arrange • compose • conduct
My ideal ensemble environment is high expectations but low stakes. How do you, as a director, lower the stakes of a performance? “Stakes Too High” is a common cause of lowered performance. Performers do worse when they’re particularly anxious, and it’s essential that a director find ways to lower the […]
That’s how it always is. “I think if you look at the history of completely overthrowing systems, that often doesn’t work great.” […] “The Utopian crowd is all like, ‘Oh, these are problems that will naturally fix themselves.’ No. These are problems that will fix themselves because [anonymous] is working […]
Just stay the right amount ahead. I like to stay ahead in preparing for things. But if you get too far ahead in your preparations, there are several hazards that can pop up. First, your advanced preparations can be unusable, because situations evolve over time. If I’m prepared twelve weeks […]
Leadership is an earned skill. You can only possibly get better at leading by doing it more. And to really experience it, that means no-net leadership. As a Scoutmaster, I am in the position of being encouraged by the organization to let the leaders do their best, and fail, in […]
Repeating means reusing. I love the second, and third, and fourth time doing something – because it gives me the chance to reuse things I’ve worked hard on. Hard-won knowledge, certainly, but even more frequently, carefully crafted documents. In my sixth time supervising the Michigan All-State Choir, I have a […]
In every organization, someone needs to ask this question. Should I decide, debate, or delegate? Over and over again, I have been in meetings that could have lasted half as long if there was a clear differentiation between decisions to be made by the leader and decisions that needed to […]
Communities take time. One of the best things you can do for your choir is to craft a community they can be a part of. Call it communityism. Being a part of a community makes everything easier. You know who to call for a favor. You know who can solve […]
For every extended rehearsal you plan, ask yourself this question: Have I scheduled past the point of diminishing returns? I always want to maximize available time and use every minute for the growth and improvement of my ensembles. But I have been in situations where other leaders have scheduled a […]
If you don’t know the timing, you’re asking for trouble. A concert shouldn’t go longer than 90 minutes without an intermission. So it’s essential for directors to know durations of pieces, timing of transitions, talking, and anything else that might add to the total time. Even with a format I’m […]
Do you incorporate any made-up rituals into your rehearsals? The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos explores the way we make decisions that we think will make us happier but don’t, and also offers researched techniques that actually do improve our happiness. In a 2020 episode, she discussed the idea […]