arrange • compose • conduct
A memory came up yesterday of me with my students on the elementary playground, nine years ago. This was at the end of a long week of rehearsals, preparing for our arrival at the 2012 World Choir Games on July 4. As I remember it, the Aces had worked incredibly […]
Would you program something that is “too hard” for your choir? I mean: too hard to sing flawlessly. Too hard to perform without the occasional tuning error. I don’t program music that is too hard in the sense of: requires professional tessitura or vocal control; requires advanced vocal techniques; is […]
More and more, I’m enamored with chords I can’t label under a triadic/diatonic/jazz framework. They might be quartal chords, whose labels never seem to quite successfully describe how they work. They might be the passing clustery nonsense in Alice Parker’s arrangement of “Vive L’Amour“, which work great because of the […]
The branches on every deciduous tree in my yard are hanging so low right now. After days of rain, every leaf and every stem has absorbed as much water as it can, and the net effect is hundreds of extra pounds of weight for every tree. When the rain stops, […]
There are many ways to celebrate success in video games. Beat your friends! Get the high score! (If I could have ever just gotten past the final Bowser on 8-4, I would have counted it as ultimate success…) One way of measuring success in recent years is speed running. A […]
What does it mean when you say, “I wouldn’t be good at that”? I see a few different possibilities: I’m not good at it now, and I’m unable to imagine that changing. I’m not good at it now, and I am unwilling to put in the effort I know it […]
If you’re like me, you’re thinking a lot about what our gatherings will look like in the fall? Will it be “normal”? What will be different? And will the changes in your gatherings be because external forces cause changes (as they did in 2020 and 2021) or because the grand […]
It seems to me there are two mindsets in the choral classroom. You can be student-focused, or you can be music-focused. A student-focused choral educator will always prioritize the mental and emotional needs of their students. They create a safe space for student expression, teach leadership, collaboration, and trust as […]
I’ve dipped my feet into the waters of eCommerce, with a new Shop – available at the top of my website or here. I’ve so far introduced one chart available for purchase – the arrangement of “What’ll I Do?” that I did as my second Patreon project. I’ve also included […]
I have been blessed with some fabulous Patrons on Patreon supporting me in creating new vocal music every month. In April, my project was an a cappella SATB arrangement of “What’ll I Do?” – the classic Irving Berlin ballad that recently entered the public domain. Patreon supporters get free access […]