arrange • compose • conduct
We are all starting over. We are out of practice… teaching in person. learning in person. conducting gracefully. singing beautifully. interacting with a group. leading. following. trusting. And we have never practiced… conducting with a mask. singing with a mask. recognizing students with masks. safe distancing in the classroom. enforcing […]
We rehearsed together today–I and the next generation of The Rockford Aces. It wasn’t like any other rehearsal we’ve ever had. Between the masks, the distance, and the September wind, we could hardly hear each other. None of us had sung in a group in a solid six months. But […]
I’m left-handed. The only one in either my immediate family for at least three generations. My daughter asked me tonight at dinner why I was left-handed. What peculiar outcome of nature or nurture caused it? I think the answer is complicated, and I can’t speak to the genetics. What I […]
When I’m adapting to a new schedule, the third week is when I figure it out. The first week is about reacting, moment to moment, to the demands of the schedule. The second week is about noticing the waves, taking care of the most important tasks, and starting to go […]
Adam Neely is a bassist and YouTuber who makes outstanding explanatory videos about music, especially understanding contemporary music (jazz, rock, pop, etc.). His most recent video is a must-watch. Please watch it to understand more about the cis-white-male-centric world of traditional music theory. I’m teaching a Jazz Theory course at […]
I personally think it’s good for students to see their teachers and leaders figuring it out. The idea of the teacher/leader as a fount of knowledge, issuing decrees from a position of authority and wisdom is tempting, but it isn’t very realistic. We are all human, we are all figuring […]
I taught myself to use a new notation software today, and I did it by being almost completely uncreative. I use notation software throughout my creative process – to complete scores, but also as I am composing and arranging. It is a creative tool. But when you’re using a new […]
The worst lesson to learn from six months of a pandemic is, “it’s always like this.” It’s hard, at 43, to learn that lesson. Your sense of normal does evolve over time, but I have had enough life experience to know that it’s not always like this. In the nearly […]
Early correctives are so much more effective than late ones. It’s the beginning of the year/semester/trimester/quarter. Now is the time to make gentle correctives. A small, gentle corrective of a student in the early weeks can profoundly affect their trajectory. A much bigger correction at the end of term will […]
I heard auditions today for the Rockford Aces – outside, distanced, masked. They were auditions – nerve wracking in the best of times, and probably doubly so when the singers haven’t had sung with a choir since at least March. So I simplified my audition protocol, I removed aspects, and I tried […]