arrange • compose • conduct
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 […]
There are so many stories of creators who got over the hump of creating while working full time by “waking early.” (I proudly chose this practice for many years, writing from 4:30-6am.) Just get up a little earlier, they say, and do your work before the world wakes up and […]
I’m working on an arrangement for vocal group and big band right now, and as I write it, I regularly remind myself, “You don’t have to fill every bar.” Sections can take breaks. There can be extended rests. In fact, most players would get pretty mad if their parts were […]
I have a Snow Day today. (It’s a weird one: there’s no new snow on the ground or in the air, as of 7am…but 4-6″ and 40mph winds are anticipated later.) Snow Days are sudden threats: you can’t prepare and mitigate them in advance, and you can’t stop the weather. […]
I’ve written multiple times about our family’s work for more disconnected time, and in particular about our adoption of a 24/6 approach, which we termed “Singing Brook Days.” Full disclosure: we’ve struggled to implement them regularly since school started. And I miss them deeply. (Sounds like a New Year’s Resolution […]
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 […]