arrange • compose • conduct
Posts specifically about choral music
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 […]
I love Thanksgiving for the Usuals. I love that when I make this cranberry recipe, I think of that person and our meal together twenty years ago. I love that when I make this apple pie recipe, I know to omit the golden raisins because my niece has strong opinions. […]
Keep the music you select on the correct side of this axis. My students in Shades of Blue are working on the very difficult a cappella arrangement of “Almost Like Being In Love” by Darmon Meader. It’s aurally demanding, rhythmically tricky, and long! It’s been hard work, but they haven’t […]