arrange • compose • conduct
The future of your program can depend on the smallest of nudges. Do great work all year, recruit, make beautiful music, connect with and relate to your students…still some might decide not to stay in choir next year. A give-back karaoke day and a solo that receives praise from peers […]
That’s how I describe the best times in my life, both professionally and personally. How did I do all of those amazing things in one week/one month/one year? The three days, for example when we hosted The Real Group in concert, had a celebratory court date, and organized a 150+ […]
Educators shouldn’t always give in to their instinct to offer options for different learning and personality styles. I’m always one to offer different perspectives, different approaches for the things I teach. I want to reach and teach everyone, so I’ll cover a topic in as many different ways as I […]
I have given myself an extra 30-60 minutes a day this month by pre-writing all my posts. I hope I’ve been combining it with a summer “social media sabbatical” to find more time to do the things I want to prioritize this summer. That includes: More family time – playing […]
Over the years, I’ve learned the value – and some tricks – to collaborating with local news. Maybe your town, too, has a local weekly newspaper; it can be one of your best sources of publicity and advocacy for your choir! Over the last 15 years, I’ve provided as many […]
One of the biggest gifts of the microphone is that it’s the greatest vocal equalizer. When I have sung in a concert choir, often I would be in a section with someone with a beautiful, big instrument. I personally have a small instrument, so in that situation there were only […]
There are times when it’s to your credit to be easygoing, and times when it just adds work for other people. Don’t say, “I’m not picky. You decide.” There are two situations when I’m likely to hear that answer. First is when I’m taking food orders for a group. If […]
One of my goals this year is to send out an agenda the night before every weekly rehearsal. I can’t think of a single ensemble I’ve ever sung in that had a specific agenda that I was aware of ahead of time. I am certain my conductors had specific plans […]
You don’t have to wait for a crisis to reimagine things. I attended almost no campouts or even meetings of my sons’ Scout troop until the pandemic. Part of it was that my Aces rehearsals exactly coincided with the troop meetings, and part of it was a busy schedule that […]
The joke goes that students ask, “Will this be on the test?” rather than just engaging with the material regardless. Well, of course they do. We’ve taught them to. “It’ll be on the test” is how we’ve tried to convince students to engage with our material since they started school. […]