arrange • compose • conduct
I left our choir concert last night so inspired by my colleagues, Mandy Mikita Scott and Melanie Dorn Kraut, and the amazing students we all work with. They took time in the last couple of weeks to reinterpret the Oxford High School Fight Song as a heartfelt statement of solidarity […]
This time of year, I hear a solid percentage of people say “I hate Christmas music.” That is a defensible opinion, though I wish they’d say, “it’s not for me.” But there’s more to it, I realized–because if you’re listening to Christmas music in a different way than I am, […]
Awe and wonder are essential to the human experience. Wonder fuels our passion for exploration and learning, for curiosity and adventure. […] Some researches even believe that “awe-inducing events may be one of the fastest and most powerful methods of personal change and growth.” from Atlas of the Heart by […]
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 […]
There are a few times of year when a choir director can’t hope for work-life balance, and one is between Thanksgiving and Christmas. The commitments come non-stop, and the most you can hope for is a single quiet day with your family, or a few moments of peace between school […]
How you have to finish the hatHow you watch the rest of the worldFrom a window while you finish the hat […] That, however you live There’s a part of you always standing byMapping out the sky, finishing a hatStarting on a hat, finishing a hatLook, I made a hatWhere […]
Thanksgiving, while an American holiday, is in family of festivals from across the world that celebrate the harvest. It’s a time of gratitude, and a time of family. Sometimes I think it’s my favorite holiday; setting aside the American additions of televised athletic conflicts and impending consumerism, the holiday, at […]
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 […]
Many experts have written in the last few years about the effectiveness of triggers to forming habits. I find it just as important to have anchors to my day – the things that I always do that help me see my day and get my work done in response to […]
There’s something magical about the first snow, isn’t there? It uplifts, even as it chills you. That same snow, falling in March, wouldn’t have the same effect. We want to maintain our joy in the things that we do, but it’s simply not possible, always, when we’ve been doing the […]