arrange • compose • conduct
Our brains are great at filling in the gaps in our perception. There are so many optical and even auditory illusions that show the way that our brains extrapolate from what we experience, creating information inside our brains that doesn’t exist in the world. (I think that’s probably the explanation […]
Why would a composer choose a career that minimizes new compositional work? I think this is true for many composers, but I thought about it the other day about Eric Whitacre. Eric is a celebrated choral composer, with a huge number of “hits” in the choral world. I have no […]
Not being Mozart is freeing, not frustrating. There is a mindset out there that people who are around a Mozart, but aren’t themselves at his generational brilliance, will feel jealousy or a sense of personal failure. Call it Salieri Syndrome. But not being Mozart gives you so much freedom to […]
How do you do your “one last look” at a new project? Even thought I do my music writing almost all on computer (sometimes some sketches are done with a pencil and paper), I feel like I always catch an error or two if I only edit it digitally. Printing […]
Can you find clear direct parallels between different forms of art? A drawing is an autobiographical record of one’s discovery of an event – either seen, remembered or imagined. John Berger John Berger was an writer and artist, among other professions. (I admit to discovering this quote in a recent […]
I love it when the blobs come to life! We’re doing a bonus Cabaret this year. (get your tickets! Wednesday, June 8!) For me, that means taking an other stack of piano-vocal scores and turning them into band arrangements for a pro rhythm section. By far, the most exciting part […]
That’s almost always the first question I ask. Having a framework for your creative work is essential for making choices about what to include and what to exclude. Even if the title changes later, the title itself – of an essay, of a talk, of a composition – is an […]
The small things are important. But they can be agonizing. Half Time 12/8 feel (quarter=90) Half Time, 12/8 feel (quarter=90) Half time (quarter=90) 12/8 feel quarter=90, 12/8 feel Half time, 12/8 feel 12/8 feel, quarter=90 These are just some of the metronome markings I considered for a particular spot in […]
I love premieres. As a composer and arranger, you would think it goes with the territory, but the truth is that developing my craft was focused so much on the work I do in my studio – selecting notes, rhythms, orchestration, voicings, etc. – that it took me years to […]
Are two modes from the same parent scale actually the same scale, just starting in a different place? I had a student make that statement recently – that C Ionian and E Phyrgian, for example, are not different because they contain precisely the same seven notes. What I should have […]