arrange • compose • conduct
Pacing in a studio session is one of the overlooked essentials of success. I’m obsessed with getting a new engineer up to speed on my strategies, preferences, and quirks before a session, and the reason is that those are the things that most affect pacing – the downtime between takes, […]
The three facets I think most important in a performance worth giving: Focus. Stay in the moment, paying due attention to the many details required for excellence in music-making. Connect. Forge a connection between you and the people in your audience. Have Fun. Music-making should be a joyous activity. There […]
I don’t think anyone truly gets over stage nerves. Stage fright, that particular anxiety that arrives somewhere between a few minutes and many hours ahead of a performance, is real and can be light or debilitating. I don’t think you ever get past it. Instead, I think performers learn to […]
We think of growth as linear – a step forward, then another step, then another. Growth isn’t linear. There are long portions of the learning process when no growth may be evident, but much is invisbly happening. Then one day, the learner makes a seemingly sudden leap forward – the […]
I love playing chess, and in particular I love playing chess with my kids: the strategy, the opportunity for growth, and on and on. (I’m not very good.) Recently, I’ve been using an app to play a chess variant called blitz chess, in which each player has only three minutes. […]
Christine Guter made a point to call the members of the All-State Jazz Choir “professionals” or “young professionals” this past weekend, and to hold them to a standard of professionalism that was likely well beyond what they were accustomed to. It’s a reminder to me that we become professional when […]
“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 […]
Once upon a time, I always thought like an arranger when I arranged, like a composer when I composed. Effective voicings. Timbre, texture, form, phrasing. I still think about all of those things, of course. But I prioritize thinking like the performer. Would I enjoy singing this? Would this read […]
The first time I bake or cook a new recipe, I try to follow it to the letter. No substitutions, no tweaks, no “I think it’ll taste better if…”. That’s because I don’t know yet what’s integral and what’s flexible. After I’ve made it at least once, a recipe is […]
I love introducing singers to the studio. I love it for three reasons. It’s educational. You can learn so much from the work you do recording and listening back to what you’ve done. It’s fun. Being effective in the moment, reactive and consistent, can be such a thrill. It’s lasting. […]