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A student and I were discussing his studies of Greek plays in AP Literature class – he’d read Oedipus Rex and Medea. He remarked that because the myths being told were universally known, the artistry of Sophocles is in how he tells the story – what he highlights, what choices he makes, what details he adds and subtracts. […]

Too many performances could be one description of December in a typical choir’s year. But there’s a big benefit that we might not get the rest of the year – particularly when we consider that some pieces get just one performance before they’re put away again. Too many performances means repetition. We […]

You’re tired. It’s been a long day of classes, homework, and bus rides. Now it’s evening and you have a two-hour rehearsal in front of you. The temptation is strong to phone it in. You can relax (sing, of course), but not concentrate too hard. Not work too hard. Let […]

You develop habits because they help you. (Even bad habits help you, in ways you don’t want to acknowledge…) But rethinking habits (even good ones) every so often can be a good thing. You might find that you’ve maintained a habit long after it’s stopped working for you in your current state. A morning writing regimen needed […]

In every possible situation, people choose to do nothing because they can’t do what they want to do. Students don’t practice, because they can’t practice as much as they think they should. Supporters don’t donate to charity, because they think they should donate more than they can. To say nothing of the […]

There is a hierarchy that is easy to develop in our minds. Let’s pick extremes for the sake of ease: a top-tier orchestral conductor (say, Gustavo Dudamel) is a better musician than an elementary music teacher. Perhaps he is, and perhaps he isn’t. Today I saw a middle-school orchestra teacher demonstrate wizardry with […]

The best parties are parties where singing spontaneously breaks out. This, maybe, is part of why we have more parties around the holidays – holiday songs are a shared touchstone that make it easier to break out in song. It’s also why parties for choirs, show casts, or other musical groups are so much […]

When a new record comes out by one of your favorite artists, how do you listen? My preference is for a deep dive. My musical tastes encompass a wide swath of music, but when it’s something brand new (or new to me) by a favorite artist, I become fixated on repeated listenings to […]

I was grading listening assignments yesterday, and writing brief responses to their reflections. One thing that struck me as I responded to a couple dozen short essays on various artists: I didn’t need to re-listen to know what the music meant to me. I could write intelligently on every album that they […]