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I’ve said before that December is the month that everyone remembers how much they love choirs. Something about vocal harmony speaks to us at this time of the year. For me, vocal harmony is a year-round obsession. (I’m using the term vocal harmony group much more often than vocal jazz […]

If you planned Thanksgiving carefully, then you, like me, have spent the last several days enjoying meals made from the leftovers. You put in so much effort to prepare that one special meal, it’s worth making enough to be able to keep enjoying it. This is a good argument for […]

If you’re like me and my family, it’s increasingly difficult to take a full break from your digital life. It’s, I think, a near-universal problem, across all ages. So I think back to a lovely week this summer at a place called Singing Brook Farm – a place with no […]

A friend on Facebook posed this question: Why is The Real Group such an extremely good vocal group?The technically best singers with the biggest vocal range?…Nope! So why are they the best? Discuss! Go! My response: It’s a package of so many things: -Great writing (my group is working on “The Grass […]

The smart Thanksgiving cook knows that the meal’s outcome isn’t decided on Thanksgiving. It’s what you do one, two, three days ahead (or longer) that defines the difference between a good Thanksgiving and a great one. The cook who waits until the day to prep is left to run around, […]

I’m a big believer in empower students to own their schedule. In my high school ensemble, I communicate almost exclusively with students – parents are not invited to join our Facebook discussion group, and I would be surprised if I emailed parents as a group more than five times in […]

Right is right and wrong is wrong. That’s what we’ve learned throughout school – there is a right answer to every questions and if it’s right today, it will be right every single time it’s asked. 8×9 is always 72, a subject always needs a verb for a complete sentence, […]

I love the story of Accent. From what I’ve observed, six vocal harmony nerds from five countries met online and have used technology to enable them to make amazing music together. They belong to the post-Puerling/Fischer tradition of great, rich harmony, often moving incredibly quickly. Their new Christmas album, Christmas […]

There is a beauty to the communicative shorthand you develop with collaborators over time. It takes time to build the relationship, but when it’s solid, you can process through work more quickly, make decisions more effectively, and achieve greater heights together. It’s an advantage too often missing from scholastic ensemble […]

I solved a puzzle magazine math contest last night, involving seven- and ten-digit numbers with particular properties. It was fun and a brain break, since the thinking was so different from my work. But I noticed that it became solvable only when I found the right perspective to look at […]