arrange • compose • conduct
Say it again. As I have continued to write daily on this site for year after year, I occasionally have gotten worried that I won’t have more insights to offer. But I remind myself: this might not be a new insight, but it might reach a new person. Especially if […]
Assumption of Positive Intent is hard to practice. It’s easy to assume malicious intent – that people are out to get you, or don’t have your best interests at heart, or just don’t care enough about what you care about. In Dr. Brené Brown’s Dare To Lead, she writes, “Daring […]
The golden rule of improv applies well beyond comedy. The most famous dictum of improv comedy is “Yes, and.” When someone adds something to the scene, you must accept it and work with it as you continue. Only through that open collaboration can you create something all the improvisers share […]
The best leaders I know lead like conductors. If the word leadership did not exist, what alternative word would you use? Adam Grant, to Brené Brown and Simon Sinek on his podcast ReThinking (The answers they gave were “facilitator” (Brown), “parent” (Sinek, jokingly), and “coach or guide” (Grant)) The word […]
How high do you prioritize an activity? Does it change from week to week? “Most of the time, I don’t ask you to make this your top priority. But for one week, you must.” That’s part of what I said to the Rockford Aces in the lead to their concert […]
Take the music seriously. Everything else, treat lightly. “I try never to take myself too seriously. But music has to be taken seriously.” Yannick Nézet-Séguin, on 60 Minutes I agree with him on both counts. Where we get into danger is when a conductor starts to associate their vision of […]
In a masterclass being led by April mini, I heard her reference a line Steve Zegree said often to his groups. “I only ask two things of you,” she said. “Work hard and trust me.” With a good leader and a willing group, there’s a lot that can be done […]
Sometimes what’s called for is White Rabbit Mode. The white rabbit in Alice In Wonderland constantly shouts “I’m late!” as he bustles and hurries through the story. In plenty of rehearsals, there’s a little time for digression, for stories, for flights of fancy and following musical ideas and experiments. Other […]
The trick to successfully avoiding last-minute scrambling is to anticipate the problem sooner. If you see a challenge a week out instead of the day of, you’re going to have so much more time to prepare for, adjust to, and solve a problem. The day it arrives, you’ll be in […]
Can you say this to your students? “Everything we do has a reason” is a message I remember hearing many times from Steve Zegree during my time in Gold Company. He followed it by saying, “If you don’t know, just ask.” It’s not essential that we always share the reasons […]