arrange • compose • conduct
Sometimes, it’s enough in a rehearsal to not go backwards. In times of great busyness, I do my very best to maintain regularly scheduled rehearsals. Sometimes, of course, it’s impossible – dress rehearsals, exams, performances, etc. can encroach on rehearsal. But if possible, even if everyone is exhausted, I hold […]
Reflecting on a project when it’s fresh is the best way to improve the next one. I just built a new cast bio input form…for next year’s musical. Why do the work now when the need is eleven months away, and I’m neck-deep in work for next week? Simple. It’s […]
If you’re not a good leader, it doesn’t matter how polished your musical skills are. There’s a reason I spend so much time thinking, reading, and writing about leadership. I think it’s undervalued when we train music educators and conductors, and I think its value is far greater than your […]
Don’t make your leadership goal to please everyone you’re leading. That path leads to failure. I’m going to say it again because it’s always constant, and that is leadership is messy, and I want everything to be neat and well organized and beautifully designed, and I hate mess [….] The […]
On and off, I write weekly letters to my ensembles, emulating but by no means coming close to the legendary “Dear People” letters of Robert Shaw. On and off because my life commitments don’t always allow me to give these letters the attention they need soon enough to be useful. […]
“Is it okay to make mistakes?” she asked. “No!” (she answered her own question.) “But seriously, in performance, is it okay to make mistakes?” The students started nodding. “NO!” “All right, don’t make mistakes, but if you have to it’s okay, right?” “NO!!!” She went on, “It’s okay to make […]
I think the best learning happens when you have enough time to have fun. Sometimes, in the crunch of the moment, I have to move with peak efficiency. In the recording studio or in the rehearsal process, I am leaving no moment unused. It’s effective but it isn’t very fun. […]
Leadership in an ensemble can take many forms, ranging by degrees from a detail oriented clockmaker, who finely tunes and controls every moment of performance, and an ensemble member who does a count off to start the performance and then fades back into the ensemble. The range does not include […]
I had lots of opportunities (six concerts this week with me directing) to be reminded of why I do what I do. I do it to see students flourish. I watched my high school students flourish with new ideas, new commitment, new professionalism in every one of their four performances […]
Yesterday, I wrote about how I keep forgetting about the loss of institutional memory – and how it leads to more difficulty in many situations. There can also be an upside to losing institutional memory. My friend wrote me today, saying, “The loss of institutional knowledge has allowed me to […]