arrange • compose • conduct
Be curious about what you’re curious about. Metacuriosity, to coin a term, is invaluable in plotting your course. What do you keep coming back to? What do you constantly wonder about? If a musical idea keeps coming back, chase it down. If you can’t get a different career path out […]
There are many different types of motivation for practice. Internal pressure – the sincere desire to grow and improve. Societal pressure – wanting to keep up with peers. Authority’s pressure – director or teacher’s demands or encouragement. Grade pressure – wanting a good grade on a jury or exam. Performance […]
The question of the week in the vocal jazz educator group was, when should you start rehearsing on system? It’s a different answer for my two ensembles. Shades of Blue, the vocal jazz ensemble I direct at Grand Rapids Community College, rehearses once a week for two hours. We rehearse […]
I desperately, passionately, unreservedly do not want to conduct my ensembles through compliance leadership. I am not, and refuse to be, a chair-throwing, yelling, lap-demanding leader. Part of that is temperament–that type of behavior would fit me exceedingly poorly. But a much bigger part has to do with my aspirations […]
I’ve said before that December is the month that everyone remembers how much they love choirs. Something about vocal harmony speaks to us at this time of the year. For me, vocal harmony is a year-round obsession. (I’m using the term vocal harmony group much more often than vocal jazz […]
If you planned Thanksgiving carefully, then you, like me, have spent the last several days enjoying meals made from the leftovers. You put in so much effort to prepare that one special meal, it’s worth making enough to be able to keep enjoying it. This is a good argument for […]
If you’re like me and my family, it’s increasingly difficult to take a full break from your digital life. It’s, I think, a near-universal problem, across all ages. So I think back to a lovely week this summer at a place called Singing Brook Farm – a place with no […]
Thanksgiving comes with it a chance to celebrate gratitude–a sentiment we can hold all year long, but too often don’t, or at least don’t acknowledge. So I’m sitting, thinking about the things I’m grateful for as a musician and a person. The music I get to make, certainly, but more […]
A friend on Facebook posed this question: Why is The Real Group such an extremely good vocal group?The technically best singers with the biggest vocal range?…Nope! So why are they the best? Discuss! Go! My response: It’s a package of so many things: -Great writing (my group is working on “The Grass […]
The smart Thanksgiving cook knows that the meal’s outcome isn’t decided on Thanksgiving. It’s what you do one, two, three days ahead (or longer) that defines the difference between a good Thanksgiving and a great one. The cook who waits until the day to prep is left to run around, […]