arrange • compose • conduct
Have you tried replacing a demand with a question? Instead of “Have this memorized next Monday!” – ask the question. “Can you have this memorized for next week?” Not a rhetorical question. Wait for a response. Overwhelmingly, in my experience, the answer is “yes.” And with that yes comes more […]
On our college choir tour, we jumped off the bus for our free day in Paris – and ran hand-in-hand to Notre Dame, where we heard Sunday Mass with Duruflé sung by a stunning choir. Quite the spot for a first date, nineteen years ago in May. Notre Dame has […]
I am looking out my window at absolutely beautiful snow-covered trees. Beautiful but wrong. I want my trees to be snowy white in December, but when April rolls around, I am ready for clear roads for walking and driving, and warm sunny days for breathing in fresh air and seeing […]
I used the phrase “Love Army” the other day in a post on Facebook, and I’m increasingly enamored with the image. A group of humans banded together to spread love, increase connection, support each other, and make the world better by putting more love into it. Come to think of […]
Sometimes you can struggle with a piece for weeks and weeks, only to find, all at once, that you’re making music with it. It feels like magic when it happens. Magic created through hard work, diligence, cajoling, high standards, and a committed ensemble. I remind myself in the weeks when […]
Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall – four seasons. Well, sure. But actually, we have all sorts of mini-seasons. The March day when it hits almost 70, followed closely by the mid-April day when it snows an inch. chilly June mornings and sweltering October afternoons. The year is made up of over-arching […]
This is the point of education, the point of parenting, maybe the point of all human interaction. Do what you can to help those in your care to be more themselves today than yesterday. That’s it. Not more of what you want them to be. Not more of what they […]
In a wide-ranging and deep-diving Q&A yesterday with The Real Group, soprano Emma Nilsdotter made the following statement: “Every time I sing my notes it’s a matter of life or death for me.” She went on to use a single-note passage from “Chili Con Carne” as an example of her […]
My writing work takes a lot of different forms, from working for groups who have a very specific song and concept, to open-ended compositional commissions, to things I write for particular pedagogical reasons. My favorite arranging, though, is when I can insert more of my own musical perspective into the […]
I’ve heard Yannick Nézet-Séguin described by an ultra-reliable source as our generation’s Bernstein. In a recent amazing interview with Terry Gross, they had the following exchange: GROSS: I’m wondering if you think there’s a generational shift that has happened in conducting ’cause I think we think of the maestro as […]