arrange • compose • conduct
I often encourage the Aces to adopt a 5×5 practice regimen outside of rehearsal. (5 minutes/day, 5 days/week). The problem is that often, the group members end up carrying tremendous individual guilt around failure to meet that modest goal. The guilt can lead to avoidance, creating a vicious cycle of […]
Karaoke tracks are ubiquitous and essentially free – on YouTube, on streaming music services, on iTunes. On one side, this is great! Young musicians can sing with competent accompaniments, with appropriate style and musicality. (Musicality may very from track to track). Singers get the chance to sing with a full […]
Challenge: Organize an event, and stay motivated not to drop any of the many balls you are juggling. Challenge: Be ready to forgive yourself, because you know that you will inevitably drop a ball, because you are human, and there are many balls in the air. Can you do both […]
Music comes with difficulty: to make music at a high level requires coordination, concentration, passion, expression, and years and years of concerted practice. Music comes naturally: it is effortless and innate for children to make music, to want to listen to music, and to interact with musical instruments. Can you believe both […]
Performing at a venue like Carnegie Hall is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And yet, probably hundreds of school and community ensembles participate in concerts there every year. Which makes it sound more everyday. Which is it? Once-in-a-lifetime or everyday? It can be both. Even if your school performs at Carnegie Hall […]
During rehearsal last night, I misremembered a quote in a TV news story. Here’s how I stated it, as a jumping-off point. “It’s not teachers’ job to tell us how to think.” That’s a misquote, but a useful place to start in discussing metacognition and the value of cognitive dissonance. Here’s the letter I wrote late […]
Last rehearsal we discussed long phrases in an Arcadelt piece we’re working on. In particular, I pointed out that one phrase seems to defy the barlines that the editor has provided us. I asserted that because Arcadelt didn’t think in strict 4/4, it’s important that we take the long view with […]
It was news recently that a nearby high school banned cell phones in school. To many educator friends, this was a slam dunk: “I wish they’d do that in my school”, “It’s about time!” Personally, it’s a place to lean heavily on my love of cognitive dissonance. Obviously, cell phones are […]
Is music education important? It’s a question that demands cognitive dissonance. We’re big people; we can hold two thoughts in our head at once. On a list that includes global climate change, nuclear deals, human trafficking, presidential elections, gun violence, and all the other stories that make news headlines, music education doesn’t make the top-50. In […]
Find the real world, give it endlessly away Grow rich, flinging gold to all who ask Live at the empty heart of Paradox I’ll dance there with you, cheek to cheek. -Rumi More and more, learn to live with uncertainty. Orient yourself to live in the places that require cognitive dissonance. […]