arrange • compose • conduct
Part of experience is knowing what’s coming more often. The stress of novelty – even good novelty – can be overwhelming. For example, today I am taking 43 high school students to Spain. Some of them have never left our state before, let alone the country. I have little doubt […]
I have posted this Tour Q&A around a week ahead of each of our three international trips. (We use a private Facebook group to spread information before and during the tour.) It gets revised with pertinent information of course, but the intent and tone remains the same throughout. If you’re […]
Don’t think of cheating as an ethical question, think of it as a motivation question. There are two reasons students choose to cheat. The first is out of your control as a teacher: students cheat because they are desperate. Maybe they are working three jobs, have a crisis, or for […]
Often in creative work, the only bad choice is not to make a choice. When you’re making something creative, you are presented with opportunity after opportunity to make a choice. Should I voice a chord like this, or like that? Will I make the rhythm of this line A, B, […]
Where do you look when you’re mixing a concert? I learned this the hard way – by getting a stern correction from Steve Zegree during a concert – but maybe the only way to really learn it is by experiencing it both ways. The impulse of a sound engineer is […]
What are we singing on tour? The Rockford High School Touring Choir heads on the road to Spain next week, with performances in Barcelona, Montserrat, Valencia, Toledo, and Madrid. In preparation for the tour, 43 students have been rehearsing roughly monthly since August, preparing an hour of a cappella repertoire. […]
What will rehearsal be like if I’m not there? I consider it my goal to teach myself out of a job by the end of the school year. (Never worrying, of course, because a new group with new needs will be with me soon.) That means that my ensemble should […]
Some of the best teaching I’ve ever done has been in bringing my students to a concert. When students hear high-level versions of what they’re working on, so many lessons get driven home. A concept I’ve been working on for months becomes instantly understandable because they’ve heard it done right. […]
When is it worth having a Zoom meeting in 2023? I admit that I don’t prefer Zooming to in-person meetings. However, there are several situations when I think that Zooming is better than any alternative, and we can take advantage of our new skills in video conferencing. I don’t always […]
When you’re listening to learn, listen with an agenda. Yesterday I heard Michael Mayo describe an approach to listening with specific agenda that I think is a very effective approach to intentional listening. Plan on listening to a single piece multiple times. The first time, listen generally, without a specific […]