arrange • compose • conduct
How do you know it’s your passion? I have written music at every hour of the day and night. I have the times I gravitate towards in 2023, but 2013 me used different parts of the day, and 2003 me was frantically writing a thesis and arrangements for class – […]
That’s how it always is. “I think if you look at the history of completely overthrowing systems, that often doesn’t work great.” […] “The Utopian crowd is all like, ‘Oh, these are problems that will naturally fix themselves.’ No. These are problems that will fix themselves because [anonymous] is working […]
Humans are complex. Our family recently watched Amadeus – it’s a beautiful, funny, and powerful film telling a fictionalized story of Mozart’s life. In the end, my eighth grade son enjoyed the film but didn’t love it. When I asked why, he said it was because of Mozart. To paraphrase, […]
One more for the old cognitive dissonance file. I want my students to know that there is no hurry on achieving their dreams. If it takes a little longer to complete your music degree, or to learn to belt an A, or to find your musical community, that’s okay. We […]
My strength may not be your strength. If you are interested in fitness as a hobby or as a path to wellness, you likely find that there are many kinds of fitness. You might be focused on cardio, as I did when I was running every day. Or you might […]
You can’t be a professional if you’re waiting for the creative mood to strike. You have to plan for it. Indeed, you have to plan a lot, because opportunities to do creative work are often time-limited. There are days of the week I know I won’t have the opportunity to […]
How do you decide level of difficulty for your repertoire? I’m of eight minds (at least). Mind One: Program easier repertoire that students can be successful at while learning and growing. Mind Two: Program Goldilocks repertoire that challenges students without wiping them out. Mind Three: Program tough, tough repertoire that […]
Just stay the right amount ahead. I like to stay ahead in preparing for things. But if you get too far ahead in your preparations, there are several hazards that can pop up. First, your advanced preparations can be unusable, because situations evolve over time. If I’m prepared twelve weeks […]
Teaching is an adventure. It should be. If you aren’t finding every day different – every hour different, even with the same lesson plan! – you have lost what is essential about teaching. Teaching is not about conveying information. That is done more efficiently by books, by Wikipedia, by educational […]
I love the magic of a piece before we sight read it. But it can’t last. Especially when it’s a new commission, the time between having the piece in hand and passing it out to students is particularly magical. First, because I’m the only person in the world who knows […]