arrange • compose • conduct
Don’t kid yourself. It’s totally possible to follow from the front. Leaders who don’t know where they are going can cheat over their shoulders to get clues. They can see where the people behind them are going and follow them. It’s easy in the choral rehearsal to be in front […]
When you’re preparing concert programs, what information should you include? There are four tiers of detail you can consider including. Tier One – Title Only The Surrey With The Fringe On Top Tier Two – Title and Composer The Surrey With The Fringe On Top…………..Richard Rodgers (this is incredibly common) […]
My son made custom Valentines for his classmates – assigning them to a Greek God and sketching a symbol for each. I sat and helped him with inking the drawings – tracing his sketches and then erasing the original pencil. It’s so satisfying to remove all of those rough sketch […]
Some singers never learn the joy of getting beyond the notes and rhythms. It’s obvious when they aren’t in a hurry to get past learning of the notes. If they knew the joy that awaited, they’d want to hurry up and get there! Alice Parker says that she can only […]
If you’re thinking about decluttering or attempting minimalism or just simplifying your possessions, a good question to ask is, “If I were moving tomorrow, would I move this?” It’s a way to quickly separate the things you really want to have from the things that are there just because they’re […]
I desperately, passionately, unreservedly do not want to conduct my ensembles through compliance leadership. I am not, and refuse to be, a chair-throwing, yelling, lap-demanding leader. Part of that is temperament–that type of behavior would fit me exceedingly poorly. But a much bigger part has to do with my aspirations […]
My 10-year-old son came out of his hour-long basketball practice red-faced and sweaty. He had worked hard. But what he mentioned was the team on the next court over, whose coach had been loudly giving his team laps. “My coach doesn’t give us laps. He’s really good at showing us […]
A recent online discussion centered around vocal jazz ensemble singers losing track of their rhythmic accuracy when their rhythm section joined them. Assuming that the rhythm section is playing well in time, and that the singers have rehearsed thoroughly and are capable of the accuracy, here’s the most likely culprit. […]
In a recent episode of On Being, Krista Tippett interviewed science writer Erik Vance about some of the ideas around placebo. The wide-ranging and fascinating conversation included this insight: We need to have the theater around medicine. The white lab coat, for example. Why do you need that? People aren’t […]
Want more music? Want harder music? Want more interesting music? No problem… Master what you’ve got. The music you’ve got, you’ve got for a reason. It’s chosen to teach important lessons, to build important skills, to develop your ensemble. And once you’ve done those things, we’ll move on – to […]