arrange • compose • conduct
Some of the best teaching I’ve ever done has been in bringing my students to a concert. When students hear high-level versions of what they’re working on, so many lessons get driven home. A concept I’ve been working on for months becomes instantly understandable because they’ve heard it done right. […]
When is it worth having a Zoom meeting in 2023? I admit that I don’t prefer Zooming to in-person meetings. However, there are several situations when I think that Zooming is better than any alternative, and we can take advantage of our new skills in video conferencing. I don’t always […]
When you’re listening to learn, listen with an agenda. Yesterday I heard Michael Mayo describe an approach to listening with specific agenda that I think is a very effective approach to intentional listening. Plan on listening to a single piece multiple times. The first time, listen generally, without a specific […]
Knowing how long it will take to learn a skill is essential to maintaining a positive outlook – and succeeding in learning it. Learning to sing an A on command in rehearsal reliably takes my students a couple of months. Learning to scat like Ella will take 1,000 hours of […]
Sometimes we need reminding that we aren’t totally in control. You can be reminded by an illness that flattens you, or a mistake in performance that never happened in rehearsal. You can be reminded by other humans around whose plans undermine your own. My favorite way of surrendering control, though, […]
After you get a vaccination, you’ll often have a day of “flu-like symptoms.” This is off-putting to some, and actually probably accounts for a fair bit of vaccine hesitancy. We aren’t very good at differentiating between the pain that strengthens us and the pain that weakens us. It’s the same […]
Starting a small project is relatively straightforward. Ask yourself, “What do I need to do?” Then start to do it. Starting a big project is different, because a big project almost always includes something you’ve never done before. Before starting a big project ask yourself, “What do I need to […]
You’ve got to plan ahead for long trips. We’re working on a very slow ballad in Shades of Blue, requiring breath support for phrases that always feel like they’re going one beat longer than you expect. The thing that makes the difference is planning like you’re going on a long […]
Learning to align actions with goals is a hallmark of maturity. But it’s not as easy as we adults sometimes make it out to be. Lots of parents and educators might shout, “Make better choices,” but if a young person hasn’t taken all the necessary steps, it’s just not very […]
Fine-tuned skills require repetition. I know when my bread dough needs more flour. I must have baked over 1,000 loaves of my sandwich bread at this point. And at some point along the way, I gained a much finer sense of exactly the consistency I need it to be. Two […]