Today's editing workshop/roundtable at 826 Seattle went nicely--about 7 kids, plus the instructors. We went over a list I'd made of useful ideas/rules/suggestions for writing and editing generally--some of it very specific to music, most not. It was a bit odd at first but soon I had the sense to just let them pipe up with questions about items they wanted explained. After that, I gave them a piece that had been brought to my attention a while back by Rod Smith--who'd thrown in his own [[BRACKETED, ALL-CAPS]] editing remarks. (A few of them found it a visual assault, understandably, but it's how I learned to do it and it's still effective.) The untouched piece was given to them double-spaced, and we took 10 minutes to go over it quietly and with pencil. Then I read each line and they aired their edits/comments. A couple were very quiet--I try not to push that too hard, it can feel invasive when you don't want to talk and someone attempts to make you--but most of them were plenty talkative and it seemed like they enjoyed the "editing test." I then handed them Rod's comments. They got about 60 percent of what he did, and found a couple things that had escaped both his and my attention. It was quite enjoyable and I'm kind of anxious to do it again. (Since I'll be in NYC much of July and August, maybe there.)