arrange • compose • conduct
Part of what makes the first few years of any job, and particularly leading a choral ensemble, difficult is the novelty. Everything is new, nothing can be codified. (Compare it even to a math teaching job, where the curriculum and even the daily teaching goals might be standardized within the […]
As conductors, as experts, we can be afraid to even give away even a little bit of the authority to the ensemble itself. But when I involve my students in repertoire decisions, I overwhelmingly come away inspired, aware of new music, and excited that they are excited. I don’t mean […]
I remember the first time I developed a writing callus in seventh grade. That must have been the time I began doing enough writing with a pencil to require a little physical buffer, and my finger obliged. (These days, I don’t do enough handwriting to build a new callus, but […]
I saw the headlines and I read poetry. I don’t think I was being an ostrich, sticking my head in the sand. (And I do think that breaking news reporting often gets essential facts wrong.) I read poetry because there was nothing I could do in that moment to change […]
I find a lot of success in batch processing. A good example is designing social media cover photos for our entire concert season at once. Today, I was able to quickly design a tiny workflow, so that each photo was created more quickly than the last. If I had waited […]
No matter how important your message is, if you can’t deliver it effectively, it’s lost. Teachers know this intimately – they learn quickly on the job that delivery is crucial to transmission. They’re done for if they can’t engage, think on their feet, integrate live feedback from their “audience”, and […]
Auditions. You hear potential ensemble members perform under the pressure of an audition process. They aren’t performing at their best, but if they audition is designed well, you get a good sense of their strengths and weaknesses. Selection. You review all potential members to select the members who best fits […]
It’s a celebration for the kids: I’m in 4th grade! I’ve started high school! Last year of college! Sixteenth year of school! It’s a celebration for the adults: 12th year teaching! 25th year teaching! 38th year teaching! It’s exciting to celebrate milestones like these at the start of school years. […]
The days won’t always be this hard. I wrote this to myself, because the second day of school is where it really hits you – a massive shift in schedule, sleep patterns, time management, personal energy use. But then I thought of the student going through a really rough time […]
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 […]