arrange • compose • conduct
The biannual ACDA 2019 National Conference starts tonight in Kansas City. Although I won’t be attending this year, I have many friends and colleagues who are, so I’m sharing some previews. I’ve prepared a cheat sheet of conference offerings that appeal to my particular interests: Vocal Jazz, TTBB Choirs, and Composing/Arranging. I’ll offer separate posts […]
The biannual ACDA 2019 National Conference starts tonight in Kansas City. Although I won’t be attending this year, I have many friends and colleagues who are, so I’m sharing some previews. I’ve prepared a cheat sheet of conference offerings that appeal to my particular interests: vocal jazz, TTBB Choirs, and composing/arranging. I’ll offer separate posts […]
The biannual ACDA 2019 National Conference starts tonight in Kansas City. Although I won’t be attending this year, I have many friends and colleagues who are, so I’m sharing some previews. I’ve prepared a cheat sheet of conference offerings that appeal to my particular interests: vocal jazz, TTBB Choirs, and composing/arranging. I’ll offer separate posts […]
So far, our school district has had fifteen – fifteen! – Snow Days in the 2018-19 school year. But Snow Day is a catchall phrase. We have had school canceled due to: Snow Freezing rain High winds Glaze ice Sub-zero temperatures And even, in September, heat! So it got me […]
Welcome to Week 18 of The Definitive Version, a regular feature of my website. You can read more about the project here and read all past entries here. Song: “All Of Me” (1931)Composers/Lyricists: Gerald Marks and Seymour SimonsForm: ABACStandard Key: C Major. Marks & Simons were both successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters with […]
“Painting should make you happy, if nothing else.” – Bob Ross There are those who seek to make Art with a capital A. And they are likely to disdain those painters like Bob Ross, who made joy the point of his art. Well, count me with Bob Ross. Choral music […]
Here are four vocal warmups I’ve been experimenting with, along with rationale for their use. Mississippi – the state everyone loves to spell as fast as possible. It introduces two concepts simultaneously – odd meter/metric division and clear diction. And the spelling is familiar enough for American singers that it […]
In the wake of the truly historic school-canceling winter we’ve had, I have heard this question a few times: why can’t we have online school on Snow Days? I suppose we could have “Digital Snow Days”…if we solved the following problems. Contracts need to be renegotiated to provide for teachers […]
Whenever I feel stress about succeeding in an upcoming project, I lean heavily on this self-reminder: “I’ve never not.” I’ve never not overcome a temporary block to finish writing. I’ve never not made it to the end of the concert. I’ve never not gotten caught up on sleep…eventually. I’ve never […]
My family adopted a dog this past autumn, and we soon discovered that she’s a walker. Big time. She needs a minimum four miles a day to be settled at the end of the day. Her upper limit for daily mileage? We haven’t found it yet. The magic of this […]