arrange • compose • conduct
It matters who you choose to listen to. When my students are learning a jazz standard, I work hard to impress on them the importance of targeted listening. This is, after all, an oral tradition, and we can only sing these songs well if we understand that tradition. Even as […]
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 […]
Is each part of your practice integral, or are some things just side habits along for the ride? My writing practice is to simple: sit and write daily. But recently I find it hard to begin my writing except at the end of the day. I can sit and not […]
The only way to develop durable skills is repetition over time. I beat my son at tennis today. That’s rare – he’s better than me. But neither of us had played tennis since the fall, and I had one (temporary) advantage. Skill durability. My skills, meager though they are, are […]
Follow your passion? Yes. Passion is essential but not sufficient. In addition to passion, these are essential for success: Helpful but not essential traits include: What’s missing from your essential arsenal? That’s where to focus your efforts.
Some pieces just…resist memorization. In my experience, the toughest pieces to memorize are not necessarily the most complex, or longest, or difficult. Indeed, it tends to surprise me when an ensemble struggles to put down their music. For the piece that my ensemble is dueling with at the moment, I […]
Knowing how long it will take to learn a skill is essential to maintaining a positive outlook – and succeeding in learning it. Learning to sing an A on command in rehearsal reliably takes my students a couple of months. Learning to scat like Ella will take 1,000 hours of […]
Learning to align actions with goals is a hallmark of maturity. But it’s not as easy as we adults sometimes make it out to be. Lots of parents and educators might shout, “Make better choices,” but if a young person hasn’t taken all the necessary steps, it’s just not very […]
Fine-tuned skills require repetition. I know when my bread dough needs more flour. I must have baked over 1,000 loaves of my sandwich bread at this point. And at some point along the way, I gained a much finer sense of exactly the consistency I need it to be. Two […]
How do you practice well? There are so many keys to effective practice; one often overlooked is assessment. If you aren’t assessing yourself as you practice, you are much more likely to be undermining your growth with inefficient practice. HOW do you assess yourself in practice? Most importantly, prioritize self-assessment […]