Vocal Jazz Honors Choir

At least half of the U.S. states have some sort of vocal jazz honors choir; for whatever reason, Michigan isn’t one of them. This is of course, surprising, because so many leaders in vocal jazz have been Michiganders: Steve Zegree, Duane Davis, April Tini, Greg Jasperse, and Sunny Wilkinson, to […]

Michigan Youth Arts Festival

There are amazing young artists everywhere in the country. But Michigan is the only place where they celebrate and are celebrated all at once. Roughly 1,000 Michigan Youth Arts Scholars are gathered right now on the campus of Western Michigan University for a weekend of rehearsals, performances, exhibitions, masterclasses, and […]

Teacher Appreciation

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week, and while I still haven’t had time to fully process the loss of Steve Zegree, today is the perfect day to begin reflecting on his massive influence on me and so many others as a mentor. Steve taught me to give generously, and privately. In February […]

Famous for Fifteen People

In 1968, Andy Warhol famously claimed, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” At least in our current version of Warhol’s future, it’s not quite accurate. I think a better expression would be, “famous for fifteen people.” I know a lot of people who lead normal lives […]

Keep Singing

I had the privilege of attending the Little Traverse Choral Society spring concert last night – 90 minutes with intermission of great choral music – Parker/Shaw, Luboff, Copland, Stroope, Vaughan Williams, Rutter. I was delighted to hear their conductor’s strong speech to the audience, urging them to join a choir, […]

Missing The Gig

Sooner or later, you are going to miss one of your choir’s gigs. It could be illness, a double booking, or an unavoidable meeting relocated across the state. Whatever your reason, it’s important to have done the work well in advance to ensure that your choir still gives its best […]

The Arts Heal

A tale of two responses: In response to the violence in Baltimore, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra played a free public concert on Wednesday at noon. In announcing it, they shared one of my favorite quotes from Leonard Bernstein: “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more […]