arrange • compose • conduct
It’s not when you start; it’s what you do after you start. I was thinking about my students who didn’t sing in choir in middle school, but decided to start in high school. Sometimes they think, “It’s too late to be successful at this” because other people got such a […]
The best artistic experiences for me have three things in common. I’m used to working to make art with young artists – you spend a lot of time in process, and not a lot of time approaching unqualified artistry. So when I want to experience something artistic that I did […]
The early months of the pandemic included making a virtual choir from across the state of the Michigan Choral Commission Consortium performing Z. Randall Stroope’s “I Have Loved Hours at Sea” which we had commissioned that year. Since then, we’ve had multiple pushbacks, delays, and other problems. That’s why I’m […]
Successful performing is full of contradictions. Nothing to do but embrace them. Be all of them. Focused on what you’ve got to do right. Relaxed enough to have fun as you’re doing it. Thinking ahead so you don’t turn a corner and miss something. In the moment so you can […]
Being nervous about something means that it is something worth doing. My daughter woke up very nervous this morning. She was singing at the elementary school variety show today – outdoors on the playground, in front of the entire school from DK-5th grade. It was a big crowd, and it […]
Want people to come to your event? Social media isn’t it. Every conversation I have for the next three days will include some variation on, “By the way, the Aces have a concert Friday at 7! It’s free and there’s free ice cream after! You should come!” Every conversation. Because […]
It’s a blessing and a curse to recycle past work. My biggest concert of the year coincides with the last day of school this year, so once again I’m building to the very end. I’m thankful for the ability to reuse recycled documents – Google Docs for scripts and programs, […]
I am such of fan of observing other people’s rehearsals. Observing the rehearsal, with active participation, is maybe the best way to get better at the art of effective rehearsal. Alice Parker has said that the real learning happened in her conducting masters with Robert Shaw at Juilliard when she […]
Why is a word-of-mouth recommendation so more commonplace in certain professions? My son, an aspiring concert lighting designer, mentioned that many gigs are still gotten through word of mouth – you assist someone, and they recommend you a gig, and it goes from there. That’s natural for two reasons. First, […]
What are your top tips to pass along to student performers? These are a few suggestions for performance day that have nothing to with the music-making. I try to make sure my students hear them every year. Deodorant is good. Fragrance is bad. On performance day, no fragrance, please. Different […]