Pout or Create

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 […]

Broadway Story

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 […]

The Details

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 […]

Listen Like You’ve Never Heard It

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

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 […]

Music Is Hardwired

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 […]

Initiative

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 […]