arrange • compose • conduct
What would an alien know if they saw a group of people playing cards? And what does the answer tell us about teaching music? They wouldn’t know if the people were playing poker or canasta or euchre, and if you told them what the game was, the alien would assume […]
Do your habits change when your location changes? After so many years of writing, it seems like the habit should be the habit, wherever you are. But it’s just not true – different places provoke different things and require different things. I read recently that heroin addiction has a strong […]
It’s the little things that pay off in the distant future. A precious family picture from three generations ago is meaningless if you don’t know who is in the picture. With the names on the back, they are fascinating connections to your personal history. Without the names, they’re just old-timey […]
What’s your secondary purpose? Events have a primary purpose: a concert’s primary purpose is sharing music with an audience. A fundraiser’s primary purpose is to raise money. A meeting’s primary purpose is to make decisions and assign responsibilities. But a meeting can also be about getting to know your colleagues […]
Every year on Tony Award night, we’re figuring out a way to tune in. And I’m always thinking about this amazing opening number from 2013: (But go find Ariana DeBose’s 2022 opening number!) I love every second of that video, but my favorite moment is this lyric: There’s a kid […]
Do you tell your students what you plan to change for next year? I prefer to be tight lipped about what I’m planning for the future with my ensembles. Part because I like to process my own thoughts independently, and part because I know I’m a slow thinker and don’t […]
Can you find clear direct parallels between different forms of art? A drawing is an autobiographical record of one’s discovery of an event – either seen, remembered or imagined. John Berger John Berger was an writer and artist, among other professions. (I admit to discovering this quote in a recent […]
Every streak is right on the edge of breaking. I can’t even say how many times I’ve thought to myself, “Oh, I can’t write tomorrow and I haven’t pre-published anything!” A few hours later, and my streak would reset to 0. Writing daily here is the longest streak I’ve ever […]
Would you do it again? Knowing what went into it? My goal is to say, “Yes” as often as possible to that question, for even the hardest of projects. I can answer yes whenever: I can learn more by doing it again. I can do it more easily when I […]
Vague tempo markings are unhelpful. So are the opposite. I’ve written before about vague tempo markings. And certainly I would be happy to never see “Moderately” over bar 1 of a score again. But in the most recent crop of piano-vocal scores, I’ve also seen several that skew too far […]