arrange • compose • conduct
I’ve been having trouble putting words around how proud I am of my wonderful students in the Rockford Aces. They sang their hearts out for an audience of friends, colleagues, and heroes at the ACDA Michigan Fall Conference. They worked so incredibly hard, and have made such remarkable strides in nine short […]
An excerpt from a note I sent this week to my students, who are giving a performance today at the ACDA-Michigan State Conference. I’ve never given a perfect performance. Not as a performer, not as a conductor. I don’t think I’ve ever attended a perfect performance. Every performance is a chance […]
I remember one of my college mentors describing a performance she gave as a young singer with a big band: at the end, she wasn’t sure how it went, because she was so focused on the moment-to-moment music-making that she hadn’t been able to create memories. It took effusive praise from audience […]
Just as instrumentalists may tune between pieces or even between long movements of a major work, singers should strive to maintain ideal conditions for their “instrument” throughout their performance. I’ve offered this quick posture check to my students as a way to maintain posture during performance. A discreet cue from me […]
The inspirational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “Don’t become a wandering generality. Be a meaningful specific.” The same is true in rehearsal. If you want to improve your rehearsal technique, a big part of the job is to replace generalities with specifics. We’re going flat. The basses are not making it back up […]
Excerpts from a recent podcast conversation between Brené Brown and Debbie Millman: “If I fail wholeheartedly, I can live with that. If I fail and I’ve been half-ass, or halfhearted, in my effort: that, I cannot live with.” -Brené Brown “A students said, ‘I’m afraid if I do this and I […]
If a sprinter decided to become a marathoner, they would have to change their training and build different muscles. Same is true if a wrestler decided to play baseball, or a swimmer took up the high jump. This is true for musicians, too. A pianist can train to play flawless Beethoven sonatas and […]
Thomas Wolfe said, “You can’t go home again.” I’m here with proof you can. My first love, and my deepest musical passion, has always been for the rich harmonic interpretations of Great American Songs known as vocal jazz. But way led on to way, and my career led off in other directions. I carried my […]
We’ve all had those rehearsals. Anxious, stressed, or just tired, we start out on a wrong foot. On that wrong foot, the choir sings less than their best. Being committed, they react with frustration. The frustration leads to tension, anxiety, more stress, and more tiredness. The vicious circle continues, to the point where the […]
No artist tries to be second-rate. Every artist is trying with each project to do their best work. But even great artists miss, and even good work fails. Half of Gershwin’s songs are below average. That means for every Someone To Watch Over Me, there is some dreck out there somewhere. Some […]