arrange • compose • conduct
Choir directors are real-life wizards. Specifically, they give their students the gifts Dorothy and her friends sought from the Wizard of Oz. Brains – choir offers students the chance to engage their whole brains in complex thinking about a range of issues. Heart – the true expression of great poetry […]
You know now it’s not perfect. Share it anyway. Every idea has some degree of perfection while it’s only in your mind, and every idea undergoes de-perfecting in the process of moving from the brain to the world. It’s even harder early in your development, when you haven’t developed skills […]
In my experience, every piece you write makes you feel like a new composer again. That’s because every aspect of writing a piece comes with limitations and guides you in specific directions. They all make demands on your writing that require you to become a new composer. The text makes […]
A diverse opinion base is one of the blessings of a free society. And yet, in the choral rehearsal, too often we seek to align all opinions to a single reference point. That opinion, of course, is the right one…i.e., the conductor’s opinion. Independent thought, though, is needed if we […]
My son brought home this inspirational video from the 2006 independent movie Facing the Giants. I think that what makes the scene an inspirational video is a combination of seeing a human achieve an extraordinary physical feat (never mind that it probably wasn’t filmed as such) and that the player […]
We’re in the midst of a run of three Collage Concert performance in which my ensemble, the Aces, sing two pieces. They’ve already performed the pieces at the choir Holiday Concert and at a runout concert, so they’re becoming increasingly confident and polished. One blessing of the too-many-concert weeks that […]
Global climate change is without a doubt the biggest social challenge our species is currently facing. Actually, it’s the biggest challenge we’ve ever faced as a species. We all need to get involved. Not just the elected officials, not just the advocates. We all. Including the artists. Maybe especially the […]
Eric Whitacre does many wonderful things with his success and fame, but I think the best thing he’s done is to initiate his Teacher of the Week. He honors a teacher – any level, anywhere in the world – based on nominations submitted to his site. It’s exactly right to […]
A lot has been written about the insufficiency of our notation system, and a lot more could be written. (For a great essay about it, check the last chapter of The Anatomy of Melody by Alice Parker.) But there is one particular notation that I feel increasingly in need of […]
One of the skills I most wish for my ensembles is the skill of being in the moment. That is, being responsive to exactly what’s happening, subtly or dramatically shifting interpretation based on the inputs you receive from the audience and your fellow singers. I wonder whether the best music […]