arrange • compose • conduct
If I have a question about a piece of music, I ask an expert – ideally the composer if possible, and if not, then a specific stylistic expert. I don’t presume that I have the specialist knowledge, and I don’t assume that anyone with an opinion about the music has […]
One of my composition students is having the first live read of a piece he’s composed this week. The first read of the piece, and the first read of his life. As we finished our lesson today, I urged him to keep his mind really open during the rehearsal, and […]
Twice a year, the heavenly Italian bakery near where I grew up, Bommarito’s, hangs up a sign on the door that simply says Time for a Break They’re gone for a couple of weeks and then they’re back. Businesses don’t work like that – haven’t for a long, long time. […]
On Twitter, an author mentioned the new book she has available for preorder. I thought that my family had read and re-read her previous book (Station Eleven) so many times that she really should be allowed to just publish that book again. (It’s really, really good.) Then again, lots of […]
There are many ways to manage those nerves you feel when you go onstage for a performance. A few examples: Distract (conversation, a game on your phone, a dance party) Mental Checklist (everything you need to do, and when, until you walk onstage) Meditate Mitigate them with a medication like […]
When the going gets tough – when you’re stressed, busy, tired, sick, or otherwise preoccupied – you lean on familiar habits. That’s why I eat poorly when it’s the week of the musical – those familiar habits were built long ago. It’s because we don’t have to think – the […]
My kids have been watching YouTube clips of close-up magicians, particularly from America’s Got Talent and Penn and Teller’s Fool us. So YouTube suggested yesterday I watch clip of magic revealed – a freeze-frame walk through of a close-up magician. Does it bring you less joy knowing how the magic […]
Being a good parent has a lot in common with being a good leader in any capacity, and especially with being a good educational leader. I haven’t yet invited my readers here to check it out, but I’m really proud of my contribution of a chapter to the new book […]
Don’t kid yourself. It’s totally possible to follow from the front. Leaders who don’t know where they are going can cheat over their shoulders to get clues. They can see where the people behind them are going and follow them. It’s easy in the choral rehearsal to be in front […]
The Michigan Choral Commission Consortium (MC3) is an innovative new organization committed to facilitating choral compositions by connecting a group of like-minded choral organizations across Michigan. It seeks to make choral commissioning accessible to these organizations by pooling their resources. Past commissioned composers include Alice Parker (2016), Andrea Ramsey (2018), […]