arrange • compose • conduct
I’ve written before about how the insufficiency of Roman Numeral analysis leads to problems when voicing chords. But it seems to me that chord inversions change the character of chords so significantly that we should regard inversions as equally important to the the Roman Numeral. The little 6 is just […]
In my daily writing, I tend to focus on what’s next. (Since I write daily, I’m focused on what’s immediately in front of me – I’ve got to write something again tomorrow!) It’s how I live in the rest of my work life, too – pride and very occasional reflection […]
Every activity that we engage in – work, hobby, personal – asks us to prioritize it. But how can you prioritize everything? What does prioritizing look like? As a freelancer, I have a lot of projects I’m working on at any time. For those, I prioritize based on immediate need […]
I have so much trouble playing digital chess. For a reason that I’m sure cognitive scientists could explain, the two-dimensional top-view of the chess board makes me into a significantly poorer chess player. As I see it, there are two solutions to this challenge. First, as current chess masters have […]
I recently started building a Patreon community around new original compositions and vocal arrangements. I am loving the motivation it gives me to experiment and create new music with supporters behind me. Just yesterday, I shared the first fruit of my Patreon project, a set of Six Nonsense Canons – […]
It seems like a daily experience that I hear someone say, “Oh, I just could never get _____.” I want to shout, we are built to learn! We are learning machines! Sure, someone might learn something more efficiently or quickly than you, someone else might have more aptitude than you […]
My son has been leaning towards Yahtzee the last few weeks, instead of chess. He had been beating me fairly regularly in chess, so I guess maybe he was bored? Ha! But when we came back to chess recently, I beat him pretty easily in both games. His skills, which […]
Like every other choir director I know, I am concerned about enrollment in secondary choir programs post-pandemic. I’m concerned because short-sighted administrators might reduce teaching assignments or the number of classes offered; this would kneecap the ability of choir directors to do their completely consuming jobs well. I’m concerned because […]
Dragging is a common problem, and one that is typically responded to with instructions to practice with a metronome, to physicalize the rhythm, or even just, “keep better time.” All of those instructions overlook the signal that dragging is giving us. The cue we should take whenever we start dragging […]
Trans Day of Visibility falls on March 31 every year. It’s a day to put the needs and challenges of our trans family members, friends, students, colleagues, and neighbors to the front of our minds. In the lead up to TDOV, there are many events that fall under the category […]