Uncategorized

Do not say, “Children need a good education if they want to attain the good jobs of tomorrow.” Say, “Children need a good education.” Today, tomorrow, forever: education is about molding the minds, creativity, utter humanity of our most precious resource – tomorrow’s society. If you reduce it to just trade school – […]

I’m not certain there’s a better feeling than sending a piece you’ve written out the door and into the world, to the choir that is going to premiere it. Here’s this piece that you’ve toiled over, working to have the paper reflect your vision (what’s the aural equivalent of “vision”?). When you click “send”, […]

I’m writing this during likely the most-watched TV event of 2017, the Super Bowl. Social media tells me the football teams are going to overtime for the first time ever. I don’t care in the least. I’m not disparaging lifelong football fanatics, I’m not saying it’s not great to be passionate […]

If you think I don’t want you to make mistakes, you couldn’t be more wrong. As your teacher, what I want more than anything is to lead you to be able to recognize your mistakes as you make them. Then, when they’re corrected, make more interesting mistakes. The only way to […]

Many dreamers in the education vanguard talk about the futility of teaching rote memorization of “facts you could Google in three seconds.” You see their point, right? Why commit to memory historical facts that you can easily look up? We have the entire history of human knowledge at our fingertips. And while […]

For a long time as a composer/arranger, I have tended to under-mark my scores. And for much of that time, I considered it a flaw in my own writing not to be more specific in my instructions. Aren’t clearer markings always better? I’m beginning to think that, no, they aren’t. For several […]

The reason to have your choir get a clinic from an expert is to widen their worldview – and yours. Not to reaffirm your bias, not for praise, not for criticism. Not for adulation or affirmation. The best clinics make the musicians see their music in a new light. You can’t do it […]

I published a post here every day in 2016. Here’s a favorite post from each month. January: Tradition, Ritual, or Rut? February: Three Views of the Choir March: What We Do April: Music Is Hardwired May: Having a Jobby June: A Lesson From Peter Shaffer July: We Are All Artists August: […]

I wanted to take a little time and reflect before finishing up my 2016 Roundup with this Year in Review. 2016 was a year to remember. Writing I published a new post on this site every day in 2016, a total 366 total posts. Unlike past years, I didn’t publish any guest […]

If there’s a dam leaking, you probably want to fix it. Your impulse might be to start plugging every hole, moving as fast as you can. But you can’t hold up the whole dam yourself. Pick one place to focus your attention, your passion, your energy. Plug one leak, and plug […]