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Brené Brown wrote in Rising Strong, “Daring is not saying, ‘I’m willing to risk failure.’ Daring is saying, ‘I know I will eventually fail and I’m still all in. Fortune may favor the bold, but so does failure.” (5) There are three steps we should be taking in the failure cycle built into living lives […]

The repertoire of the Cabaret we are presenting this weekend with the Rockford HS Choirs is The Great American Songbook. Listening to auditions, I was struck that the singers fell on a spectrum between two genres that claim equal ownership to the songs of Gershwin, Porter, Arlen, and Rodgers. How does your place along the Jazz-Musical […]

The only way I get our annual Cabaret written in time is by ritualizing the writing. Every song is completely different, but at least 1/3 of the time I spend preparing the arrangement is identical from one song to the next. I’ve learned a ritual and stuck with it. By ritualizing those […]

Yesterday’s blog was titled Pick A Lane. And it’s true – picking a lane when you’re young and following it doggedly is one way to achieve success. But it’s a mistake to think it’s the only way. A life is not measured at 35. Although Lin-Manuel Miranda might be the only one of his […]

On 60 Minutes last weekend, composer Lin-Manuel Miranda described attending a school for the gifted – where everyone was smarter than he was. Charlie Rose asked the question: “So why am I sitting here talk to you instead of one of them?” Miranda: “I picked a lane.” Picking a lane early is […]

Last week my ensemble, The Rockford Aces, had a school-day run out to perform at a fundraiser for an amazing organization, the Rockford Education Foundation. We sang for several hundred people at a luncheon, helping in the process to raise tens of thousands of dollars for their endowment. As always, it […]

The first time I wrote band charts for our school’s Dessert Cabaret, I was sure I wasn’t going to make it. It was too hard. The time between auditions and performance was only three weeks, there were some 30 different songs being performed. It was taking me 30-60 minutes per song. […]

Some tasks are tough because they’re tough. No matter how many times you assemble a 2,000 piece puzzle, it’s not easy. Prepping a space shuttle for launch is always tough. So is running a marathon (physically). Other tasks are tough because they’re new. On your first international flight, the jet lag can […]

Mistakes are part of a human life. If you don’t make a mistake in life, you’re not human. If you’re more creative, you make more mistakes – it makes you more human. When you make mistakes you should feel that you’re more human and more creative. Don’t feel bad when you […]

Whenever I attend a conference, I struggle to describe what I do. “I’m, a stay-at-home dad, write music, conduct, daily blog, …” Whoever asked is often already gone by the time I finish. It’s a typical freelancer problem – I wear so many hats, it’s hard to pin me down. […]