that they were designed to deliver to students, colleagues, and audiences?

One integrity characteristic is to know that little things count. If you don't lie or cheat on the small things, you are not corrupted by larger temptations. The popular expression "Don't sweat the small stuff" is poor advice for the musician of integrity. As teachers, performers, and church musicians our lives can become singular as we hone our craft alone in a practice room. Yet as practicing musicians we constantly are called to interact with the public. Each of our "small" actions is open for scrutiny. Have you ever been tempted to make a "quick copy" of a piece of music for a student or choir member knowing that you lack copyright permission to make that copy?

Second, you find the white (when others see gray). You don't make difficult decisions alone. You receive counsel and take the long-term view. Several years ago the church where I was teaching initiated a room use fee. This fee was going to greatly increase the expense to my organ studio. Instead of merely announcing to my students that a room rental fee would be added to the following semester's lesson fees, I asked for counsel from my students and sought other alternatives. We took the long-term view by carefully weighing the convenience of the present teaching space, the type of organ, and the ability to reserve the space not only for lessons but student concerts as well. In the end, through the counsel of my students, I made the decision to remain at the same church and add a room use fee to the lesson amount. The students, because of their buy-in, understand the addition of the fee and are satisfied with the studio location.

Last, you mess up, you 'fess up. You disclose both good news and bad. You acknowledge mistakes, apologize and make amends. I recently had the humbling experience of having to reschedule an entire week of lessons. I "messed up" and scheduled lessons for a week I would be out of town. I had to "'fess up" and disclose the news that no matter how carefully I had planned the summer lesson schedule, it just wasn't going to work. I apologized and asked to reschedule the week's lessons. Thankfully, most of my wonderful students changed their schedules to accommodate mine.

Just as we as musicians must practice every day to maintain a high level of artistic talent, so too must we practice implementing integrity every day in our musical lives.