arrange • compose • conduct
2018 was a year to remember with much happening on many fronts. It hasn’t been without its failures or missteps, but I also saw some pretty spectacular things happen for me both professionally and personally. Here’s an overview of my work year: Writing I published a new post on this […]
I published a post here every day in 2018. Here’s a favorite post from each month. January: The Two Chords BeforeFebruary: Favorite In The WorldMarch: Inspiring Women MusiciansApril: Leadership is in Step 2May: Three Kinds of KnowingJune: How Many Listens?July: Secret SchoolAugust: The First CrêpeSeptember: Thirty TimesOctober: LogisticsNovember: Tell Them I […]
Books remain at the heart of the media I consume – not perhaps the most significant by volume, but certainly by the effect they have on my life. I completed 27 books in 2018; I think a book every two weeks is a solid total, but I do hope to increase […]
My listening habits are fairly diverse, and fairly heavily rooted in revisiting music I love. That said, there are plenty of things I discovered this year – either new or new to me. Here are some that I loved. The Questions (Kurt Elling) I’ve written before that I think this album is a career […]
The British holiday of Boxing Day is a secular holiday traditionally held Dec. 26 or the first weekday after Christmas. It seems to have come from a tradition of giving tips or “Christmas Boxes” to servants and various workers. The way I see it, Boxing Day has two big reasons […]
I’ve been revisiting the Harry Potter films recently, and after a recent read-aloud of all seven books, it takes just a few of films to notice the differences. I don’t mean the differences between the films and the movies: those are quickly obvious and entirely predictable because of the differences […]
200 years ago this evening, Jacob Mohr and Franz Xaver Gruber premiered their brand-new carol, Silent Night. According to the accepted tradition, Gruber had written the tune on short notice to Mohr’s words because Mohr needed a new piece to sing at the Christmas Eve service because the organ had been damaged. […]
Welcome to Week 16 of The Definitive Version, a new weekly feature of my website. You can read more about the project here and read all past entries here. Song: “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!” (1945)Composer: Jule StyneLyricist: Sammy CahnForm: AABAStandard Key: There doesn’t seem to be a particularly standard key. […]
When I’m here, I create. It can be a coffee shop, a music studio, or a practice room. It can even be a particular word processor. The specifics don’t matter. What does matter is training yourself to imbue a space with the specific quality of being the place where you […]
No matter how many times I get sick, I can’t shake a deep sense of anger about being sick. I’m angry at letting down my family, students, my clients. I’m angry at being unable to do all the things I do in a day. But I also know that the […]