arrange • compose • conduct
Should you spend more time studying a language, or studying linguistics? We talk about learning music theory as if it’s learning a language. It isn’t. Music literacy is language-like – it’s learning to read, and translate music through eyes and ears. Music theory is much more akin linguistics: the study […]
Here’s how I see my job as a private instructor. My goal with private students – whether in composition, voice, jazz piano, or anything else – is to serve as an extra brain. It’s not my job to criticize or diminish (though I may, when warranted). It’s not my job […]
How do you get out of work triage? I have been in triage since August, when I got back from my week visiting with Alice Parker. Too many projects and too little time leads to spending every work moment just trying to “staunch the bleeding” of the most urgent project […]
Historically, composers drew no distinction between composing and arranging. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, virtually every composer since has transformed existing melodies for their own purposes. I don’t think of the last movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as an arrangement, and neither do you. The simple truth is that good arranging is […]
My sons are out selling door-to-door right now. I have been an outspoken proponent of reducing sales-based fundraisers in favor of straight donation models; I stand by this approach: it takes pressure off of busy parents, and it lets kids focus on kid stuff, rather than being salespeople. But. But. […]
On this week’s Unlocking Us podcast, Dr. Brené Brown interviewed Drs. John and Julie Gottman about their new book The Love Prescription. In it, they described the importance of a “Turning Towards” mindset in relationships. They describe three different possibilities in small interactions: you can turn towards, turn away, or […]
How do you enter the world? In The West Wing’s third season, the episode title “The U.S. Poet Laureate” features Laura Dern as new poet laureate Tabitha Fortis. She says the following near the end of the episode: “You think I think that an artist’s job is to speak the […]
One of my goals as a teacher is to help train my students’ minds to find, and enjoy, flow state in rehearsal. I feel like I’m juggling 1,000 different responsibilities on any given day – bouncing back and forth, trying to stay on top of as much as I can. […]
How fast should you practice? I advise my non-pianist students to practice their parts at the tempo they can play the part. For me, circa college, that was about 30bpm. It’s faster now, but at the time, that was the perfect tempo for me to practice my music. Practicing slow […]
My primary strategy for solving my beloved Matt Gaffney’s Weekly Crossword Contest is asking the question, “What’s weird?” What’s unexpected, different, or unusual? What stands out from the background? Because very often, that’s part of the secondary puzzle I have to solve. I approach composing and arranging in much the […]