arrange • compose • conduct
Have you seen this short video from the World Science Festival? In it, Bobby McFerrin demonstrates that the pentatonic scale is truly hardwired into our brains. In helping some students practice sight reading recently, I discovered that his insight has an important practical application. When our anxiety is high, we’re going to revert […]
Near the end of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5), a massive battle unfolds at the Ministry of Magic. It culminates with Professor Dumbledore facing off with arch-villain Voldemort. Dumbledore finishes this epic battle with Voldemort at the end of the chapter and doesn’t waste a second. He calmly […]
In this week’s stellar On Being conversation between Krista Tippett, Sheryl Sandberg, and Adam Grant, Sheryl shares the following wisdom from a documentary filmmaker friend. “when I film movies and I do documentaries, I can’t write them in advance. I have to let the story unfold.” We’d all do well to recognize that […]
Breathing warrants diligent practice–just as much as notes, rhythms, text, and all other aspects of good singing. Since breathing is an automatic behavior, we tend to focus on it only in distress; but consciously practicing it can lead to amazing results for choir members and soloists. This was all driven home to me the […]
The best phrasing. Entertaining and remarkably versatile scatting. Creative arrangements. (Including “forgotten words” arrangements and some of those iconic scat solos) Deep respect and for the American Popular song. The sweetest, most flexible voice of the recorded era. There is virtually nothing Ella Fitzgerald couldn’t sing well. Her vast recorded legacy […]
Maintaining engaged rhythmic physicality when we sing is vital. Particularly in rhythmically intricate music, but even in the subtlest of rhythmic music, putting the macro- and micro-beats can make many things better. It can be extremely small or greatly exaggerated; it can be formalized (group step-touching) or independent. But it ought to be […]
This time of year, your choir’s commitments seem to pile up, and rehearsals can be a little frenetic, trying to keep on top of everything. Do you ever just crave a “normal” rehearsal? Remember those September rehearsals, when the year was in front of you and you could dig into new music, […]
Sometimes you need to go off the grid and leave your inbox behind. It’ll wait for you. It’ll be there when you get back. Walk. Garden. Bonfire. Spend a day doing things your great-grandparents would recognize. The inbox can wait.
Dancers know that the moment most likely to cause applause mid-song is not the tricky, dancer-y combination that is their personal favorite. It’s the kick line. A kick line isn’t complicated – it’s so simple and straightforward that a rank beginner can get the hang of it. But it’s powerful – the synchronized, […]
My busy season for writing commissions is behind me, but that means the busy season for hearing commissions is here. I don’t think I’ll ever not float four feet off the ground when I hear music I wrote performed for the first time. Yesterday I was sent an MP3 rehearsal recording – just a “check […]