arrange • compose • conduct
What’s your personal purpose statement? I’ve worked in the past on developing a purpose statement for my ensembles. Here’s where I landed for the Aces: To make high-level genre-agnostic music with tenors and basses from Rockford HS and share it with people through performance and recording, such that (A) a […]
Are you appreciating the skills of the people you work alongside most frequently? We turn today to the book of Sports Night, Season 1, Episode 10. In this scene, TV anchor Casey is being produced by a sub producer (Sally), and his longtime producer Dana is questioning the trust he […]
It’s a good idea to have different “gears” for reading. I slow down to my slowest speed when I’m reading poetry. Every word is so carefully selected, so I want to savor them, hear them. My next gear is for novels – brisk, but I’m not a speed reader by […]
What do crossword puzzles and group singing have in common? I do crosswords precisely because they’re pointless. Okay, I don’t think crossword puzzles are pointless. I think they’re great. But I think doing them is pointless. I don’t do them to train my brain, or to get better at them, […]
My favorite list in the Getting Things Done system (and GTD is built on lists) is Someday/Maybe. David Allen, creator of the system, created the Someday/Maybe list as a catchall for everything that doesn’t fit in current projects at any time window. As it sounds, you populate them with any […]
It’s great to find people who are crazy in the same way as you. Tonight I attended a concert production of Les Misérables, performed by a cast of seventh through twelfth graders who started rehearsing together on Monday. (The cast featured two of my students/Aces members as Jean Valjean and […]
My son is not at Blue Lake right now. He was going to experience his first ever real music camp this summer, studying clarinet and being around fellow young musicians, in an experience that is formative for so many musicians and artists. Blue Lake suffered from a significant COVID-19 out […]
Every year, I start my garden with hope. I pick delicious herbs and vegetables, prep my garden beds, nurture them and get them started right. Then, of course the summer gets going – complete with out of town visits, family trips, camps, commitments, and all the work I am doing. […]
I remember when I first spent time in my college’s music library. The sheer magnitude of music available was a jolt of electricity and a continued revelation throughout my time there. Now, of course, a physical archive of commercial recordings is utterly pointless. The magnitude of music available on any […]
How does urgency play a role in your workflow? Is there a solution? I have a harder time writing my daily post in the morning than the evening. The imminent deadline of bedtime and the clock hitting midnight is sufficient to put me in my seat and begin writing. The […]