jedscott

The biggest challenge of Thanksgiving, we’re told, is to safely navigate the landmines of differing political and social opinions when you’re among family you see only rarely. This is less of a challenge if you approach the day with a choral educator’s mindset. Choral educators, after all, navigate emotional vulnerability […]

The best Thanksgiving dinners aren’t cooked on Thursdays. If you want a truly out-of-this-world Thanksgiving dinner, you need to start prepping a week ahead. Select the recipes, buy the groceries, and prepare recipes as early as possible. Make the pies on Monday or Tuesday! Of course tomorrow, Thanksgiving, will be […]

Your daily commute usually takes 15 minutes. But on certain unfortunate days, treacherous roads stretch it to 30 or even 45 minutes. Unless you want to be very late, you have to anticipate those days and budget extra time for yourself. The same is true rehearsing music. You, the director, […]

Perhaps you know this good advice for leaders everywhere: If you want something done, ask a busy person. The same goes for placing students – busy students are the most likely, once they carve out time for your choir, to get the job done well. They know how to manage […]

If you’re lucky, you get one good leg to run with a student. They’re on a long race, and you get your turn in the relay. You do your best, and you try to leave the teachers to come after you in a strong position. Every time I see a […]

You can choose the easy way or the hard way. For almost everything. Hard way: scratch gourmet cooking. Easy way: McDonald’s. Hard way: engaged parenting. Easy way: parked in front of a screen. Hard way: emotionally connected, active teaching. Easy way: checked out, robotic teaching. Of course, every one of […]

We all, for a variety of reasons, refer people to other people. A dentist, a doctor, an organic farmer at the market. A choir director when a student moves. Have the sorts of relationships that, when you refer one friend to another friend, for any reason, you can say, “Tell […]

How early is too early for Christmas music? I don’t blame you if you insist on waiting until after Thanksgiving. (I have a fondness for the oft-overlooked genre that is “Thanksgiving Music“, myself.) However, I thing that my willingness to phase in Christmas music as soon as Halloween is in […]

“The right note at the wrong time is the wrong note.” – Robert Shaw Surely we can all agree on the wisdom of what we can call Shaw’s Law. But here’s the first corollary. It follows from Shaw’s law that: The right note held for the wrong duration is the […]

In a recent Jazziz interview, the wonderful singer Jo Lawry says, “I’ve been exploring the type of music that I’d like to listen to, as opposed to the music that I studied. They aren’t necessarily the same.” Those of us who work our way through an academic music curriculum should […]