arrange • compose • conduct
Looking at the blank page is easier if you trust yourself, and if you’re not afraid to delete what you’ve written. Combine those two things, and you’ll never suffer from writer’s block. I’ve suffered the disappointment of coming back to a piece and having to delete hours of yesterday’s work. […]
Rest actually begins the 26th. The gifts have been purchased (let’s be honest, choir directors bought them either in the summer or after break started.) The gifts have been given. No one is calling to book carolers for 11 months! Don’t think about music today. Grab a thick novel, a […]
According to research by Time Magazine, These are the most popular Christmas songs, based on number of recordings since 1978. I’m using this list to compile my Ultimate Christmas album – nearly thirty of the most popular songs, in my favorite version. It’s my little Christmas gift to you. Spotify […]
It’s the seventh year of the Rockford Aces, and in that time we have had 41 members, counting all current members and alumni. 23 – more than half – of them showed up for the Aces + Alumni Christmas party on Dec. 22, one of the busiest of the pre-Christmas […]
Do you play chess? I have never played competitively, but I’ve found myself playing more as my sons are able to understand it. Already this break, we’ve played dozens of games. Morning chess with Julian. A photo posted by Jed Scott (@jedscottmusic) on Dec 12, 2014 at 4:55am PST Chess […]
Why do we get in our own way? What is it about middle- or long-term goals that makes them so hard to prioritize? A few examples: I could not count for you the number of talented singers (even future professionals!) I have seen memorizing Italian on their way to Solo […]
Here’s a thought Alice Parker shared with me during one of our conversations last year. Like Alice, I spend my musical life switching between writing music for others and conducting music by others. After a lifetime of this, Alice says that for her composing and conducting are 2 sides of the […]
Dear Music Teachers, You did it! You survived another impossibly busy December. You can’t even begin to count the number of concerts, carol arrangements, or illnesses that you surmounted to get from Thanksgiving to today. How many times do you suppose you blew a pitch pipe in the last three […]
Less than a week until Christmas. What do you want from Santa? The Real Group is asking for the right thing in Anders Edenroth’s “The World For Christmas.” …hear the unspoken wish from a tiny, tiny dot: “I only want the world for Christmas, the blue-green, forever turning world for […]
Why should you take the time, effort, and money to commission new music for your choir? 1. If you want to see great new music enter the repertoire, you should get out there and pay writers to write it! 2. It’s more affordable than you think. Seriously. 3. Sometimes it’s […]