arrange • compose • conduct
Some people look for assuredness. In a leader, in a collaborator, in a parent. They look for people who say, “I know the answer.” I say, anyone who is 100% sure they know the answer is someone that I can’t 100% trust. I know that might make me seem weak […]
We are all starting over. We are out of practice… teaching in person. learning in person. conducting gracefully. singing beautifully. interacting with a group. leading. following. trusting. And we have never practiced… conducting with a mask. singing with a mask. recognizing students with masks. safe distancing in the classroom. enforcing […]
I’m left-handed. The only one in either my immediate family for at least three generations. My daughter asked me tonight at dinner why I was left-handed. What peculiar outcome of nature or nurture caused it? I think the answer is complicated, and I can’t speak to the genetics. What I […]
When I’m adapting to a new schedule, the third week is when I figure it out. The first week is about reacting, moment to moment, to the demands of the schedule. The second week is about noticing the waves, taking care of the most important tasks, and starting to go […]
Adam Neely is a bassist and YouTuber who makes outstanding explanatory videos about music, especially understanding contemporary music (jazz, rock, pop, etc.). His most recent video is a must-watch. Please watch it to understand more about the cis-white-male-centric world of traditional music theory. I’m teaching a Jazz Theory course at […]
The worst lesson to learn from six months of a pandemic is, “it’s always like this.” It’s hard, at 43, to learn that lesson. Your sense of normal does evolve over time, but I have had enough life experience to know that it’s not always like this. In the nearly […]
“In preparing for his oral qualifying examination, a rite of passage for every graduate student, he chose not to study the outlines of known physics. Instead he went up to MIT, where he could be alone, and opened a fresh notebook. On the title page he wrote: Notebook Of Things […]
Nobody knows how Greek Fire was made. Nobody quite knows the recipe for Roman concrete, or the process for Damascus steel; nobody knows the smell of silphium. There are countless examples of past knowledge lost to time. It might be reassuring to think that knowledge builds on knowledge – that […]
What albums could you listen to all day? What’s your “All Day Music”? For me, the music I can let play over and over has certain characteristics: timeless feeling (not totally wedded to a particular era). depth of musical expression that rewards repeated listening. personal connection to a time or […]
We can choose to seek many different destinations: Novelty Satisfaction Curiosity Distraction Dissociation Connection Peace Conflict Comfort One of the main lessons I seek to imbue my students with is to make the destination you seek beauty. Prioritize seeking beauty. To me, the outcome of all art should be beauty. […]