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In her fabulous book 100 Essays I Don’t Have Time To Write, Sarah Ruhl titled essay #39 “The death of the ensemble.” She writes of the theater community, “Why do we think it’s a good idea for everyone to meet each other on the first day of rehearsal and then learn lines for three […]

In Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, the song “Take a Break” has the following exchange: Eliza Hamilton: Angelica, tell this man John Adams spends the summer with his family. Alexander Hamilton: Angelica, tell my wife John Adams doesn’t have a real job anyway. Hamilton’s message is clear and a bit superior: no one […]

For a week or so I have puzzled over an April Fools post I could write today. I’ve got nothing, and here’s why. The subtext of every April Fool’s joke is this: I am mocking you for trusting me. Trust is one of the most valuable things we’ve got. I’m trying to […]

It’s dad’s birthday. Not my biological dad – that was a few months ago. My musical dad. My most profound musical influences – my musical mom and dad – are Alice Parker and Gene Puerling. Today Gene would have been 87 years old. We celebrated last year when his archives were acquired by the […]

It is rare for me to have a guest clinician to work with my choir. Because we only meet once a week, we always seem to be hurrying to get ready for the next concert. Plus, I’m self-conscious about my own conducting skills, a feeling only enhanced when I bring in an expert colleague. This […]

Singers can have legitimate fear of trying things: auditioning, taking voice lessons, singing a solo, asking for help. To get over these fears, they need one of two things to happen. First, they can get pushed off the proverbial cliff by a wise teacher or parent. But if they dig in and don’t let […]

A weekend of flowers peeking up and walks without coats reminds me that spring is coming. You know what else is coming? The Real Group! If you haven’t heard and seen them live, you haven’t seen Shakespeare the way it was meant to be played. Here are their 2016 US tour dates (sadly, […]

My sister-in-law shared the following quote on Facebook yesterday: The ancient Druids are said to have taken a special interest in in-between things like mistletoe, which is neither quite a plant nor quite a tree, and mist, which is neither quite a rain nor quite air, and dreams, which are […]

Being creative means making mistakes. The research is perfectly clear that more successful creators don’t have many ideas, they just have more. Many more bad –> a few more good. I want my students to be creative. I want my children to be creative. Giving them a safe place to make mistakes is important, but it […]

For March Reading Month, my sons’ elementary school had a fun challenge this week: teachers would call home once this week; if you were “caught reading”, i.e. reading when they called, you would win a prize. I think it was a good motivator and fun. I’m going to try a variation on it next […]