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As part of Programming Week, today I suggest programming vocal jazz works in your concert season. This is the year. Perhaps you’ve never programmed a vocal jazz piece. Perhaps it’s just been a few years. Don’t wait another year. Stop putting it off. Take one of the following pieces and […]

As part of Programming Week, today I suggest commissioning a new work. Commissioning a new choral work isn’t hard, or even necessarily expensive. Step one is the hardest: picking a composer to work with. Following that, you can develop a dialogue that leads to a new piece. The composer has […]

Two insights about pursuing a career writing music, from Alice Parker’s The Answering Voice. First, she warns that being a full-time composer or arranger is a one-in-a-million chance. Don’t embark on a career as a composer or arranger for monetary reward. Your chance of success is minuscule. You will need […]

I have spent the last two Saturdays as part of large groups in all-day state board meetings (ACDA Michigan and MSVMA). As I looked around at the amazing, inspiring professionals at these meetings, I wondered: “Why do you serve?” All of them are already too busy, and could be spending […]

I don’t know if that’s true. Research often shows a correlation, but I can’t find proof of causality. And yet, this is an argument many, many of us lean on to advocate for arts education. Here’s the truth. Music education is important because music is important. It’s important to our […]

The statistics are stark for book lovers – the number of Americans who didn’t read a book in an entire year rose from 8% n 1978 to 23% in 2014. Part of that is the constant barrage of media. Part of it is our current cultural distain for learning. And […]

“Why do we learn cursive?” That was the question we heard at dinner the other night. Third grade includes a big emphasis on penmanship and the first look at cursive.  My son has long been intrigued by cursive, but found the work on it challenging and didn’t know why he […]

Part of the summer “vacation” is the act of refueling yourself. Read a book, spend an afternoon on the beach, go to art festivals, visit family. This refueling isn’t just for you – it’s for your students. You’re rebuilding capacity that you have depleted all year. Refueling gives you extra […]

In the May, 2015 issue of the ACDA Choral Journal, leading choral educator Ann Howard Jones gave an extended interview – a sort of valedictory on the occasion of her retirement from Boston University. Here’s one of my favorite quotes from the interview: One needs to surround oneself with exceptional […]

The high school students I work with are as busy as most adults – and some are busier. Dance class, theater club, varsity sport, voice lesson, a job, SAT tutoring, youth group, and on and on. Not forgetting the homework! It’s a very, very full life. That’s why now is […]