arrange • compose • conduct
I saw an improv comedy show this weekend, and it left me reflecting on rules and insiders. Improv has a lot of rules guiding the behavior for participants. (Here’s Del Close’s 11 Commandments). Until you really know the rules, you might feel in the dark. You will be entertained by good improv, […]
Dr. Jeremy Fox is a wonderful, Grammy-nominated jazz/choral composer, arranger, and conductor. He has been on the faculty of Indiana University and Southwestern Community College (Iowa), where he will return this fall. He is brilliant, humble, and incredibly big-hearted. He leads marvelous week-long summer camps, including the SMV Vocal Jazz […]
Film composers have many moves they rely on to amplify our emotions. It’s a powerful bag of tricks, and I’m not sure any era of composition has been more adept than contemporary film composers. Today, I was reminded of a powerful and unexpected trick from that bag: silence. Pixar movies are aggressively and wonderfully scored […]
I am honored to write a guest post today to expand on Jed’s post “What I Did This Summer (Preview Edition)” and share more of what I hope to say at the end of August. I celebrated with family and friends I kayaked I traveled I cooked I composed music […]
You see your home differently when a stranger walks into it. Suddenly, you’re seeing it through a stranger’s eyes. Suddenly, every mark on the wall, misplaced toy, dirty dish is readily apparent to you: even if they have evaded your eyes for weeks. The same thing happens when a guest clinician works with your choir […]
If you aren’t willing to the dishes, you aren’t really committed to cooking. This has been my mantra whenever I’ve entered the kitchen for the last few years. A busy family’s rate of dirty-dish-generation sometimes reminds me of a highway during an ice storm: one small error can lead to major catastrophe. So, since I love to cook, I have […]
You will go to sleep with nothing left. Will you have anything to give come morning? Who knows. All you can do is pick back up. You will face setbacks. Are they surmountable? Who knows. All you can do is pick back up. You will have unbelievable achievements, and then face the blank […]
I remember a request long ago being described as “not urgent, but time-sensitive.” It’s worth piecing apart those two phrases, and differentiating between them in our speech. Urgent items are usually time-sensitive. You must complete this vitally important project within a short time-frame. Time-sensitive items aren’t always urgent. It’s important to complete certain menial tasks within […]
Teachers on “Summer Break” aren’t on break – they’re doing all sorts of different work to prepare. Part of this is active work: planning, programming, cleaning, learning, creating. Part of it is passive work: the important work of recharging emotional and physical stores to be ready to support students for the […]
When the next school year starts in about ten weeks, someone will surely ask “What did you do this summer?” Here’s some of what I hope to say: I breathed I exercised (my mind, my body, my spirit) I connected I unplugged I ate well I read I had long […]