arrange • compose • conduct
Do you enjoy being a part of scrappy organizations? I teach in music departments – often the scrappiest part of a school. Fighting for every dollar, getting creative to solve problems. I love vocal jazz – is one of the scrappiest contingents in the choral world – working to convince […]
Happiness is being able to say, “I still love doing this!” well into your career. Sometimes you get bogged down in the daily to-do lists and are just trying to stay on top of what comes next. But I hope that some part of your job, at least once in […]
One’s good. One’s bad. Before their first concerts last week, I drew on dry erase boards the word Autopilot then added a red circle with a line across it. NO AUTOPILOT. Autopilot in performance is a dangerous situation. When you’re on autopilot, you’re not reacting to the information coming to […]
Don’t sit and wait for your past inspiration to return. It very well might not. Go out and find it. You can’t find your passion, your creativity, or your drive by waiting for it to come back. No, if you’re feeling blocked, I think the thing to do is go […]
“I want to be very clear: The results in today’s nation’s report card are appalling and unacceptable,” said Miguel Cardona, the secretary of education. From The New York Times today How many ways is this incorrect? The dip in standardized test scores is not appalling. It is anticipated and understandable. […]
Do you find time to watch experts do your job? When you were in college, you observed experts teaching and rehearsing. Every rehearsal I’ve ever sung in included ample opportunity to watch the conductor do the work of running a rehearsal. Every well-taught class I’ve been in was well-taught, and […]
Drop some balls today so you won’t have so many to juggle tomorrow. The only way to stop feeling like you’re triaging your work life, day after day, is to turn away from today. Drop everything, for a little while, and look further ahead. Two days, two weeks, a month […]
Anger alienates. Always. Communicating with anger rarely solves a problem, and can often make it worse. As and educator, I believe that anger is never a tool that teaches, so if possible, I never want to use it at all. This goes for all types of communication, and double for […]
How is it not obvious? It seems an almost universal challenge to learn to differentiate between things we do to make ourselves happy things we do to make the people around us happy. As an educator, it’s essential that we master the art of helping our students find what makes […]
You might not know what’s going to work in your plans. But today’s surprises will be tomorrow’s staples. Mirror glazes, dry sponge cakes, under-proved breads, and a Paul Hollywood handshake are just a few of the stapes of the Great British Baking Show. I’m willing to bet almost none of […]