arrange • compose • conduct
Doing something for the first time requires you to be OK with not knowing. You don’t know where potential pitfalls are. You don’t know what you’re overprepared for, and what you’re underprepared for. You don’t know what obvious mistake you made in your preparation – the first thing you’ll change for next […]
We say “I was in the right place at the right time.” But that’s only two of the three elements you need to succeed. You also have to be ready. All of the stuff we teach and learn: personal responsibility, historical knowledge, reading of literature, to-do list management, music theory, physical fitness. […]
There is this paradox of us – of our species – that we do come more alive when we struggle. Boy, there’s a real balance in talking about this, because you don’t want to glorify struggle. Because in these situations, whether it’s an oppressive country, or a war, there are […]
J.D. Frizzell has written a great post about organizing your daily rehearsals so that you go from sight reading to impromptu performance each week. I love the concept and encourage you to incorporate some or all of the “Frizzell Method” into your rehearsal techniques. Just as important, though, is to take on musical […]
Nothing can be more frustrating than feeling your time isn’t valued. We all – and this extends down to middle-school age at this point – are overcommitted with activities and responsibilities. In this situation, to be in charge of people’s time and mismanage it is a powerful offense to the people you’re working with. […]
“How do you want us to do XXXX in measure 17?” An all-too-common question. How often do you respond by saying, “What do YOU think?” Ask that question more in your rehearsal. Empower your students as musical decision-makers. They have insights to offer, and musicality that they can rely on. They […]
“Love is at the root of everything — all learning, all parenting, all relationships — love or the lack of it. And what we see and hear on the screen is part of who we become.” – Mr. Rogers Love is at the root of choir directing, too, of course. […]
I was recently finishing a commissioned arrangement and had a spot that wasn’t quite working. That is, when I wrote it, it made internal sense despite going harmonically far afield. But playing it in context, the harmony seemed too jarring – my ears didn’t have time to adjust. As I started experimenting with other […]
Gene Puerling loved to have his final cadences include bitonal chords – often either a major II chord in the treble over the I chord in the bass, or else a I chord in the treble over a bVII in the bass. It’s beautiful, shimmery, and beguiling, but it’s not actually the […]
If you want to rank jazz singers, there’s little question that Ella Fitzgerald is probably going to end up on top. We can debate the Ella vs. Sarah, and should mention Joe Williams and Frank Sinatra and a dozen others, but in all likelihood, Ella knocks them all down, every time. But she is hardly […]