jedscott

I, like many conductors, reserve some time immediately before my rehearsals to plan the rehearsal. Over about 20 minutes, I have a two-step process for planning: first, I note my goals on scrap paper and write down any business I want to discuss; second I transfer that information to a plan in a spiral notebook […]

You know how to make your art. Whether you’re a composer, a conductor, and author, or a painter – you know all the finely balanced work that makes your art successful. Other arts, you’re probably in the dark about. All the more reason to dig into other arts. I don’t have any […]

Changes must be made. A new year calls for new ideas, and for fixing past mistakes. If I notice a problem, I try to do more than point it out. I try to go beyond the problem and arm myself with the following: A fully thought-out solution. When I point […]

A break is worthwhile for anyone – time to reconnect, disconnect, eat well, sleep an extra hour. If, at a week in a break, you aren’t ready to get back to the work, then you just failed the Vacation Test. Why did you fail? You are too burned out from long-term overexertion. Vacation […]

New beginnings are seldom clear cut. We want our new beginnings, new habits, to be like New Year’s: one second, it’s 2017; the next, it’s 2018. Most of the time, new beginnings are much messier. Two steps forward, one step back, four steps sideways, and then a brick wall. New beginnings […]

I wrote yesterday in my year review that I received several “No” responses to big dreams I put into the universe. While I don’t want to dwell on that, I do want to make it the subject of this year’s personal goal. (I’m not actually big on resolutions per se…). Because the “Yes” responses all […]

2017 was a year to remember with much happening on many fronts. If I had to name the year in a few words, I would say it’s been the year of vocal jazz. Here’s an overview of my professional year in a few more words: Writing I published a new […]

I published a post here every day in 2017. Here’s a favorite post from each month. January: The Recipe for Making a Creative Person February: Mistakes, Loudly March: Two Sentences Worth Memorizing April: The Truth is More Complicated May: Some of the Best Days June: The Liability of Streaks July: A […]

My listening habits are fairly diverse, and fairly heavily rooted in revisiting music I love. That said, there are plenty of things I discovered this year – either new or new to me. Here are some that I loved. Elements (The Real Group) The Real Group’s 21st album is a diverse collection of originals, along […]

Books remain at the heart of the media I consume – not perhaps the most significant by volume, but certainly by the effect they have on my life. I completed 22 books in 2017: short of my 2016 total, but a respectable number. Here are a few books I read this year […]