arrange • compose • conduct
Okay, I made 5 pies. One I’m passing along to my nearest family members (with whom we are not sharing Thanksgiving dinner), leaving 4 for our 5 family members. Surely that sounds like overkill, to make 80% of a pie per person. But on a special feast like Thanksgiving, I […]
Over the years, you learn to plan Thanksgiving dinner well in advance. We’re planning an elaborate feast for Thanksgiving this year. (For my immediate family, because that’s clearly the right choice). Each dish is a favorite of one or more in our house; they’ve all been in rotation for years. […]
Directing focus is a big part of what I think about as a conductor: How do we direct focus towards the voice part with the melody? How do I direct focus away from myself and to my students? How do I maintain the ensemble’s focus on the music at hand? […]
Here’s a core philosophy I hold about the groups I conduct: This group doesn’t belong to me. I’m just its caretaker. This group belongs to you. The members of the group have primary control of the trajectory of the group, of the sense of ensemble, of the progress from week […]
The evenings for the past few weeks in my house have been filled with our first read-aloud of The Hobbit. Our oldest had read it last year as a free choice book in English class, but for the other two kids it’s the first exposure to Middle Earth. The interesting […]
I’ve been solving some logic games this summer, and I’ve noticed there are two opposing strategies I employ. I think it’s good to use them both when facing many different kinds of decisions. Strategy 1 is “Stay In It.” In the course of the minutes I’ve spent on this logic […]
I’m looking at a 1,000 piece puzzle that is missing one piece. One. Probably you know this feeling – and the desire to tear apart the room to find the missing 1/2 square inch of cardboard. Consider – that is only 0.1% of the puzzle. It is 99.9% complete with […]
Are you swimming in reading packets? I know I am. They are a beautiful tool for discovering new repertoire, and an essential part of a choral conference (I know that when I helped organize a conference, the most consistent feedback we received was “more reading packets!”) And yet, they are […]
Do you have a someday list of repertoire? I don’t keep as long a list as many conductors I know – most of the time my repertoire choices comes as a response to the needs directly in front of my ensemble, and what I think will be most effective in […]
It’s the rare individual who can be up-close, focusing on the details, and simultaneously have both eyes on the big picture (The so-called 30,000 foot view). But you need both. July is the month, for choral educators, to step way, way back. Of course, it’s time to put in 80-hour […]