arrange • compose • conduct
Posts discussing education, both in and outside of music
Encouragement isn’t always simple positivity. “True encouragement consists not so much of burbling as of detailed attention.” Stephen Sondheim, in a letter to Adam Guettel I personally struggle to five encouragement that isn’t simple positivity. I desperately want my students and mentees to keep going – to build on what […]
You start the school year with a fresh new candle. It’s meant to last you till the last day of school. Every hour spent in class, grading, lesson planning, chaperoning, meeting with parents, etc. burns your candle a little more. But you don’t worry, because by the time June rolls […]
This unsung hero of the choral program deserves a round of applause. I’ve written before about the value of good graphic design tools for choir directors. Many other tools are rightly recognized: pianos, pitch pipes, recording tools; even Spotify or Apple Music for sharing example recordings. But what of the […]
Working with students requires you to occupy three places on the timeline. First, you have the past – what they needed when you started working with them. When this school year started, students needed love, psychological safety, and routine. Second, you have the present – what they need today to […]
As we’ve gotten back into events that we haven’t done in a while, I find myself having to approach them differently. The event the Rockford Aces hosted last night, for example, ran since 2012. In 2019 it had to be canceled unexpectedly, so after seven years of running it, there […]
Spacing project completion is a hallmark of successful work. When I’m managing my work schedule well, projects overlap only as much as necessary. They have a staggered finish date, so that I’m not frantically completing too many projects at once. Sure, there are busier and quieter moments, but if I’m […]
Choose remarkable, not predictable. Every bowl of Cheerios I’ve ever eaten has tasted exactly the same. That’s a feature of grocery store food – predictable is better than remarkable. And we’ve come to expect that predictability in a larger and larger part of our lives. Actually, though, in other human […]
Businesses are struggling with inventory; why are we trying to follow the same model in schools? Over the last couple of decades, businesses have embraced what’s called “Just-In-Time Inventory.” The ideas is to not keep extra inventory on hand, because that can be expensive and requires storage space. Instead, the […]
We work in interlocking skills in performing ensembles. What about discrete skills? Performing a piece requires to simultaneously focus on vowel, tone, pitch, balance, diction, phrasing, drama, and about a dozen other things. All of them. At once. These are interlocking skills if we want to be successful. But skills […]
A lot of my jobs involve me saying some version of this sentence. “End sustained notes with shadow vowels.” Yes, that’s usually true…but not in this moment/piece/style. “Keep your feet firmly planted.” Yes, that’s usually true…but not in jazz. “Look to the conductor for the sense of the beat.” Yes, […]