arrange • compose • conduct
It’s tip jar week here at jedscott.com. Read more here or click here to chip in! I’m in the middle of two big projects right now. First, RAMChoir – a large, multi-generational, unauditioned TTBB choir that will perform in June after five 90-minute rehearsals. Second, mixing The Rockford Aces’ fourth album, Get Ready – the culmination […]
It’s tip jar week here at jedscott.com. Read more here or click here to chip in! It is built into the choir director’s job that you must disappoint some people. Solo auditions, choir placement, repertoire choices, concert scheduling. All of these have the potential to disappoint choir members. (I have even known a chorister […]
It’s tip jar week here at jedscott.com. Read more here or click here to chip in! Is your idleness directionless or directed? Creative people know that they must find idleness as a way of making space for creation in their minds. For some, it’s an electricity-free month in a cabin; for others, it’s just rising before […]
It’s tip jar week here at jedscott.com. Read more here or click here to chip in! One of Seth Godin’s best books is The Dip. It’s quite short, but it introduces us to an important concept. The Dip is the time when you’ve started doing something, but before you’ve achieved the goal. The dip can […]
My students had to memorize a piece on fairly short notice recently – for a concert tonight. Of course, it’s easier this time of year. The group is cohesive, has developed concrete group ideas of musicality, and thus is achieving musicality way faster. On the other hand, it’s harder when musical elements […]
Yesterday, I reminded students how much they need choir in high school. That doesn’t end when you graduate – indeed, when you land at a college campus and know almost nobody, your need for a community and a home is only going to increase. While there are many activities on campus […]
A very short letter to high school students debating between staying in choir and taking one more AP class. You need choir more. The end. I mean this truly, deeply. I see a vast percentage of students who are weighed down with academic and societal pressure. What you need, and are fortunate to have […]
As I see it, the entire hearing population hears you sing in one way – through air vibrations – minus one person. You. You hear yourself through a combination of air vibrations and bone vibrations. It seems many of the vocal production errors young singers make stem from this disconnect. Assessing your singing voice, […]
In Michigan, public schools are given relatively few options to raise funds beyond what’s allotted by the state. One unexpected option is to pass a county-wide Enhancement Millage. Individual school districts can’t, but Intermediate School Districts can. The Kent County ISD is offering it’s first attempt at a millage vote today. […]
I can (eventually) do this. The way our prove-your-skill education system works, if you can’t accomplish something the first time around, there’s generally no going back to fix it. Your grade goes down, and with it your sights and your dreams. The truth is, for anything worth doing, it may take […]