arrange • compose • conduct
I heard this conversation on the latest episode of the wonderful and uplifting Harry Potter and the Sacred Text podcast. Casper ter Kuile: In some ways you might get more out of reading the same thing 100 times, than out of reading 100 things once. […] Stephanie Paulsell: Absolutely. I […]
If you don’t remember how to learn, you’re not alone. Lots of people only know how to be taught. It’s relatively rarer to find young people who really own their own learning. When you really, truly know how to learn, the world opens wide, completely available to you. Until you […]
Systematized education, pre-pandemic, tended to operate with a simple mindset: deliver course information as quickly as possible. The pandemic only increased that: with the decrease in in-person school hours last year and this, many teachers (and many administrators) feel it necessary to double the pace to make sure all course […]
I was so fortunate to spend Tuesday evening in a 2+ hour Zoom masterclass from the wonderful Dr. Kate Reid, Director of the Jazz Vocal program at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. She worked with each of my Shades of Blue students on a solo jazz song […]
Jazz chord symbols and nomenclature developed as a shorthand, like figured bass before it. Well-executed, it enables an interpreter to play a piece without needing to read a densely notated score. They also allow players to freely improvise and create within rhythmic, melodic, and voicing frameworks. Because it’s so freeform, […]
Alice Parker describes two silences: first, the inchoate silence, the preparatory silence before music begins; and second, the silence of completion, after the music ends. One of the most intriguing dances of creation is the dance with inchoate silence. I am composing a set of canons right now; and I […]
I memorized pi to a couple of hundred digits in high school. I did it by repeatedly typing it into my calculator during math class, after I’d finished the assigned problems. An informational poster about pi, with a border comprising about 300 digits, was my source. There is no particular […]
There are some works of art – nonfiction in this case – that stick with you and affect your thinking deeply. Here are three of mine. (They all happen to be from The New Yorker.) Late Bloomers (Malcolm Gladwell). Gladwell differentiates early-bloomers, like Picasso, with late-bloomers, like Cézanne. Why do […]
I hope this year wasn’t too traumatic for you. I hope you found a way to make a little music, consume a little art, practice a little self-care. One year on, I am reflecting on the clarification of my values that the COVID-19 pandemic has given me. I know my […]
As my daughter is getting ready to head to the bus stop in the morning, here’s the questions I ask: Do you have your mask? Yes.Do you have your water bottle? Yes.Do you have your computer? Yes.Do you have your lunch? Yes.Shoes? Snow pants? Coat? Yes. Yes. Yes. Sounds like […]