arrange • compose • conduct
My purpose is not your purpose…and that’s ok! My dad co-owned a sailboat when I was growing up, for the simple reason that he loved to sail. He registered for sailboat races for the whole summer – Saturday races and a Wednesday night race. We raced against hardcore races, competitive […]
The last 20 years of educational shift has been to increase focus, spending, and requirements around STEM learning and decrease focus, spending, and even requirements around the humanities. Which team are you on? Team STEM or Team Humanities? For me, it’s a no-brainer. I believe that humanities increase empathy, enhance […]
Any break comes with an “Oh, yeah!” moment at the end of it. The rhythms of my work life are such that breaks occur. I might not use Pro Tools for several months, or Dorico for a few weeks. (I hope it’s a long time before I am working in […]
It’s a question I get so often from guests, especially friends of my kids. “Do you, like, always have music playing? Well, yes. (And even when there’s no music playing, there’s music playing…in my head.) It’s always enlightening to learn the ways in which you’re not normal – clearly we’re […]
When I’m trying to get ahead on work, it’s easy to fall into “I’ll finish what I need to do for tomorrow, then I’ll do a bit extra.” The problem is that I often don’t ever get to the extra – so I don’t get ahead. A better plan is […]
Don’t ignore the middle future. I’m pretty good at thinking about what I have to do tomorrow. I’m less good at thinking – at least in detail – about what I have to do in two months. The practice of taking a few minutes to think in detail about the […]
You only get one chance to make a first impression. That’s the expression, and it’s true. But maybe we overvalue first impressions. I’m much more interested in what I understand about you after several interactions. Because anyone can make a good first impression. Be gregarious, be friendly, tell a good […]
Why would a composer choose a career that minimizes new compositional work? I think this is true for many composers, but I thought about it the other day about Eric Whitacre. Eric is a celebrated choral composer, with a huge number of “hits” in the choral world. I have no […]
Studio recording is an entirely different experience from either performance or rehearsal. You’ll hear new things, have new reactions, and learn a ton. That’s why I love to take my students into the studio. But they’re almost always always new to the experience, so I start by giving a few […]
For most college students, and all high school students, school shouldn’t be about helping you become what you want to become. It should be about showing you all the things you could become. Especially including the things you never imagined existed. Yes, trade school exists, and yes, it is vitally […]