arrange • compose • conduct
Something I love about curious, driven, resourceful students is the way they live in Receive Mode. By that, I mean the way they can, day after day, pursue new information in their areas of interest. For music, that means listening, reading, conversation, watching, and more in their chosen genre. As […]
One of the reasons high school and college last a finite amount of time is because our brains are mature enough to develop a perspective. Perspective is great. It’s a little like driving on a dirt road with deep ruts. Your vehicle drives itself – no need to steer, as […]
It’s my end-of-school-year tradition to publish the repertoire my ensemble sang over the year. With my second year at GRCC in the books, here are the pieces Shades of Blue learned and performed. Shades of Blue had nine singers (2-2-3-2) in the fall semester and eight singers (2-2-2-2) in the […]
If they asked me to give a commencement address, here are four messages I would want to make sure the graduates heard loud and clear. Graduation Day isn’t an ending: it’s the beginning. Your four year journey has been about the University helping you cut a set of keys to […]
Announcing my first ever “Close Reading Summer Series.” I’m going to be rereading Dare To Lead by Brené Brown. And each Sunday, starting June 16, I’ll be posting a reflection on a chapter from the book, looking specifically at how the insights apply in the choral world. Read along with me! I’ll […]
How will you finish? You’re tired from a long year. Your relationships with your fellow singers are a bit more…complex…than when you started in August. You have spring fever and are dreaming of not having to be up in time for first hour. How will you finish? To me, years […]
It’s time! All choirs in the state of Michigan are invited to join the Michigan Choral Commission Consortium (MC3) for our 2019 season. (Already ready to join? Click here. Or read on!) We already have 20 choirs re-registered for this year, and I’m actively working with three composers, with more […]
If we never stumble, we aren’t moving forward. That goes for individuals, and for ensembles, too. If your ensemble always meets expectations, with never a stumble, then you aren’t moving forward fast enough. Yes, it hurts to skin your knee or twist your ankle – and it hurts to get […]
How many times do you get one (or maybe two) public performances of a piece? It’s rampant in the curricular choir, when each quarter or semester is spent learning repertoire to be presented at the quarterly concert. Then, it’s the end of the semester, or it’s on to new repertoire […]
“I deal in real time.” So went a prized and oft-repeated expression of my mentor, Steve Zegree. Real time means I don’t cheat on how long things are going to take. Real time means I don’t arrive late or leave early. Real time means I don’t commit to a project […]