arrange • compose • conduct
Have you tried whisking left-handed recently? (For me, that’s whisking right-handed…what I mean is your non-dominant hand.) It feels weird. I’m pretty agile with kitchen tools, but in my “wrong” hand, I feel like a novice all over again. I sometimes do just that, to remind myself the way that […]
Imposter Syndrome never ends. The sense that you don’t actually belong doing what you’re doing – what Amanda Palmer calls “The Fraud Police” – is, at least in my experience, ongoing in even situations where I know without question that I am qualified and capable. I’ve found only one solution […]
I like to start each new semester with a handful of personal resolutions – things I want to do better this semester, things I want to try, things I want to achieve. Things like: No repertoire I’ve conducted before Keep my talking to under 30 seconds during active rehearsal segments. […]
I’ve just started digging into Atomic Habits by James Clear, and it’s already evident that there’s a lot here applicable to music education. Consider: Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure […]
I think the best learning happens when you have enough time to have fun. Sometimes, in the crunch of the moment, I have to move with peak efficiency. In the recording studio or in the rehearsal process, I am leaving no moment unused. It’s effective but it isn’t very fun. […]
I had lots of opportunities (six concerts this week with me directing) to be reminded of why I do what I do. I do it to see students flourish. I watched my high school students flourish with new ideas, new commitment, new professionalism in every one of their four performances […]
How long do you need to wear a new pair of shoes before they feel worn in? A week? Longer? There’s a process of the shoe adjusting to conform to your feet, and your feet getting to know the shoes. It takes time, and it’s pretty much unavoidable. There’s the […]
I was in a recording studio I don’t regularly work in today, and I was reminded: the best studio engineer, entering a new studio, might be unable to even turn on the system and get started. There is a lot to a studio that is particular to that space and […]
If when I fail, it won’t be for lack of trying. I will fail because I made a bad decision. I will fail because we didn’t have the right resources, or the right skills, or enough time. I will fail because I choose to quit, having gotten into a project […]
I had the opportunity to help my son with a small project way outside my areas of expertise. (It was the design and manufacture of a custom patch). I looked at a lot of websites that promised a lot, but ended up reaching out to a recommended local company who […]