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Isn’t it enough just to do the practice? Why take the extra time to keep a log? (After all, I’ve already admitted that we know when you haven’t practiced….) You can show your mentor how you’ve been practicing. Every day when you start practicing, you have a reminder of where you ended. A physical object […]

“Unused creativity is not benign. It metastasizes. It turns into grief, rage, judgement, sorrow, shame.” So says researcher and storyteller Brené Brown. And I believe her, because my experience has been a gradual but consistent rise in anxiety and depression in the high school students I see. Make no mistake, this is […]

It’s a superstition in the theatrical and musical worlds that a bad dress rehearsal leads to a good show. I am not one for superstitions, but I understand the logic. If you have a crummy rehearsal, and know it, you’re going to be focused, determined, and a little on edge when your […]

Sometimes being first with the right idea can look the same as having the best idea. When Spotify first released the soundtrack to Hamilton the musical, it was difficult to find. It didn’t come up if you searched “Hamilton”. You had to search for an artist, click through two or three things, and […]

For my birthday, I chose to make a list of 38 things I know with my heart. I’ve divided them into four categories: Love, Work, Play, and Learn. Love. 1. Love is the bottom line motivation for everything I do. 2. My family is the center of my heart. 3. Love isn’t […]

One reason we’re afraid to start projects is that we know the tough part is after we start and runs right up until we finish. I was reminded of that as I was preparing for my rehearsal Monday night with the Rockford Aces. We had now had our newly commissioned piece, May by […]

Katarina Henryson, founding member of The Real Group, has a strong, flexible, and distinctive voice. She has performed solos ranging from jazz to pop to rock as part of the group, and worked for years as a studio singer on pop and soul recordings. Her husband, Svante Henryson, is a world-class cellist […]

Today I want to honor the complexity of our students. Too often, I think, we tend to see a few data points (he’s a starting tackle on Varsity Football, she dyes her hair bright pink, he loves to sing and dance, she wears sleeveless shirts to school) and fill in the […]

Statisticians and labor experts tell us that today’s college graduates can expect five to seven careers in their lifetime. Not job changes, but wholesale career changes. With that future, I see no alternative but to tell students to pursue their deepest passion as a college major. If they can expect […]

That’s what a graduating senior said to me right after our Farewell Concert last spring. “It’s fine, I just never cry.” (Seniors around him were falling apart.) I told him he should work on that. Tears are a physical sign of being in touch with our emotions – if you can’t […]