arrange • compose • conduct
I have come to believe that more than anything else, creativity is a habit. Whether it’s Beethoven, Emily Dickinson, or Lin-Manuel Miranda, we hear stories of them prioritizing their daily creative time above all else. They knew that doing the act, day after day, is the best way to get […]
If when I fail, it won’t be for lack of trying. I will fail because I made a bad decision. I will fail because we didn’t have the right resources, or the right skills, or enough time. I will fail because I choose to quit, having gotten into a project […]
Many experts have written in the last few years about the effectiveness of triggers to forming habits. I find it just as important to have anchors to my day – the things that I always do that help me see my day and get my work done in response to […]
We spend so much time practicing singing in choir, and give so much feedback on singing better…but how much time do we spend practicing listening and giving feedback on listening better? I can sometimes sing and listen critically to what’s happening around me at the same time. Not always. The […]
I actually quite enjoy making part recordings. I like getting inside the music in a different way. I like finding out what the pitfalls are before my students find them. I like the work involved in creating something of use for my students. I like using my skills and gear […]
I don’t want to write. I don’t want to practice. I don’t want to do the dishes, make bread, walk the dog. I want to have done them. I want to live in the future in which I’ve done those things. Because I like the outcomes brought about by doing […]
My son loves Scouting – he’s passionate and committed. But he also knows that his forward motion slows down every few months. It’s a natural cycle of the type we all go through in any activity. When he noticed that he always gets reenergized after participating in certain optional events […]
I often encourage the Aces to adopt a 5×5 practice regimen outside of rehearsal. (5 minutes/day, 5 days/week). The problem is that often, the group members end up carrying tremendous individual guilt around failure to meet that modest goal. The guilt can lead to avoidance, creating a vicious cycle of […]
I am much more interested in New Year’s Reflections than Resolutions. It’s universally accepted that those resolutions don’t usually stick, and even if they do, it’s hard to wait a whole year to assess the outcome of a resolution. A month is a much more realistic time for a resolution. […]
When I was teaching my kids to swim, I had a mantra that I repeated and asked them to repeat. “You’re Always Safe With Dad.” If they were going to take the risks they needed to take to learn to swim, they needed to know that their safety was utterly […]