arrange • compose • conduct
“In preparing for his oral qualifying examination, a rite of passage for every graduate student, he chose not to study the outlines of known physics. Instead he went up to MIT, where he could be alone, and opened a fresh notebook. On the title page he wrote: Notebook Of Things […]
Nobody knows how Greek Fire was made. Nobody quite knows the recipe for Roman concrete, or the process for Damascus steel; nobody knows the smell of silphium. There are countless examples of past knowledge lost to time. It might be reassuring to think that knowledge builds on knowledge – that […]
Host Drew Carey began episodes of the improv comedy show “Whose Line Is It, Anyway?” with the tag phrase, “the show where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.” If there ever was a phrase for the utter reinvention of education in 2020, that’s it. And if we recognize […]
What albums could you listen to all day? What’s your “All Day Music”? For me, the music I can let play over and over has certain characteristics: timeless feeling (not totally wedded to a particular era). depth of musical expression that rewards repeated listening. personal connection to a time or […]
We can choose to seek many different destinations: Novelty Satisfaction Curiosity Distraction Dissociation Connection Peace Conflict Comfort One of the main lessons I seek to imbue my students with is to make the destination you seek beauty. Prioritize seeking beauty. To me, the outcome of all art should be beauty. […]
You can discern the tone of a soloist, easily. A duet, a trio – these are ensembles where the individual singers’ timbres are center-stage. Even the quartets, quintets, octets that reach fame are often made of distinct voices. I can hear each voice in the New York Voices, The Real […]
Punctuated Equilibrium is the theory, proposed and popularized by Stephen Jay Gould, that evolutionary change isn’t gradual, but instead has long periods of stability interspersed with rapid change. It is not the only theory to describe evolutionary change, but it is a persuasive one, and one that rings true when […]
Creative work isn’t more fun or easier than less creative work. Indeed, our busy, conscious brains seem to do everything in their power to keep us from taking the risks that let us be creative. There is, though, a powerful switch that lets us sidestep consciousness. It’s the switch of […]
In the first few turns of Yahtzee, your scorecard is wide open. You can take huge risks, knowing you’ll be able to score something, even if it isn’t ideal. And your risks can pay off with lucky rolls and higher scores. In the last few turns of Yahtzee, you’re most […]
Morituri Te Salutemus. That is the expression that slaves were required to shout to the Roman Imperial ruler when they entered the arena for gladiatorial death matches. We, who are about to die, salute you. When I was young, what struck me was the intimate knowledge of mortality – the […]