arrange • compose • conduct
The most we can achieve together in an ensemble are the lowest aspirations of any one member. I refuse to use the phrase the “only as strong as the weakest link” because someone with low aspirations isn’t weaker than anyone else. It’s just that their aims are different. It’s okay […]
There are skills I’ve built already as a teacher during the pandemic. There are skills I hope I never have to use again. And there are skills and tools I’ve tried and said, “I’ll keep using this.” I’ll keep using remote one-on-one mini-lessons. These have been a great way to […]
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 rehearsed together today–I and the next generation of The Rockford Aces. It wasn’t like any other rehearsal we’ve ever had. Between the masks, the distance, and the September wind, we could hardly hear each other. None of us had sung in a group in a solid six months. But […]
Morituri Te Salutemus. That is the expression that slaves were required to shout to the Roman Imperial ruler when they entered the arena for gladiatorial death matches. We, who are about to die, salute you. When I was young, what struck me was the intimate knowledge of mortality – the […]
I don’t think the right goal for most people is to be a game-changer. Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Mickey Mantle. J.S. Bach, Stevie Wonder, Jacob Collier, Esperanza Spalding. Picasso, Monet, Michelangelo. Julia Child, Alton Brown, Samin Nosrat. Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi, Malala Yousafzai. The thing about being a game […]
When the at-home orders started in March, choral leaders everywhere reinvented the wheel, over the weekend or a few short days. It was amazing to see. Part of the reason it worked is because the singers we led were primed by four, five, six months of in-person rehearsals. We had […]
What is the ethos of your choral institution? Merriam Webster defines ethos: The distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution. Maybe there was a time when the ethos of a choral ensemble or institution needed no more specificity than “make music together as […]
It’s my wife’s birthday, and she did a Facebook birthday fundraiser, inviting friends to support a GoFundMe devoted to raising court costs to help transgender youths in Grand Rapids get their names legally changed. Part of the reason that the fundraiser has raised over $1,100 in the last 12 hours […]
My friend told me his secret to finding a four-leaf clover is to get really good at finding three-leaf clovers. Get so good at recognizing the patterns in three-leaf clovers, and they’ll fade into the background. Suddenly the four-leaf clovers jump out for their obvious difference. Learning to lead is, […]