Uncategorized

Wise words from Duke Ellington this Saturday: “I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.” First, let’s just acknowledge that if his music had been expressed in pout form, it would have been the most epic, legendary pout in history. That is some substantial pain he […]

Students – and my own children – respond so passionately to musical theatre music. Many of them live and breathe it. (Judging from the increasingly dysfunctional college audition process, this is true across the country. I’m told it’s harder to get into a top 10 music theatre program than it is […]

Regardless of the art form, truly amazing performances have one thing in common. They pay attention to all of the details, and do not cut corners in their execution. A few weeks ago I saw the Cirque du Soleil show The Beatles LOVE. Set to a soundtrack of Beatles recordings, the cast tells a story […]

Next week we’re premiering May by Michael McGlynn – a beautiful, harmonically rich soundscape that we’ve been working on most of the year. It is a challenge, but they are now quite familiar with it. Last rehearsal I asked my singers to step back and have some perspective. The sudden harmonic shifts, the […]

Every day I make a list of tasks to do today on scrap paper, the back of an envelope. Every day it starts with the same two tasks – jobs I’ve done before 8am daily for years. Why do I still put them on the list? For two reasons. First, because it feels […]

For the last month or so I’ve been using a new tactic to give ownership of the music to my singers. Especially at the first time singing a piece in our weekly rehearsal,  I will hold up my hand, and ask for five things they will want to concentrate on as we […]

Why do I know music is hardwired? Without fail, the first time a kid comes to our house, he or she wanders to the piano and plays. Why do I know we can do better as music educators? Without fail, adults never do. The desire to make music is innate and yet far too […]

There are many things I seek from a truly stellar performance – as a singer, as a conductor, as a listener. I seek phrasing, line. I seek understanding of text. I seek stamina through the duration of the performance. I seek note accuracy and flexibility in the moment. Above these and many other […]

Last night I witnessed a remarkable achievement of a kind I’ve never seen before from my students. I attended a full musical, performed, accompanied, directed, designed, and planned completely by students. Ordinary Days by Adam Gwon is a chamber musical – four cast members, accompanied only by piano – so it was […]

The monumentally legendary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead said, “I have all my life been considering distant effects and always sacrificing immediate success and applause to that of the future.” This is a question I should ask myself more often: am I considering the distant effects of today’s work? Am I […]