arrange • compose • conduct
Replayability (also known as Replay Value) is a measure of how much enjoyment people continue to have with a game that they have already spent time playing. Chess has a high level of replayability. Candyland has a low level of replayability, unless you’re five. It’s also one of the factors […]
A memory came up yesterday of me with my students on the elementary playground, nine years ago. This was at the end of a long week of rehearsals, preparing for our arrival at the 2012 World Choir Games on July 4. As I remember it, the Aces had worked incredibly […]
Would you program something that is “too hard” for your choir? I mean: too hard to sing flawlessly. Too hard to perform without the occasional tuning error. I don’t program music that is too hard in the sense of: requires professional tessitura or vocal control; requires advanced vocal techniques; is […]
There are many ways to celebrate success in video games. Beat your friends! Get the high score! (If I could have ever just gotten past the final Bowser on 8-4, I would have counted it as ultimate success…) One way of measuring success in recent years is speed running. A […]
I’ve had several conversations recently looking to the future in which the other person had a default plan of continuing with livestream or digital stream as a standard practice for future concerts and performances. I sincerely hope that this doesn’t become common practice. There is value in archival recording a […]
A popular business expression goes “Underpromise and overdeliver.” But I can’t think of a single important relationship in which that is the best approach. Do people underpromise in their wedding vows? Do parents underpromise to their children? Do you underpromise to your friends? Underpromising is always, to me, a subtle […]
The other side of the concert. I spent Saturday feeling utterly wiped – to the point of taking a long nap, which I almost never do. It was only late in the day that I realized I was suffering from a concert “hangover.” Hadn’t had one in 15 months. The […]
Sometimes, when my ensemble is having trouble with a spot, I say, “and now…a pause for literacy.” Actually, I usually say music theory, but music literacy is s friendlier and more accurate term. Sometimes a problem spot is a problem spot because there is some structural component that the ensemble […]
Some say it as, “Early is on time; on time is late.” My family calls it “Scott Time.” It’s the habit of arriving early so you’re ready when an activity starts, instead of hustling to be on time. I prefer the way I heard it, repeatedly, throughout my college career […]
I’ve been busy for the last year, but not in the usual ways. I haven’t been busy with concerts and performances. I haven’t been busy with in-person lessons. I’ve been busy a lot in front of my computer. And of course those early months of the pandemic had a lot […]