arrange • compose • conduct
Some wisdom from Alice Parker today. I read this in the warmup room before the Aces’ performance at State Solo & Ensemble today, because we can all use reminding of the power of singing. “Sometimes I think that when I am singing I’m using all of my potential in a […]
The only way to develop durable skills is repetition over time. I beat my son at tennis today. That’s rare – he’s better than me. But neither of us had played tennis since the fall, and I had one (temporary) advantage. Skill durability. My skills, meager though they are, are […]
Watching Part 3 of The Beatles documentary “Get Back,” I was struck by the way that they rehearse. As they are working up these now-classic songs into full recorded versions, they vary the tempo, the feel, the instrumentation. They rewrite words on the fly, and interject with nonsense whenever they […]
Follow your passion? Yes. Passion is essential but not sufficient. In addition to passion, these are essential for success: Helpful but not essential traits include: What’s missing from your essential arsenal? That’s where to focus your efforts.
Don’t think of cheating as an ethical question, think of it as a motivation question. There are two reasons students choose to cheat. The first is out of your control as a teacher: students cheat because they are desperate. Maybe they are working three jobs, have a crisis, or for […]
When is it worth having a Zoom meeting in 2023? I admit that I don’t prefer Zooming to in-person meetings. However, there are several situations when I think that Zooming is better than any alternative, and we can take advantage of our new skills in video conferencing. I don’t always […]
Knowing how long it will take to learn a skill is essential to maintaining a positive outlook – and succeeding in learning it. Learning to sing an A on command in rehearsal reliably takes my students a couple of months. Learning to scat like Ella will take 1,000 hours of […]
Sometimes we need reminding that we aren’t totally in control. You can be reminded by an illness that flattens you, or a mistake in performance that never happened in rehearsal. You can be reminded by other humans around whose plans undermine your own. My favorite way of surrendering control, though, […]
After you get a vaccination, you’ll often have a day of “flu-like symptoms.” This is off-putting to some, and actually probably accounts for a fair bit of vaccine hesitancy. We aren’t very good at differentiating between the pain that strengthens us and the pain that weakens us. It’s the same […]
Starting a small project is relatively straightforward. Ask yourself, “What do I need to do?” Then start to do it. Starting a big project is different, because a big project almost always includes something you’ve never done before. Before starting a big project ask yourself, “What do I need to […]