arrange • compose • conduct
Posts specifically about choral music
My ideal ensemble environment is high expectations but low stakes. How do you, as a director, lower the stakes of a performance? “Stakes Too High” is a common cause of lowered performance. Performers do worse when they’re particularly anxious, and it’s essential that a director find ways to lower the […]
How do you decide level of difficulty for your repertoire? I’m of eight minds (at least). Mind One: Program easier repertoire that students can be successful at while learning and growing. Mind Two: Program Goldilocks repertoire that challenges students without wiping them out. Mind Three: Program tough, tough repertoire that […]
Don’t take your creations too seriously. At least, I don’t. The third time my students read a rhythm differently than written yesterday, I changed it on the spot. As I said to them, “Just because I wrote it doesn’t mean I got it right!” I can make mistakes in my […]
Here are my top five recommendations for people new to being in front of an ensemble in rehearsal. These are the ones I say over and over to my students when they are starting out running sectionals or portions of rehearsal. (I do my best to sit in the corner […]
I almost always love it. Coming back from a break, you can feel apprehensive about an ensemble: they have been away from the music, away from each other, away from the rigors of rehearsal for a length of time. (For me, this Winter Break was even longer because of COVID!) […]
The idea of musical genres are a convenient fiction. Program accordingly. Some argue that the very idea was created as a way to better market music by segmenting listeners into different genres. I think genres arise more organically than that – we need a word to describe all the music […]
Things can be difficult for wildly different reasons. Don’t let that surprise you. I solved a 67×41 crossword puzzle in the last few days. It’s huge. There were 782 distinct clues and it took up 3 entire newspaper pages. It took awhile, but the truth is, it wasn’t that difficult. […]
Alice Parker is one of the wisest, most settled musicians I’ve ever spent time with. She knows what works for her, knows what her opinions are, and knows how to express what she hears in her mind. That’s what has made it all the more inspiring, in my time with […]
More and more, I think this is my most important job. More important than my musical insights or expertise. More important than my rehearsal plan or preparation before and after rehearsal. More important than the part recordings, piano skills, or vocal technique lessons. It comes down to this: my students […]
Be aware of just how much context you’re bringing when you begin a piece with your students. I’m watching a “Technical Challenge” in the Great British Bake-Off, in which the contestant bakers are asked to bake a recipe sight-unseen. Sometimes, as in the one I’m watching now, it’s a type […]