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Every rehearsal can’t be a 10/10 in intensity. Aim for a balance – community is important, too, and that can be built in the gaps of a 7/10 rehearsal. But make sure some of your rehearsals are 10/10. The fire that such rehearsal lights inside you can fuel you for days. And the more 10/10 rehearsals you […]

For those who have been trained by it, no discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Whether you first came upon this message in the New Testament (Hebrews 12:11), in the medicine music of Bobby McFerrin, or in the actions of a demanding teacher, the words ring true. Some kinds of pain are OK. Some pain is […]

I’m a big believer in dreaming big dreams, and then working to make them happen. When you have big dreams, it’s necessarily you, the dreamer, who must carry the most of the weight. We big dreamers, we self-sufficient overachievers – we need reminding, too, that some dreams require help. If your dream […]

If the designers of compulsory education had felt that the lessons would have been just as effective with a set of good encyclopedias and workbooks, schools would never have been built. It’s much cheaper to give a set of books to a kid than to design, build, maintain, and staff a dedicated […]

Lin-Manuel Miranda often says, “I have absolutely no chill.” Like his alter ego and artistic subject, Alexander Hamilton, Miranda seems possessed by enthusiasm, excitement, and a drive to “write like he’s running out of time.” He’s not the only one, of course. Steve Jobs had no chill. Mozart, Bach, Picasso – no […]

There is no such thing as Conductor’s Block. When you were just starting out, perhaps you dreaded rehearsals further into the process. Early rehearsals mean teaching notes – that’s easy…you know how to do that. As the weeks pass, though, your leadership shifts into musical decisions, fine adjustments, and all sorts of […]

No one episode of the show represents what the show is about…. To me, like, I’m drawing this regression plot so there’s, like, this episode’s about this, this episode’s about this, and it all kind of scatters…and then you draw this regression line, and that regression line is the thesis […]

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” (Will Rogers?) “My first impressions of people are invariably right.” (Oscar Wilde) “A good first impression can work wonders.” (J.K. Rowling) Maybe we put too much stock in a first impression. I’m more interested in people making a good third […]

Leading psychologist Dan Gilbert tells us that we humans consistently underestimate how much we’re going to change. At every age, from 18 to 68 in our data set, people vastly underestimated how much change they would experience over the next 10 years. We call this the “end of history” illusion. To give you an […]

Leaders guide. Bosses direct. Leaders teach. Bosses demand. Leaders see us. Bosses see us vs. them. Leaders enlighten. Bosses impose. Are you a leader in front of the choir? Or are you the boss?