arrange • compose • conduct
Yesterday marked the last event for my Rockford Aces this school year – an end-of-the-year party. To celebrate a successful year with them, I’m sharing here our rep list from the year. The Aces endeavor to sing in as many musical styles as possible each year, with no discrimination except […]
By this time in November, I’m happily shuffling more than 40 Christmas CDs in the family stereo. But this week I take a quick break to listen to some great Americana and celebrate Thanksgiving. For several years I’ve enjoyed the Public Radio special “Thanksgiving With Cantus” and happily, they have […]
I’m excited to be presenting a session next week at the MSVMA Summer Conference, titled “Why, What How: Removing the Barriers to Programming Vocal Jazz for Your Concert Choir.”
Are you swimming in reading packets? I know I am. They are a beautiful tool for discovering new repertoire, and an essential part of a choral conference (I know that when I helped organize a conference, the most consistent feedback we received was “more reading packets!”) And yet, they are […]
Can we apply the idea of the Overton Window to music-making? The Overton Window, according to Wikipedia, is “the range of policies politically acceptable to the mainstream population at a given time.” The typical range is Unthinkable • Radical • Acceptable • Sensible • Popular • Policy. There are certainly […]
“Level of Difficulty” is a poor analog for quality of repertoire.
One of the big questions for concert choir conductors exploring adding jazz is, what repertoire should I program?
How soon after you finish the school year is too soon to miss music-making?
All the music I write falls into one of these three categories.
I love being able to hear priorities.