New from Michael McGlynn

Thanks to Minnesota Public Radio’s Choral Stream, I got to enjoy Anúna’s new album, Revelation, last night via live stream. It’s a fabulous new record, from the unique musical perspective of Michael McGlynn. Anúna and McGlynn are probably the best-known Irish choral music today. McGlynn has been leading Anúna since 1987, producing a remarkable […]

Mastery is Repetition

As each arrow left for its target, the archers were caught between success (hitting the ten) and mastery (knowing it means nothing if you can’t do it again and again). -Sarah Lewis, The Rise: Creativity, The Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery It means nothing if you can’t repeat it. […]

Music is Not a Core Class

Music is at the core of our society. It is not a “core class” as we are intent on defining it in the U.S. Along with “core subject” status comes the need to know that students are proficient in this area. And the only way we know to assess their proficiency is … to assess […]

My ACDA Moments

At today’s ACDA-Michigan morning, our president Jared Anderson asked us to share our “ACDA Moments” – those touchstones where this organization affected us most profoundly. Here’s mine. I was not a music education or conducting student as an undergraduate or in grad school. At Western, I effectively majored in Gold […]

Reward after Practice

As you’re building your practice habit, have you found a solid trigger to precede your action? Just as important is what you do after you practice. Reward yourself. It doesn’t need to be a big reward. Food is tricky, if you want to stay healthy. Some small thing you love that can show up […]

Off To College

Precious students you’ve seen daily for four (or more) years are heading out to college in the coming days and weeks. You’re excited to see them rise to new heights, anxious to hear about their successes, and sad not to see them in your choirs and community going forward. Here a few thoughts for them. […]

Books Back Where They Belong

For over a year, all of our work books have been in boxes. Choral texts, fake books, theory tomes and a dozen other boxes have been packed up since a flooded basement forced us to get rid of two large bookcases. Last week we installed new shelves, and the books came back into the […]

Hitting the Bullseye

If you could look into your own future, what would you consider a success? Or if you went to your twentieth reunion, say, would you be reflecting on a career so far that would make sense to the you of twenty years earlier? I don’t know quite what I envisioned […]