arrange • compose • conduct
Why do we try to make decisions way before they need to be made? Put it another way: what will you be having for dinner 162 days from right now?* I don’t know, and I’ll bet you don’t either. Unless it’s a special event, there’s no earthly reason to know […]
You’ll never start. I’ve had a lot of students over the years who knew they were going to accomplish something specific – as soon as they were ready. “I’m going to be a composer, once I’ve taken all the classes to have the skills.” “I’m going to write a book, […]
It matters who you choose to listen to. As I wrote yesterday, when my students are learning a jazz standard, I work hard to impress on them the importance of targeted listening. This is, after all, an oral tradition, and we can only sing these songs well if we understand […]
It matters who you choose to listen to. When my students are learning a jazz standard, I work hard to impress on them the importance of targeted listening. This is, after all, an oral tradition, and we can only sing these songs well if we understand that tradition. Even as […]
What kind of organization do you want to be a part of? Some organizations seek to lead us into a better future. Other organizations work hard to retain the best of the past. Forward-looking and backward-looking. The is room – there is need – for both. Just as there is […]
I don’t play sequenced compositional demos for my students. Honestly, I don’t much listen to notation output for assessment purposes anymore. I’d rather audiate the score or hear it through my own fingers at the piano. I do appreciate it when composers send them to me – it’s a great […]
A Zen proverb goes, “If you don’t think you have time to meditate for an hour today, you should meditate for two hours.” This runs through my head every single time I want to skip past vocal warmups in my Aces rehearsals. Sometimes the motivation is so strong to get […]
As I see it, there are four types of arranging, based on how far your arrangement takes you from the source material. Transcription is the art of copying down exactly what is already in existence. You might be called to write an arrangement for a cover band, or for a […]
I’ve spent a lot of hours listening to the great Tin Pan Alley songwriters – the ones who composed the core of the Great American Songbook/jazz standards. Along the way, I’ve developed some strong opinions about the songwriters’ output. Here’s my ranking of TPA songwriters. (Who did I select to […]
Aspiring chess masters have to learn established sequences for the beginning portion of chess games – traditionally called openings. (There are hundreds, with names like “The Sicilian Defense.”) Learning these approaches is essential to avoiding blunders in games, and moving on to the more nuanced and wide-open middle game. Creative […]