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Sometimes even the most committed, passionate students come up short. Whether they were too busy, too distracted, or just underestimated the challenge – your most reliable student occasionally shows up underprepared. In these situations, the overachiever can feel lost – they might not know how to pick themselves back up. It’s our job to […]

I do most of my arranging and composing between 4:30 and 6am on weekdays. That’s my sacred writing time and I can’t count on any extra time (though I sometimes steal time in the afternoons and evenings). Today’s clock-switching marks the official end of my busy writing season. I take full advantage of […]

So much of today’s choral music is so Deep. Philosophical, emotional, psychological depth is wonderful, of course. But it is only one expression of our emotional range. I would love to hear more composers express themselves less ponderously. Many choirs seem to turn to “pops”, Spirituals, or jazz for their “lighter” fare. But I see a […]

The Beatles were revolutionaries – they left music, pop culture, film, the very concept of stardom altered by their massive footprint. George Martin was a quiet revolutionary: the genius connector who drew inspiration from a variety of musical streams and help shape pop songs that transcended their genre. (One voice professor of mine said she […]

In this long political primary season, one of the regular topics of discussion is which candidate has momentum. And it’s true, having the sense of success can absolutely lead to people joining you, participating more, and committing to your movement. How do you generate momentum in your choir? How do you jumpstart a […]

If you aren’t experimenting, chances are you are stagnating. In an attempt to cast the net ever wider, and especially to create a large community of singing bass-clef voices, I’m trying a new all-school TTBB choir, which we’re calling the RamChoir. (Rockford’s mascot is the Rams.) I’m opening it up […]

For a long time, I had a history of killing houseplants. They just weren’t able to survive on my watch, somehow. My brother, a brilliant gardener, has a house full of beautifully blossoming plants; I repeatedly watched spider plants wither away. Until I learned the secret to houseplants is attention. You have to see the […]

You’re more tired than you think you are. You, me, everyone you know: we all think our tiredness is a mountain to conquer. Push through the tiredness, get things done, keep going, keep going. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” You’re more tired than you think you are. The tiredness is affecting your […]

First, be sure your requests are really attainable. Are you positive? If they still aren’t meeting them, ask more. Sometimes a challenge can be so slight, we ignore it. In that case, we need a larger challenge to attract our attention. Recently, most of my students were not regularly submitting practice logs for […]

I’m told that one of the highest compliments you can get in the tech world is, “Wow, we’ve never made that mistake before.” Coming on to a project and making the same old mistakes is not how they move the technology forward. Smart teachers want their students to make mistakes. Mistakes are how […]