arrange • compose • conduct
“The most costly disruptions always happen when something we take completely for granted stops working for a minute.” President Jed Bartlet in The West Wing Ep. 3.8: The Women of Qumar (written by Aaron Sorkin) It’s true. The disruption is incredibly costly. The disruption in how we teach, how we […]
My friend Fred retired this year after several decades brilliantly teaching Calculus. While we didn’t get to interact as often as I would like while he taught (we were both occupied with reaching our own students) he has become a perfect example to me of what a great teacher looks […]
There is a time-honored tradition for my son and his friends to meet up after trick-or-treating to trade candy. Someone prefers Almond Joy, someone prefers Snickers. (Everyone without an allergy likes peanut butter cups, so you leave with the same number you came with, and then your parents take them.) […]
I’m teaching basic reharmonization techniques in my Jazz Theory class. The hardest part for students to wrap their heads around is that there are no easy rules. It’s easy to understand why. Their exposure to music theory is all in the traditional Western tonal theory. You know, the one with […]
The most valuable decision you can make when you are recording, in my opinion, is to let someone else decide. Whether it’s a producer, an engineer, or just another member of your recording ensemble, objective ears from another person will improve the quality of your recording. The same is true […]
There is a superstition in multiple cultural traditions that hand-knitted projects should include a mistake – it might be to keep you safe from faeries, or because only God is perfect, or because you don’t want to trap your creative spirit in the knit item. Whatever the reasoning, I can […]
I learned in debate my freshman year of high school to carefully select the facts that contribute to my case – to the story I want to tell. This idea of choosing narratives to support a story was emphasized over and over in the essay writing I did throughout high […]
Here’s a core philosophy I hold about the groups I conduct: This group doesn’t belong to me. I’m just its caretaker. This group belongs to you. The members of the group have primary control of the trajectory of the group, of the sense of ensemble, of the progress from week […]
I am obsessed with a current remote recording project I’m working on. (Actually, I’m obsessed with several…) It’s a new kind of magic for me to watch a piece slowly come together, one voice at a time. It’s a blossoming of the art, segment by segment. It reminds me of […]
We react to sudden changes. Sudden changes can be traumatic, but they are highly visible to us, so we react appropriately. We prioritize that reaction, we make the adjustments we need to make, and we keep moving forward. Problem is, much change happens too slowly. I’m thinking about things like […]