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How early is too early for Christmas music? I don’t blame you if you insist on waiting until after Thanksgiving. (I have a fondness for the oft-overlooked genre that is “Thanksgiving Music“, myself.) However, I thing that my willingness to phase in Christmas music as soon as Halloween is in […]

“The right note at the wrong time is the wrong note.” – Robert Shaw Surely we can all agree on the wisdom of what we can call Shaw’s Law. But here’s the first corollary. It follows from Shaw’s law that: The right note held for the wrong duration is the […]

In a recent Jazziz interview, the wonderful singer Jo Lawry says, “I’ve been exploring the type of music that I’d like to listen to, as opposed to the music that I studied. They aren’t necessarily the same.” Those of us who work our way through an academic music curriculum should […]

The other day two of my kids left our choir’s Cabaret show weepy because of a particularly beautiful song. Of course they wanted to listen again when we got home, and my youngest was crying all over again. I pointed out, in an attempt to give perspective, that there is […]

I got fooled by the film montage. In movies, when a section of the story features something repetitive, boring to watch, or otherwise un-cinematic, they can compress it into a montage. The truth is, hard work takes time, and much as you’d like, you can’t fast-forward through the hard or […]

Monitor your performance. Aim for incremental improvement. Focus on repetition. I’ve been thinking a lot about the growth I achieved during school, and the growth I have achieved in the time since school. I think that the algorithm above is the biggest contributor to the fact that my post-academic growth […]

An expert musician synthesizes and uses a variety of information at once. I was watching several work together tonight, and was especially struck with the pianist, my old friend Dave, who really “gets the joke” at the piano. Among the things he was synthesizing: fully notated piano parts when needed. […]

There is a deep confidence that comes with experience. I saw it in at least three moments this week. The guest clinician who was able to assess and effectively rehearse music he hadn’t seen or heard in months, years, or ever. My own work in preparing for our high school’s […]

The Broadway performers who succeed, long-term, again and again, don’t just love performing. They love the practice. If you can’t find joy in the day-to-day work of honing your craft and improving you performance, you might succeed. But you won’t enjoy 90% of the job. That’s not sustainable. If you […]

You want to be able to do everything possible: all the potential good things. But you can’t, because there isn’t enough time. Do what you can. Do enough. Consider today’s midterm elections. Today, some people volunteered and drove neighbors to the polls. Some donated to candidates, went to rallies. Others […]