Instructions Before A First Concert
What do you want your ensemble to remember as you approach their first concert of the year?
Performing
How The Audience Figures In
For a performer, what’s the difference between a vocal jazz performance and a traditional choral one?
Polished & Casual
The best performances are an integrated combination of polished and casual.
Not Because We’re Ready
We don’t do the concert because we’re ready. We do it because it’s concert day.
“Keep The Classical”
Overheard recently: a traditional bel canto voice teacher offering critique to a crossover student singing a jazz standard.
Personal
Make it personal. The best educators make it personal. They tailor the instruction to the student. They adjust their lesson plans in the moment depending on what’s happening in the room. They teach from motivations of curiosity, passion, and love that they want to share with the individuals they’re teaching. […]
Overprepared
Overprepared is a myth. There is prepared and there is unprepared. Any preparation beyond the baseline of prepared simply moves you farther beyond the average level of preparation and into excellence. Come see my students tonight at 7pm (or if you’re not in West Michigan, watch online) as they show […]
On Not Inviting People To Your Thing
It can be hard to invite people to your thing. For a lot of different reasons. I start several months before the Aces Concert each year (it’s tomorrow, May 26 at 7pm – free admission!) letting my students know that the best way for them to get an audience to […]
Goals For A Performance
What are your goals for a performance? Goals? Obviously, the goal is to perform your music well! What else? Actually, there are a lot of different and overlapping goals you can have as a performer; some are audience-facing and some are performer-facing. Audience-Facing Performer-Facing All of these and many more […]
Three Quick Tips
How do you help students take a Cabaret/Lounge-style solo to the next level? I watched a student rehearse with a big band yesterday, and offered these three tips. I share them because I find them to be near-universal in applicability.